Experimental Studies on the Dispersal of Plants and Animals on Sheep in Calcareous Grasslands

Abstract

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Corrigendum to: New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide

“…More on methods: Fischer et al (1996); Römermann et al (2005aRömermann et al ( , 2005bRömermann et al ( , 2005c.…”

How do freshwater organisms cross the “dry ocean”? A review on passive dispersal and colonization processes with a special focus on temporary ponds

“…As an example, the seasonal movements of livestock (transhumance) traditionally occurring since centuries in many Mediterranean countries may have played an important role in the dispersal of aquatic organism in this area even though few existing studies on this topic are dealing with terrestrial plants and animals (e.g. Fischer et al, 1996;Auffret et al, 2012). Moreover, pastoral activity all around the world is not the only human-driven activity which may enhance organism dispersal.…”

High potential of sub-Mediterranean dry grasslands for sheep epizoochory

“…investigations of fur by hand or by brushing with a fine brush [1,54,55]. In contrast to these methods, our three different sampling methods are destructive methods (shearing) and can only be applied across larger time-intervals to the same animal.…”

“…Sheep epizoochory is an important dispersal factor that also has implications for grassland conservation and restoration [1,25,44,56]. The long-distance dispersal potential of species within the present-day communities is positively associated with the amount of grassland in the historical landscape and with the continuity of grazing management [57].…”

“…Many threatened European ecosystems have resulted from low-intensity human activity over the centuries [1][2][3][4][5]. Huge areas in the Mediterranean Basin and its edges were severely deforested and converted to extensive dry and semi-dry grasslands in the early times of human settlement.…”