Lysenko 91,92 | Armin Macanović 93 | Parastoo Mahdavi 94 | Peter Manning 35 | Corrado Marcenò 13 | Vassiliy Martynenko 95 | Maurizio Mencuccini 96 | Vanessa Minden 97 | Jesper Erenskjold Moeslund 54 | Marco Moretti 98 | Jonas V. Müller 99 | Abstract Aims: Vegetation-plot records provide information on the presence and cover or abundance of plants co-occurring in the same community. Vegetation-plot data are spread across research groups, environmental agencies and biodiversity research centers and, thus, are rarely accessible at continental or global scales. Here we present the sPlot database, which collates vegetation plots worldwide to allow for the exploration of global patterns in taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity at the plant community level.Results: sPlot version 2.1 contains records from 1,121,244 vegetation plots, which comprise 23,586,216 records of plant species and their relative cover or abundance in plots collected worldwide between 1885 and 2015. We complemented the information for each plot by retrieving climate and soil conditions and the biogeographic context (e.g., biomes) from external sources, and by calculating community-weighted means and variances of traits using gap-filled data from the global plant trait database TRY. Moreover, we created a phylogenetic tree for 50,167 out of the 54,519 species identified in the plots. We present the first maps of global patterns of community richness and community-weighted means of key traits. Conclusions: The availability of vegetation plot data in sPlot offers new avenues for vegetation analysis at the global scale. K E Y W O R D S biodiversity, community ecology, ecoinformatics, functional diversity, global scale, macroecology, phylogenetic diversity, plot database, sPlot, taxonomic diversity, vascular plant, vegetation relevé 166 |

Present study was designed to verify which or if any of plastome loci is a hotspot region for mutations and hence might be useful for molecular species identification in feather grasses. 21 newly sequenced complete plastid genomes representing 19 taxa from the genus of Stipa were analyzed in search of the most variable and the most discriminative loci within Stipa. The results showed that the problem with selecting a good barcode locus for feather grasses lies in the very low level of genetic diversity within its plastome. None of the single chloroplast loci is polymorphic enough to play a role of a barcode or a phylogenetic marker for Stipa. The biggest number of taxa was successfully identified by the analysis of 600 bp long DNA fragment comprising a part of rbcL gene, the complete rbcL-rpl23 spacer and a part of rpl23 gene. The effectiveness of multi-locus barcode composed of six best-performing loci for Stipa (ndhH, rpl23, ndhF-rpl32, rpl32-ccsA, psbK-psbI and petA-psbJ) didn’t reach 70% of analyzed taxa. The analysis of complete plastome sequences as a super-barcode for Stipa although much more effective, still didn’t allow for discrimination of all the analyzed taxa of feather grasses.

We studied the effects of invasions by three plant species: Reynoutria japonica, Rudbeckia laciniata, and Solidago gigantea, on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities in habitats located within and outside river valleys. Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization, AMF abundance and species richness in soils were assessed in adjacent plots with invaders and native vegetation. We also quantified the performance (expressed as shoot mass, chlorophyll fluorescence, and the concentration of elements in shoots) of two common, mycorrhizal native plants, Plantago lanceolata and Trifolium repens, grown in these soils. The invasions of R. japonica, R. laciniata, and S. gigantea influenced AMF communities compared to native vegetation, but the changes depended on the mycorrhizal status of invaders. The effects of non-mycorrhizal R. japonica were the most pronounced. Its invasion reduced AMF abundance and species richness. In the plots of both mycorrhizal plants, R. laciniata and S. gigantea, we observed decreased AMF species richness in comparison to native vegetation. The AMF community alterations could be due to (i) depletion of organic C inputs to AMF in the case of R. japonica, (ii) plant secondary metabolites that directly inhibit or selectively stimulate AMF species, or (iii) changes in soil physicochemical properties induced by invasions. The effect of invasion on AMF abundance and species richness did not generally differ between valley and outside-valley habitats. The invasions affected photosynthetic performance and the concentrations of elements in the shoots of P. lanceolata or T. repens. However, the directions and magnitude of their response depended on both species identity and the mycorrhizal status of invaders.

