Coat of earth - vegetation as an indicator for landscape functions

More than 80% of earth terrestrial surface is covered by more or less dense vegetation. The approximately 400,000 plant species are very unevenly distributed around the globe as well as within local vegetation types. The unevenness on local and regional scales is mainly due to differences in abiotic conditions. On broader scales climate and distribution boundaries are playing important roles. However, plant species also change site conditions by influencing soil development or water capacity. The study of plant species correlations to environmental conditions has a long tradition and has led to different approaches to use this information for landscape assessment and quantification of landscape functions.

I will present some methodological aspects, new data and tools and how bioindication can be used to assess greenhouse gas emissions and other important landscape functions.

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invited by Jürgen Dengler, Plant Ecology

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