Despite the fact that plants make up 80% of biomass on Earth, sociology rarely examines human- plant relationships. Human societies are inherently dependent on plants, most obviously as the basis of ...food supply, ecosystems, atmospheric and climate regulation, and water cycles, as well as for sources of oxygen, medicine, fuel, and fibre. Society, or terrestrial animal life for that matter, could not exist without plants. Based on this recognition, here we lay the foundations for sociological plant studies, a field that studies the dialectical relationship between human societies and plants. We ground this foundation in a realist-materialist perspective that recognises the ontological independence of plants and does not reduce them to human social constructions. We show how considering plants can help us to understand the emergence of civilisations, state formation, and mechanisation of production at the macro-level, and how human-plant interactions shape everyday life at a more micro-level. We present our formulation of sociological plant studies as a starting point for future research.
We present LandS, a new version of the Gras Model. The Gras Model was designed to simulate grassland development at local scales based on Ecological Indicator Values (EIVs) for different grassland ...management practices. In LandS, we complemented the existing set of EIVs with a second set representing several environmental factors: light, moisture, temperature, soil pH and nitrogen, also known as Ellenberg's EIVs. These new EIVs make the model more versatile and applicable to a wide range of sites across Central Europe. For example, it can be used on sites with dry or moist, acidic or calcareous soils in grassland or forest environments. We have also improved the implementation of the model by introducing version control and moving species and site-specific variables to data input files, so that species sets can be easily swapped for application in new study sites. We demonstrate the use and behavior of the model in two simulation experiments exploring interactions mediated by Ellenberg's EIVs, using input files to apply the model to different landscapes. We also provide detailed guidance on species selection and calibration, and discuss model limitations.•LandS is an improved version of the GraS Model for simulating vegetation development at the local scale.•It includes Ellenberg-like indicator values for environmental variables for inverse prediction of species occurrence and composition.•The model is now flexible enough to be used for study sites throughout Central Europe, using data input files for species initialization.
Turkey is an extraordinary country in terms of plant species diversity. Besides this diversity, Anatolian lands were hosted by many civilizations. The combination of these two factors has also ...contributed to a wealth of human-plant use. The plants have been used for different purposes in different civilizations such as food, medical, instrument construction, fuel, paint, feed, incense. The use of plants today, especially medical and aromatic plants, continues to increase. According to the Flora of Turkey, which plant is known to grow in which region. However, there is insufficient information on the status of plant populations. Plant sociology studies can give us satisfactory information about plant populations. In this study, Medicinal and aromatic plants of Esenli (Giresun) Forest Planning Unit, located between Alucra and Yağlıdere districts, were investigated based on plant sociology. During this study; 20 sample plots were taken. The vegetation study was carried out according to Braun-Blanquet's method. Totally, 226 naturally growing plant taxa were identified. Of these plants, 10 taxa (%4,4) belong to Pteridophyta division and 216 taxa belong to Spermatophyta division. 3 taxa (%1,3) belong to Gymnospermae subdivision, while the others 213 (%94,3) are Angiospermae subdivision. As a result of this study, 110 plant taxa which have medicinal and aromatic traits were determined in the area. These plants are 3 taxa Pteridophyta, 3 taxa from Gymnospermae and the rest from Angiospermae (104 taxa). Families, scientific names, Turkish names, usable parts and traditional uses were given in the presentation.
Short essential notions of dynamic-catenal phytosociology are defined as the basis of landscape vegetation science. The most important units - vegetation series, geoseries, permaseries and ...geopermaseries (sigmetum, geosigmetum, permasigmetum and permageosigmetum) - are discussed and synthesized in several figures.
We analyse and report a synthesis of a long-term project leading to the creation of a database of habitats of conservation interest in Tuscany (Italy). All available floristic and vegetation ...literature from 1960 to date and relating to the Tuscan territory, and all terrestrial and inland water (non-marine) Habitats of European Community Interest as listed in Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive present in Tuscany have been identified and taken into account. A total of 2,691 sites were attributed to 82 different conservation interest habitat types and were geo-localised and uploaded to the database. For each habitat site, threat and pressure factors are indicated and a quick expert-based assessment made on the basis of three parameters: rarity, vulnerability and a quality estimate. For the analysis, all database information was referred to a vectorial 10 × 10 km grid. The territorial distribution of habitats is discussed with respect to: the level of information available, the numbers of reports and the habitat-type concentration. The major threats and pressures affecting these Tuscan habitats are highlighted and discussed. Vegetation dynamics proved to be the most important natural/seminatural threat. Another important threat is invasion by/competition with other organisms, mainly invasive alien species. Among anthropic threats, the management of riparian and aquatic vegetation together with water management all strongly affect many habitat types with links to wetlands. Infrastructures, particularly those connected with tourism and recreation, are an important threat factor especially in coastal areas. Some positive effects of certain anthropic pressures are also illustrated. Lastly, some actions to improve habitat knowledge, evaluation and conservation are suggested.