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The genus Stipa L. comprises over 150 species, all native to the Old World, where they grow in warm temperate regions throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It is one of the largest genera in the family Poaceae in Middle Asia, where one of its diversity hotspots is located. However, identification of Middle Asian Stipa species is difficult because of the lack of new, comprehensive taxonomic studies including all of the species recorded in the region. We present a critical review of the Mid-Asian representatives of Stipa, together with an identification key and taxonomic listing. We relied on both published and unpublished information for the taxa involved, many of which are poorly known. For each taxon, we present a taxonomic and nomenclatural overview, habitat preferences, distribution, altitudinal range, and additional notes as deemed appropriate. We describe four new nothospecies: S. ×balkanabatica M. Nobis & P. D. Gudkova, S. ×dzungarica M. Nobis, S. ×pseudomacroglossa M. Nobis, S. ×subdrobovii M. Nobis & A. Nowak, one subspecies S. caucasica Schmalh. subsp. nikolai M. Nobis, A. Nobis & A. Nowak, and eight varieties: S. araxensis Grossh. var. mikojanovica M. Nobis, S. caucasica var. fanica M. Nobis, P. D. Gudkova & A. Nowak, S. drobovii (Tzvelev) Czerep. var. jarmica M. Nobis, S. drobovii var. persicorum M. Nobis, S. glareosa P. A. Smirn. var. nemegetica M. Nobis, S. kirghisorum P. A. Smirn. var. balkhashensis M. Nobis & P. D. Gudkova, S. richteriana Kar. & Kir. var. hirtifolia M. Nobis & A. Nowak, and S. ×subdrobovii var. pubescens M. Nobis & A. Nowak. Additionally, 12 new combinations, Achnatherum haussknechtii (Boiss.) M. Nobis, A. mandavillei (Freitag) M. Nobis, A. parviflorum (Desf.) M. Nobis, Neotrinia chitralensis (Bor) M. Nobis, S. badachschanica Roshev. var. pamirica (Roshev.) M. Nobis, S. borysthenica Klokov ex Prokudin var. anomala (P. A. Smirn.) M. Nobis, S. holosericea Trin. var. transcaucasica (Grossh.) M. Nobis, S. kirghisorum P. A. Smirn. var. ikonnikovii (Tzvelev) M. Nobis, S. macroglossa P. A. Smirn. var. kazachstanica (Kotuchov) M. Nobis, S. macroglossa var. kungeica (Golosk.) M. Nobis, S. richteriana var. jagnobica (Ovcz. & Czukav.) M. Nobis & A. Nowak, and S. zalesskii Wilensky var. turcomanica (P. A. Smirn.) M. Nobis are proposed, and the lectotypes for 14 taxa (S. arabica Trin. & Rupr., S. bungeana Trin. ex Bunge, S. caspia K. Koch, S. ×consanguinea Trin. & Rupr., S. effusa Mez, S. ×heptapotamica Golosk., S. jacquemontii Jaub. & Spach., S. kungeica Golosk., S. margelanica P. A. Smirn., S. richteriana, S. rubentiformis P. A. Smirn., S. sareptana A. K. Becker, S. tibetica Mez, and Timouria saposhnikovii Roshev.) are designated. In Middle Asia the genus Stipa comprises 98 taxa, including 72 species, four subspecies, and 22 varieties. Of the 72 species of feather grasses, 23 are of hybrid origin (nothospecies). In Middle Asia, feather grasses can be found at elevations from (0 to)300 to 4500(to 5000) m, but most are montane species. The greatest species richness is observed at altitudes between 1000 and 2500 m. Nineteen species grow above 3000 m, but only nine above 4000 m. The number of taxa (species and subspecies) growing in each country also varies considerably, with the highest noted in Kazakhstan (42), Tajikistan (40), and Kyrgyzstan (35). Of the 76 taxa of Stipa (species and subspecies) recorded in Middle Asia, 41 are confined to the region, with some being known only from a single country or mountain range. Distribution maps of selected species are provided.

