0000000000742885
AUTHOR
Olga N. Demina
Scale- and taxon-dependent patterns of plant diversity in steppes of Khakassia, South Siberia (Russia)
The drivers of plant richness at fine spatial scales in steppe ecosystems are still not sufficiently understood. Our main research questions were: (i) How rich in plant species are the natural steppes of Southern Siberia compared to natural and semi-natural grasslands in other regions of the Palaearctic? (ii) What are the main environmental drivers of the diversity patterns in these steppes? (iii) What are the diversity-environment relationships and do they vary between spatial scales and among different taxonomic groups? We sampled the steppe vegetation (vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens) in Khakassia (Russia) with 39 nested-plot series (0.0001-100-m(2) plot size) and 54 additional 1…
EUNIS Habitat Classification: Expert system, characteristic species combinations and distribution maps of European habitats
Aim The EUNIS Habitat Classification is a widely used reference framework for European habitat types (habitats), but it lacks formal definitions of individual habitats that would enable their unequivocal identification. Our goal was to develop a tool for assigning vegetation-plot records to the habitats of the EUNIS system, use it to classify a European vegetation-plot database, and compile statistically-derived characteristic species combinations and distribution maps for these habitats. Location Europe. Methods We developed the classification expert system EUNIS-ESy, which contains definitions of individual EUNIS habitats based on their species composition and geographic location. Each ha…