The mechanisms of the depletion of alpine meadow seed banks due to nitrogen enrichment

Miaojun Ma, Gansu Gannan Grassland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, discusses his article: Multiple mechanisms associated with loss of seed bank diversity under nitrogen enrichment Background Anthropogenic activities have caused an increase in atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, which threatens the…

Viable seed dispersal after fire depends on highly variable flowering and cone production

Authors Robert Whelan and David Ayre provide further insight into their recently published Journal of Ecology article: Long inter‐fire intervals do not guarantee a large seed bank in a serotinous shrub (Banksia spinulosa Sm.) Find out how fires influence the seedling recruitment of an Australian shrub. This research is especially poignant in the wake of the…

Editor’s Choice: Volume 107 Issue 6

The Editor’s Choice article for Volume 107 Issue 6 is a study by Quintana‐Ascencio et al., which looks at the role of seed dormancy, dispersal and fire history on plant population dynamics, distribution and abundance. Associate Editor, Shurong Zhou, discusses this new research paper in more detail. Biodiversity conservation and management depend on our understanding of population dynamics at…