This study assessed the effects of Reynoutria japonica, Rudbeckia laciniata, and Solidago gigantea invading sites within and outside river valleys on activity, biomass, and composition of soil microbial communities. Microbial properties such as soil respiration, urease and arylsulfatase activities, microbial biomass (based on substrate-induced respiration, or SIR, and phospholipid fatty acids, or PLFA), and community composition (based on PLFA) were determined. R. japonica encroached on sites characterized by the lowest values of microbiological properties and R. laciniata on sites with the highest microbiological quality. The effect of invasion on soil microbial properties depended on the invasive plant species. R. japonica significantly decreased microbial biomass, determined by both SIR and total PLFA, urease activity, fungal PLFA, fungal:bacterial PLFA ratio, gram-negative bacterial PLFA, and soil respiration in comparison to soil under adjacent native plant communities. Microbial community composition also differed between soils under R. japonica and those under native plants. In contrast, R. laciniata and S. gigantea did not influence most microbial properties, though S. gigantea significantly increased fungal PLFA and R. laciniata and S. gigantea increased fungal:bacterial PLFA ratio. The effects of plant invasion on microbial properties were basically similar in soils located within and outside river valleys, probably because initially (i.e., before invasion) soils from the two locations were largely similar in terms of basic properties such as texture, moisture, pH, C:N ratio, and most microbial properties.

Central Pamir-Alai, which is located almost entirely within the area of Tajikistan, is one of the world hotspots of biodiversity, harbouring ca. 4,300 species and 1,400 endemic plants. The first application of the IUCN Red List criteria reveals that among all native species occurring in Tajikistan 1,627 taxa (38.11%) are threatened, including 23 extinct (0.54%), 271 (6.34%) critically endangered (CR), 717 (16.79%) endangered (EN) and 639 (14.96%) vulnerable (VU). Globally, 20 taxa are extinct, 711 (16.65%) threatened, including 144 (3.37%) critically endangered, 322 (7.54%) endangered and 245 (5.73%) vulnerable. As we found positive correlation between human density and the number of threatened species, we suspect this indirect factor responsible for the species diversity decline. Extinct or threatened taxa have short blooming periods in spring or early summer, have limited geographical range and inhabit mainly valley bottoms at lower altitudes. Threatened taxa occupy extremely dry or wet habitats, such as deserts, semi-deserts, water reservoirs and fens. The group of threatened plants consists mostly of Central Asian, Indo-Indochinese and Arctic species. Ornamental plants have a higher extinction risk than other plants, but species collected for medicinal reasons and used for forage or food reveal lower retreatment rate. Our assessment fills a gap for important plant area and provides the data for raising the effectiveness of plant diversity conservation. Species diversity loss still remains one of the main imperatives of our time and therefore one of the main topics of scientific studies. Currently, hundreds of plant species and many habitat types are globally threatened 1,2. A range of factors are responsible for these declines, with human population growth, habitat fragmentation and climate change regarded as the most crucial 3. The continuing decline of plant diversity demands continuous research on evaluation of the conservation status of flora with the use of comprehensive International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria (www.iucnredlist.org). These criteria are widely recognised as the most comprehensive tool for assessing the global conservation status of species and categorising plants according to their estimated risk of extinction (e.g. Orsenigo et al. 4 , Maes et al. 5). As the most effective conservation actions, policies and law implementation take place at the national scale, numerous countries have established national lists of threatened species with the use of IUCN criteria and guidelines at regional levels (Rossi et al. 6). Despite some biases and shortcomings of scientific foundations 7 , red lists are widely accepted as an appropriate measure for setting conservation priorities. In some countries, including Tajikistan, they also have a legal status and directly influence the state governance of the plant diversity 8. However, based on the information available in the National Red List Database 9 , almost 20% of Eurasian countries still have no available red lists for vascular p...