In this Appendix, we summarize some basic properties of the three classes of functional diversity measures: (1) functional Hill number ) (Q D q which quantifies the effective number of equally abundant and equally distinct species in an assemblage with a constant species pairwise distance Q, where Q denotes Rao’s quadratic entropy; (2) mean functional diversity MD(Q) = Q Q D q × )] ( [ which qu...

Abstract The migration of nitrogen (N) from farmland to lake aggravates eutrophication. Riparian buffer strips (RBSs) are crucial in alleviating into water bodies. This study examined the impacts different RBS patterns on removal. effects RBSs various widths (5, 15, 30, and 40 m), with vegetation types (Taxodium hybrid ‘Zhongshanshan’, poplar (Nanlin-95), a mixed forest T. ‘Zhongshanshan’ popla...

arid and semi-arid areas, due to the sensitive, have variable ecosystems, so continuous assessment and monitoring of the environment is required for most of managerial and adjustment practices. vegetation is one of the most important assessment tools and used as a criterion for evaluation and monitoring of ecosystem functions. in this study, for the first time in the country, we have evaluated ...

Recognition is growing that besides ungulates, small vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores are important drivers of grassland functioning. Even though soil microarthropods play key roles in several soil processes, effects of herbivores-especially those of smaller body size-on their communities are not well understood. Therefore, we progressively excluded large, medium and small vertebrate and ...

Currently there is a lack of quantitative information regarding the driving factors of vegetation dynamics in post-Soviet Central Asia. Insufficient knowledge also exists concerning vegetation variability across sub-humid to arid climatic gradients as well as vegetation response to different land uses, from natural rangelands to intensively irrigated croplands. In this study, we analyzed the en...

the present survey was carried out in oak (quercus brantii lindl.) woodlands of arghvan valley protected area, in ilam province, western iran. the main aim of this study was to survey the understory vegetation of oak in different classes of altitude (1400-1600, 1600-1800 and >1800 m) in the southern aspects, and their relationship with physical and chemical properties of soil. four transects, w...

Comparison of several recent, publicly available and widely used land-cover products for the Eurasian Arctic revealed important differences in their representations of vegetation distribution. Such disparities have important implications for models that use these products as driving data sets to monitor vegetation and its role in carbon dynamics. The differences between GLC-2000 and MODIS.PFT a...