Woody encroachment decreases diversity across North American grasslands and savannas

Z Ratajczak, JB Nippert, SL Collins - Ecology, 2012 - Wiley Online Library
Woody encroachment is a widespread and acute phenomenon affecting grasslands and
savannas worldwide. We performed a meta‐analysis of 29 studies from 13 different …

Uncovering multiscale effects of aridity and biotic interactions on the functional structure of Mediterranean shrublands

N Gross, L Börger, SI Soriano‐Morales… - Journal of …, 2013 - Wiley Online Library
Habitat filtering (HF, trait convergence) and niche differentiation (ND, trait divergence) are
known to impact upon plant community structure. Both processes integrate individual …

Impact of aridity rise and arid lands expansion on carbon‐storing capacity, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem services

A Tariq, J Sardans, F Zeng, C Graciano… - Global Change …, 2024 - Wiley Online Library
Drylands, comprising semi‐arid, arid, and hyperarid regions, cover approximately 41% of
the Earth's land surface and have expanded considerably in recent decades. Even under …

A systematic review of nurse objects as safe sites for seedling establishment and implications for restoration

H Shemesh - New Phytologist, 2024 - Wiley Online Library
Direct human activity and global climatic changes are threatening the existence of many
vegetated habitats. Seedling establishment, one of the riskiest plant life stages, must be …

Soil microbial community under a nurse-plant species changes in composition, biomass and activity as the nurse grows

S Hortal, F Bastida, C Armas, YM Lozano… - Soil Biology and …, 2013 - Elsevier
Shrubs in semiarid ecosystems facilitate the establishment of other plant species under their
canopies and promote changes in the understory plant communities as they grow. To better …

Shrub-mediated effects on soil nitrogen determines shrub-herbaceous interactions in drylands of the Tibetan Plateau

G Cui, FI Pugnaire, L Yang, W Zhao, R Ale… - Frontiers in Plant …, 2023 - frontiersin.org
Introduction Shrub promotes the survival, growth and reproduction of understory species by
buffering the environmental extremes and improving limited resources (ie, facilitation effect) …

The enhancing effect of afforestation over secondary succession on soil quality under semiarid climate conditions

JHT Zethof, ELH Cammeraat… - Science of the Total …, 2019 - Elsevier
Semiarid climate conditions hamper natural re-vegetation, leaving the soil vulnerable to
erosion after the cessation of agriculture. Therefore, soil and landscape protective …

Direct and indirect interactions co‐determine species composition in nurse plant systems

C Schöb, C Armas, FI Pugnaire - Oikos, 2013 - Wiley Online Library
Facilitation by nurse plants plays an important role in determining community composition in
severe environments. Although the unidirectional effect of nurses on beneficiary species has …

Relationships between topographic factors, soil and plant communities in a dry Afromontane forest patches of Northwestern Ethiopia

L Birhanu, T Bekele, B Tesfaw, S Demissew - PloS one, 2021 - journals.plos.org
Plant community types are influenced by topographic factors, the physical and chemical
properties of soil. Therefore, the study was carried out to investigate the relationships of soil …

Influence of soil microbiota in nurse plant systems

S Rodríguez‐Echeverría, YM Lozano… - Functional …, 2016 - Wiley Online Library
Facilitation by nurse plants is a key process involved in the organization of plant
communities and maintenance of biodiversity, particularly in harsh environments. Nurse …