<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sala, Osvaldo E</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Maestre, Fernando T</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Grass – woodland transitions : determinants and consequences for ecosystem functioning and provisioning of services</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Journal of Ecology</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">climate change</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ecosystem services</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ecosystem–water dynamics</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">fire</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Grasslands</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">inva- sion ecology</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">primary production</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">shrublands</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">vegetation shifts</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">woody-plant encroachment</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2014</style></year></dates><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">102</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1357-1362</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1. A large fraction of grasslands world-wide is undergoing a rapid shift from herbaceous to woody- plant dominance, while in other parts of the world, the opposite transition from woodland to grassland is the dominant phenomenon. These shifts have received increasing attention in the ecological litera- ture during the last two decades due to their global extent and their impacts on ecosystem functioning. 2. This Special Feature includes a series of contributions on key topics within the study of grass– woodland transitions, including three articles addressing the drivers of these vegetation shifts and another three evaluating their ecological consequences. These articles, which include reviews, mod- elling and empirical studies, highlight the multiplicity of approaches and spatial scales being cur- rently used when studying grass–woodland transitions. 3. The first articles focus on the role of fire in driving the dynamics of mesic grasslands in the USA, on the effects of climate change on the transition zones between treeless vegetation, savanna and forest in tropical and subtropical Americas and on the role of the internal structure of vegetation as a determinant of grassland–woodland transitions. The articles devoted to exploring the conse- quences include a modelling study on the ecohydrological consequences of shrub removal in wes- tern North America and an empirical study aiming at understanding how abiotic and biotic attributes influence above-ground net productivity across Patagonian grasslands and shrublands, as well as a review of the consequences of brush management on the provision of ecosystem services. 4. Synthesis. Identifying the best actions to avoid or take advantage of grass–woodland transitions requires a mechanistic understanding of both the drivers of these shifts and their ecological conse- quences. The collection of reviews, empirical and modelling studies included in this Special Feature contributes to forecasting how ongoing global change will affect grass–woodland transitions and their consequences for the provisioning of ecosystem services from drylands, which account for a large fraction of Earth’s surface.</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Cayuela, Luis</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Rey Benayas, Jose Maria</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Maestre, Fernando T</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Escudero, Adrián</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Early environments drive diversity and floristic composition in Mediterranean old fields: Insights from a long-term experiment</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ACTA OECOLOGICA-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Ecological stability</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Initial floristic composition</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Vegetation dynamics</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Woody vegetation cover</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2008</style></year></dates><publisher><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">GAUTHIER-VILLARS/EDITIONS ELSEVIER</style></publisher><pub-location><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">23 RUE LINOIS, 75015 PARIS, FRANCE</style></pub-location><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">34</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">311-321</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">While many studies have explored how previous and current environmental conditions affect the performance of individual organisms, their relative importance as drivers of current diversity and composition of communities is virtually unknown. We evaluated the response of herbaceous communities to previous (experienced during early establishment) and current environmental conditions by comparing their composition and diversity in an abandoned Mediterranean cropland planted with Quercus ilex subsp. ballota L. seedlings. These seedlings received different experimental treatments (summer irrigation and artificial shading) during the first three years after planting, and were interrupted from then on. We tested two complementary hypotheses: (i) the previous environments experienced by the herbaceous communities during their establishment have a long-term carry-over effect on diversity and composition of species assemblages and (ii) these communities are influenced by their current environment, particularly by the woody layer and the soil conditions. Overall, we observed an important contribution of initial environmental conditions in determining the current diversity and composition of herbaceous communities. Amelioration of environmental conditions, particularly water stress, during community establishment resulted in a decrease in alpha and beta diversity, possibly as a consequence of decreasing environmental heterogeneity. Previous environments accounted for 26.3% of the explained variance in current community composition. Annuals, legumes and forbs also responded significantly to previous environments, which explained 27.9%, 36.2% and 30.1%, respectively, of the variance in their composition. Our results suggest that those species present at a particular site early in succession pre-empt the site and influence vegetation dynamics on that site for a long time. This study provides important insights for understanding the mechanisms underlying the ecological effects of issues like cropland reforestation and woody vegetation encroachment. (C) 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.</style></abstract></record></records></xml>