Soils constitute one of the most valuable resources on earth, especially because soil is
renewable on human time scales. During the 20th century, a period marked by a …

This article introduces a Special Issue on biodiversity of Palaearctic grasslands and
provides a synthesis of the current knowledge on this topic. Four major categories of …

Grasslands are ubiquitous globally, and their conservation and restoration are critical to
combat both the biodiversity and climate crises. There is increasing interest in implementing …

Transdisciplinary approaches that provide holistic views are essential to properly
understand soil processes and the importance of soil to society and will be crucial in the …

The Palaearctic steppes range from the Mediterranean basin towards China, forming one of
the largest continuous terrestrial biomes. The literature on steppe ecology and conservation …

Worldwide reforestation has been recommended as a landscape restoration strategy to
mitigate climate change in areas where the climate can sustain forest. This approach may …

Recent advances in ecology and biogeography demonstrate the importance of fire and large
herbivores–and challenge the primacy of climate–to our understanding of the distribution …

Steppe is among the most endangered biomes of the world, especially in Eastern Europe,
where more than 90% of original steppes have been destroyed due to conversion into …

The impacts of vegetation fires on ecosystems are complex and varied affecting a range of
important ecosystem services. Fire has the potential to affect the physicochemical and …

Disturbance by biomass removal is a crucial mechanism maintaining the diversity of
Palaearctic grasslands, which are unique biodiversity hotspots. The century-long traditional …