Forty years of change in Scottish grassland vegetation: Increased richness, decreased diversity and increased dominance

摘要

Assessing effectiveness of international biodiversity targets requires long-term monitoring of species to identify changes in their abundance. Grasslands cover large areas of many countries, provide high levels of provisioning ecosystem services and are an important habitat for many species. While grasslands are often anthropogenic in nature, human-induced environmental perturbations are acknowledged threats to their biodiversity and functioning. Using a repeat survey of grassland plots in Scotland, UK we identified long-term changes in community composition and species indices over a 40 year period (1973-2013).