This study provides the first contribution to the knowledge of the non-calcareous grasslands of the arenaceous sector of the Monti Sibillini National Park (central Italy). We conducted 55 relevés ...using the Braun-Blanquet phytosociological method and analysed the ecology of plant communities by Redundancy analysis using topographic variables and Ellenberg Indicator Values as predictors. We identified nine plant communities, belonging to four classes. Communities of
and
were found on acidic soils at higher elevations, those of
were mainly associated with steeper south-facing slopes, while
communities were associated with low altitudes and gentle slopes, semi-flat lands, and high soil nutrient and moisture values. We recorded a total of 410 taxa at the species and subspecies level, representing about 20% of the flora of the Monti Sibillini National Park. Some of these are of high conservation interest, e.g.
,
,
, and
. Eight species are new to the flora of Sibillini National Park.
Establishing shelterbelts for field protection is one of the rediscovered agroforestry practices in Europe and Hungary. Several studies have focused on the effects of these plantations on ...agricultural production. Prior scholarship reveals that shelterbelts enhance the diversity of bird and insect communities but generally fail to consider herbaceous cover. Our study aimed to describe the herbaceous vegetation in shelterbelts of different origins, tree species composition, and land management. We investigated surveys in four agricultural landscapes of North West Hungary, where the intensity of the landscape transformation is different. The diversity and species composition of the herbaceous vegetation were analyzed, including plant sociology and forest affinity. Our results highlight the importance of landscape history in herbaceous flora. Shelterbelts planted on cultivated without an immediate connection to former woody vegetation soil are not appropriate for the appearance of forest-related herbaceous species, regardless of tree species composition or the extent of the shelterbelt. On the contrary, the remnants of former woody vegetation are refuges for those herbaceous species that are very slow at colonizing new plantations. These findings expose that protecting existing woody areas is an essential task of agricultural land management.
Between 1925 and 1980, landscape ecology underwent important changes through the gradual imposition of the view from above, through the uses of aerial photography. A new concept emerged, “the ...smallest unit of landscape,” also called ecotope and land unit, expressing a direct visual grasp of the landscape. This article compares the view from above as introduced and promoted by geographers Carl Troll and Isaak Zonneveld, with its (problematic) history vis-à-vis a school of ecology, i.e., plant sociology, led by Josias Braun-Blanquet and Reinhold Tüxen. This school’s internal struggles with balancing the physiognomic gaze (at the ground) and numerical methods are discussed. In comparison, the geographers based themselves on the mechanical objectivity of standardized aerial surveys, whereas the plant sociologists relied on their subjective expert judgment of plant recognition together with the structural objectivity of their numerical methods. An important communality of both schools was their inductive building of a landscape from its constituent landscape fragments. Landscape fragments were identified through abstraction and categorization, emanating from a taxonomical style of science.
Richard Hansen and modern planting design Körner, Stefan; Bellin-Harder, Florian; Huxmann, Nora
Journal of landscape architecture (Wageningen, Netherlands),
01/2016, Letnik:
11, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Richard Hansen's planting design, following garden habitats, is said to be an approach equally uniting ecology and design (Fig. 1). Common opinion understands ecological planting design as utilizing ...only native plants-an approach often seen as having been rooted in National Socialist ideology. This, however, is a misconception, which will be demonstrated by discussing Alwin Seifert's ideas of bodenständig (down-to-earth) planting design. Consequently, through his concept of garden habitats, Hansen implements the requirements of Bodenständigkeit ('down-to-earthedness'). In addition to functionality, this includes in particular the integration of foreign species of plants within horticulture through the use of plant sociology. This provided Hansen with scientific backing for his planting design in the garden. His concept differs significantly from approaches of other important personalities in German planting design, such as Willy Lange, Alwin Seifert, or the subsequent Nature Garden movement of Le Roy or Urs Schwarz. To understand the originality of Hansen's theory it is necessary to discuss his use of the term Bodenständigkeit-a term relevant for the time in which he operated. Garden habitats can be discussed in the context of landscape character (as in the works of Willy Lange), or under the relevance of site conditions in the contemporary meaning of the term (soil, water, climate) as used by Hansen (Fig. 2). Although Hansen declares native plants as bodenständig, just as his teacher Tüxen did, he proclaimed that foreign plants should be introduced in the garden to create artificial plant(ed) communities, derived from the examples of natural plant associations and thereby decreasing maintenance work. Hansen conducted extensive long-term plant trials to be able to differentiate garden habitats for numerous perennial plants. Hansen's main work, Die Stauden und ihre Lebensbereiche (Perennials and Their Garden Habitats), originates from 1981; it is still in print today and was translated into English in 1993.
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