DOI: 10.3897/ved.181647

Authors: Mariasole Calbi, Michele Mugnai, Eugenia Siccardi, Virginia Amanda Volanti, Lorenzo Lazzaro, Hamid Gholizadeh, Claudia Angiolini, Simona Maccherini, Daniele Viciani

Abstract: Trait-based approaches are becoming pivotal in predicting vegetation changes and linking ecosystem structures to functions at varying geographical scales. Moreover, spatially explicit plant functional trait measurements for scarcely sampled species including infraspecific variation could be instrumental to better understand how plant functional traits mediate species’ responses to changing environmental conditions. Here we present a dataset of four functional traits measured at the individual level for 67 plant species native to coastal habitats of Tuscany and Liguria (central-northern Italy) including fore- and back dunes, dune slacks, saltmarshes, rocky cliffs, and anthropized coastal environments. We followed standard protocols to make a total of 698 measurements. For each species, we measured traits including leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), and plant vegetative height (H) from multiple individuals to capture local intraspecific variability. This dataset adds to the valuable resources for studying plant strategies in Mediterranean coastal systems, assessing trait-environment relationships, and modeling plant community dynamics under environmental change. The data set is openly available for non-commercial purposes.

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DOI: 10.3897/ved.185067

Authors: Gianmaria Bonari, Irena Axmanová, Simonetta Bagella, Romeo Di Pietro, Edy Fantinato, Federico Fernández-González, Daniela Gigante, Borja Jiménez-Alfaro, Ali Kavgacı

Abstract: In this editorial, we announce the journal’s return to the Scopus database following the change of its name, and we comment on its performance in the first year under the new name Vegetation Ecology and Diversity (VED), including the number and type of papers published, the authors’ nationality, and the turnaround times. Furthermore, we present the Editors’ choice article as well as articles that were both most viewed and most cited. We also present new members of the editorial board, a new permanent collection, and we thank the VED reviewers 2025. Finally, we are pleased to announce that we are seeking a linguistic editor.

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DOI: 10.3897/ved.157888

Authors: Alessandro Bricca, Federico Maria Tardella, Andrea Catorci

Abstract: Biodiversity is a multidimensional concept, and capturing its various facets simultaneously offers a more robust framework for predicting vegetation responses to anthropogenic disturbance. Yet, multifaceted studies exploring forest understory regeneration remain scarce. We investigate taxonomic (TD), functional (FD), and phylogenetic (PD) diversity in the understory plant communities of 38 hop-hornbeam forest stands in the Central Apennines (Italy), which differ in time since last coppice event, i.e., 20–25 years (younger stands) and 40–45 years (older stands). We tested differences in TD, and standardized effect sizes (SES) of FD and PD between younger and older stands using two-tailed t-tests. Further, we evaluated the presence of a random or non-random mechanism by checking the distribution of the SES-FD and SES-PD. Our results revealed no significant change in TD between the two forest age classes. However, SES-FD and SES-PD changed significantly. SES-FD shifted from convergence in younger forests to divergence in older ones, aligning with expectations that greater environmental heterogeneity in mature forests supports functionally distinct species. In contrast, SES-PD exhibited increasing convergence over time, suggesting that the forest understory becomes increasingly dominated by closely related species as regeneration progresses. This growing phylogenetic convergence may reflect long-term land-use impacts and a limited regional species pool, pointing to a gradual loss of evolutionary diversity. Overall, our findings emphasize that different facets of biodiversity shape the dynamics of forest regeneration, and that an integrated, multidimensional approach is essential to fully understand and predict these complex ecological processes.

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DOI: 10.3897/ved.154284

Authors: Alessandro Bricca, Stefano Chelli, Francesco Petruzzellis, Giacomo Puglielli, Enrico Tordoni

Abstract: Vegetation science is a branch of community ecology that relies on species identities and abundance to classify vegetation in coherent units and to explore species coexistence and turnover dynamics. The advent of trait-based ecology has expanded vegetation science, providing a framework that allows for a better understanding of plant strategies and the functional structure of communities. These complementary disciplines have remained largely independent among Italian plant ecologists. Therefore, in 2021, we launched the ITV-net initiative, a national collaborative effort for bringing together vegetation plots and field-measured plant trait data to develop a national platform that can serve both vegetation and trait-based ecologists. In the first data call, we were able to gather trait data on two key leaf traits (i.e., Leaf Area and Specific Leaf Area) for >700 species across 1,043 georeferenced vegetation plots, complemented with species relative abundances, across eight different EUNIS habitat types. Despite this remarkable first milestone, we aim to enlarge the scope of this initiative to include more vegetation plots and functional traits across more habitat types in Italy. Here, we provide an overview of the ITV-net initiative and its underlying methodological details as a ‘manifesto’ to spread the data call to other potential contributors in the Italian community of plant ecologists. Our ultimate objective is to bridge the vegetation science and trait-based ecological research in Italy towards developing a national database of vegetation plots and plant functional traits. We believe this effort will contribute to building a solid network among Italian plant ecologists to cross the artificial boundaries of different, yet complementary, disciplines.

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DOI: 10.3897/ved.140946

Authors: Antonino La Mantia, Riccardo Rocca, Lorenzo Gianguzzi

Abstract: This paper reports the presence of a nucleus of thermophilous maquis with Searsia tripartita within the “Monte San Calogero” Nature Reserve (Sciacca, Southwestern Sicily, Italy), within a Natura 2000 site (ITA040009). S. tripartita is a summer-deciduous shrub with a South-Mediterranean distribution range, which is relatively common in North Africa but with only a few disjunct occurrences in Sicily. Here we report on a site that is located at the northern limit of the species’ range. The local occurrence of the species was reported for the first time some 200 years ago by Gussone, as testified by two herbarium specimens kept in the Gussone Herbarium of Naples. This study explores the synecology and the dynamic trends of the S. tripartita maquis using vegetation field surveys and a diachronic analysis of historical images spanning 27 years, from 1998 to 2024. The plant community colonizes an extremely dry and stony area at the base of carbonate rocks, subject to dry-semiarid thermomediterranean bioclimatic conditions. The surveyed plant community can be referred to Calicotomo infestae-Rhoetum tripartitae, a distinct low maquis association considered endemic to southern Sicily, framed within the southern Mediterranean alliance Periplocion angustifoliae (order Pistacio-Rhamnetalia alaterni, class Quercetea ilicis). Additional considerations are given to the conservation status of the rare habitat of Community interest 5220* (Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC) in which this community is classified.

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DOI: 10.3897/ved.146670

Authors: Gianmaria Bonari, Irena Axmanová, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Simonetta Bagella, Federico Fernández-González, Daniela Gigante, Borja Jiménez-Alfaro, Ali Kavgacı, Daniele Viciani

Abstract: The current issue is the first one of the journal Vegetation Ecology and Diversity, formerly Plant Sociology, the international peer-reviewed journal of the Italian Society of Vegetation Science (SISV). Vegetation Ecology and Diversity (VED) publishes original research articles covering all aspects of vegetation, ranging from plant communities to landscapes, including dynamic processes and community ecology. It prioritizes papers that emphasize plant community ecology and vegetation surveys to advance ecological models, interpret and classify vegetation, map ecosystems, assess environmental quality, manage and conserve plant biodiversity, and interpret and monitor European habitats. All the articles are freely available in Open Access (OA). In the present Editorial, we introduce the new journal name, the new Editorial Board and Social Media Team, several Topical Collections, and initiatives to support young researchers.

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