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Diversity
Special Issues
Ecology and Restoration of Grassland
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Ecology and Restoration of Grassland

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 May 2025 | Viewed by 2443

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Xiaowei Guo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Restoration Ecology for Cold Region, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, China
Interests: grassland degradation; hydrologic process; water cycle; water conservation function
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Grasslands cover around 40% of the Earth’s surface, serve as an important global reservoir of biodiversity, and provide a series of ecosystem services, such as food production, carbon storage, and climate mitigation. However, the degradation of grasslands has increased dramatically in recent decades, which has indisputably led to severe consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Therefore, the restoration of degraded grassland is essential, not only in biodiversity and services improvement, but also for carbon sequestration and global warming mitigation. Currently, numerous recovery practices have been successfully implemented to alleviate degradation and increase vegetation cover in degraded grasslands, while most research on grassland restoration has focused on restoration practices rather than the underlying theoretical basis. Moreover, restoration goals have focused on aboveground restoration, while belowground is always ignored. Thus, systematic restoration considering multifunctions and multitrophic levels is strongly needed in future studies.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide a research platform to combine and synthesize recent research on degraded grassland restoration and management, as well as the development and utilization of ecological restoration theories. We kindly invite you to submit manuscripts with a focus on these related topics.

Dr. Xiaowei Guo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

 

Keywords

  • ecological restoration
  • active restoration
  • biodiversity
  • community assembly theory
  • species composition
  • grassland degradation
  • grassland management
  • soil carbon sequestration
  • seed addition
  • plant–soil feedback

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 1131 KiB  
Article
Effects of Hemiparasites in Grassland Restorations Are Not Universal
by Anna Scheidel and Victoria Borowicz
Diversity 2024, 16(2), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16020102 - 3 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1766
Abstract
Root hemiparasites infiltrate the vascular tissue of host roots to acquire water and nutrients, which often reduces host growth. Hemiparasites are postulated to be keystone species in grassland communities if they suppress dominant species and increase plant community biodiversity, and ecosystem engineers if [...] Read more.
Root hemiparasites infiltrate the vascular tissue of host roots to acquire water and nutrients, which often reduces host growth. Hemiparasites are postulated to be keystone species in grassland communities if they suppress dominant species and increase plant community biodiversity, and ecosystem engineers if they increase nutrient accessibility for surrounding species. We examined keystone effects by evaluating species richness and evenness in 1 m2 plots in a recent prairie restoration where Castilleja sessiliflora was naturally present or absent, and in a longer-established prairie restoration with or without Pedicularis canadensis. We examined ecosystem engineer effects by determining nitrate and phosphate concentrations under, 25 cm from, and 50 cm from hemiparasites, and in the center of hemiparasite-free plots. On the C. sessiliflora site, plots with the hemiparasites had higher species richness due to more forbs and higher floristic quality, consistent with the keystone species hypothesis. Soil phosphate levels were also greater in plots with C. sessiliflora present, consistent with the hypothesis of ecosystem engineering by this hemiparasite. In contrast, plots with/without P. canadensis showed no associations of any community metrics with the hemiparasite, and no correspondence between the presence of hemiparasites and soil nutrients. Although hemiparasites can increase grassland community heterogeneity, the effect is not universal, and the direction and strength of effects likely depends on local conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecology and Restoration of Grassland)
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