Collections

This Permanent Collection is a continuation of the one launched under the previous journal title, Plant Sociology, and the earlier publications are available here.

Vegetation databases are enhanced collections of several hundred or even thousands of vegetation plots (phytosociological relevés). In many cases, these plots originate from small-scale studies or derive from unpublished projects or theses and they are focused on restricted areas; however, the accumulation of such data over time has often resulted in extensive coverage. This data has long-term applications, and its breadth can offer new perspectives or reveal more complex relationships and processes within ecosystems compared to the original studies. The primary motivation behind creating a database is to better understand vegetation variation along geographical and ecological gradients or to document vegetation changes due to specific treatments or natural events. Once created, a larger database can address more complex, in-depth, or multidisciplinary research questions. Compiling a database is a challenging task. It requires standardizing species and syntaxon names across all surveys, determining geographic coordinates, and sometimes adding new information (such as bedrock type, soil type, climate, and management practices). To recognize these efforts, the journal is launching this Topical Collection of papers describing new databases, thematic datasets, or significant upgrades of existing ones. The aim is to increase data accessibility and to encourage data exchange among scientists across broader areas and research fields.

This Permanent Collection is a continuation of the one launched under the previous journal title, Plant Sociology, and the earlier publications are available here.

Vegetation databases are enhanced collections of several hundred or even thousands of vegetation plots (phytosociological relevés). In ma ...

This Permanent Collection is a continuation of the one launched under the previous journal title, Plant Sociology, and the earlier publications are available here. 

Bryophytes are a group of land plants of small size but with a large ecological impact. Although bryophytes display high species diversity, a major limitation in their use as study organisms has been the lack of basic floristic, ecological, and alpha-taxonomic knowledge in many regions. The distribution of these plants depends on the general climatic and ecological factors, and interaction with other living beings. These factors interact with each other in many ways. Humidity is one of the main drivers influencing their survival, although most of them can stand prolonged periods of drought. In fact, during periods of dryness, mosses, despite being dehydrated, maintain their vitality. The Bryophyte life cycle is slow and can last for several months and sometimes, for some species, even years. The return of water restores the normal rhythm of the plant’s life. Bryophytic vegetation is also determined by the physical and chemical characteristics of the substrate on which it lives. The physical structure of the substrate allows air circulation and water retention, which depends on its chemical nature. For all these characteristics that differentiate Bryophytes from vascular plants, they deserve in-depth dedicated studies. Precisely with this Topical collection, we aim to collect contributions that deal with these types of vegetation and their peculiar species composition and to analyze how bryophytes are affected by climate change with different responses in distribution ecology and reproductive biology. Overall we intend to increase the level of bryophytic knowledge, deepening all those aspects of bryophyte communities often neglected.

This Permanent Collection is a continuation of the one launched under the previous journal title, Plant Sociology, and the earlier publications are available here. 

Bryophytes are a group of land plants of small size but with a large ecological impact. Although bryophytes display high species diversi ...