Gardens represent important sources of goods and services for their owners. This functionality translates directly into the types of plants cultivated in a given garden, and terminology has been developed to distinguish each category of garden according to its purpose. The factors explaining the differentiation and distribution of gardens have not previously been explored at the global scale. I...

(Horizontal and vertical tree community structure in a lowland Atlantic Rain Forest, Southeastern Brazil). The horizontal and vertical tree community structure in a lowland Atlantic Rain Forest was investigated through a phytosociological survey in two 0.99 ha plots in the Intervales State Park, São Paulo State. All trees ≥ 5 cm diameter at breast height were recorded. 3,078 individuals belongi...

The purpose of this study was to update the floristic inventory found in the Upper Paraná River floodplain. Floristic surveys were performed from February 2000 through March 2008, as part of the Brazilian Long-Term Ecological Research Program (PELD/CNPq-Site 6). The material collected was identified from 774 species, 442 genera, and 116 families. The ten families with high species richness were...

Comparative studies on plant species richness, endemism, floristic composition, and structure between protected and unprotected forests are few in the Eastern Arc Mountains, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in Africa. This study from one mountain range, the East Usambaras, examines floristic and structural tree data from 41-0.5 ha plots in four types of Eastern Arc forest: active agrofores...

1 Center for Research in Information and Automation Technologies Abstract Most available information today, both from printed books and digital repositories, is in the form of freeformat texts. The task of retrieving information from these ever-growing repositories has become a challenge for information retrieval (IR) researchers. In some fields, such as Botany and Taxonomy, textual description...

The floristic composition and structure of the Dry Afromontane Forest at Bale Mountains National Park was studied from July 2003 to June 2004. A total of 90 plots were established at three sites (Adelle, Boditi and Gaysay) at an altitudinal range of 3010–3410 m. The cover abundance values, density, and diameter at breast height and list of species were recorded in each plot. About 230 species b...

Using complementary metrics to evaluate phylogenetic diversity can facilitate the delimitation of floristic units and conservation priority areas. In this study, we describe the spatial patterns of phylogenetic alpha and beta diversity, phylogenetic endemism, and evolutionary distinctiveness of the hyperdiverse Ecuador Amazon forests and define priority areas for conservation. We established a ...

One of the main steps in road and railway embankment restoration is the spreading of previously removed topsoil, which provides an input of seeds, organic matter and microorganisms and encourages the establishment of a vegetation cover, essential to stabilise the embankment and blend it with the landscape. However, topsoil is a scarce resource, prompting the search for economic alternatives wit...

Caragana, with distinctive variation in leaf and rachis characters, exhibits three centers of geographic distribution, i.e., Central Asia, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), and East Asia, corresponding to distinct biomes. Because Caragana species are often ecologically dominant components of the vegetation in these regions, it is regarded as a key taxon for the study of floristic evolution in ...

(Floristic composition, diversity and structure of the “cerrado” sensu stricto on rocky soils in northern Goiás and southern Tocantins, Brazil). The “cerrado” sensu stricto is a savanna woodland physiognomy which occupies most of central Brazil, with the degree of canopy cover varying from 10% to 60% at a site with trees reaching up to seven meters high. It occurs mostly on deep and well-draine...