seed bank is a central topic for plant community restoration. we determined the potential and regeneration capacity of soil seed banks of woody plant patches in conservation of the vegetation in an alpine habitat, since vegetation has completely disappeared in some sites by intensive grazing in the habitat. the study was done in mountainous area of alborz in iran. a total of 20 individual shrub...

I evaluated the hypothesis that leaf-cutting ants are more common in early successional forests than in old-growth forests because pioneer species, which dominate in early successional habitats, appear more susceptible to leafcutters than shade-tolerant species, which dominate primary forests (palatable forage hypothesis). The relative importance of pioneer and shade-tolerant species as plant r...

High herbivore pressure is expected to benefit unpalatable species that co-occur with palatable browsed species. However, for five unpalatable understory species we found no evidence of benefit from deer browse. Detailed studies of one species in natural populations, Arisaema triphyllum, revealed surprising changes in its population structure and demography: deer browse level on a palatable spe...

High-latitude plants are often more palatable to herbivores than low-latitude conspecifics. Does increased plant palatability lead to better herbivore performance? Our field and laboratory work investigated (A) whether high-latitude plants have traits indicating that they should be higher-quality foods for herbivores; (B) whether geographic differences in plant quality are more important than l...

Spatial distribution of palatable and unpalatable plants can influence the foraging behaviour of herbivores, thereby changing plant-damage probabilities. Moreover, the immediate proximity to certain plants can benefit other plants that grow below them, where toxicity or spines act as a physical barrier or concealment against herbivores. This paper presents the results of a multi-scale experimen...

We report evidence of hierarchical resource selection by large herbivores and plant neighbouring effects in a Mediterranean ecosystem. Plant palatability was assessed according to herbivore foraging decisions. We hypothesize that under natural conditions large herbivores follow a hierarchical foraging pattern, starting at the landscape scale, and then selecting patches and individual plants. A ...

The stress-gradient hypothesis predicts a higher frequency of facilitative interactions as resource limitation increases. Under severe resource limitation, it has been suggested that facilitation may revert to competition, and identifying the presence as well as determining the magnitude of this shift is important for predicting the effect of climate change on biodiversity and plant community d...

existence of pollen and nectar plants in vegetation composition of natural environment is essential for apiculture as one of the utilization types in multiple uses of environmental resources. therefore, development of this strategy based on indigenous knowledge will increase stakeholder income, which can decrease stocking rate based on range grazing capacity. due to high dependence of bee to pl...

Facilitation among plants mediated by grazers occurs when an unpalatable plant extends its protection against grazing to another plant. This type of indirect facilitation impacts species coexistence and ecosystem functioning in a large array of ecosystems worldwide. It has nonetheless generally been understudied so far in comparison with the role played by direct facilitation among plants. We a...