Surrounding plant community and soil measurements ...

A detailed description of the field experiment is presented in the article. At the end of August 2011, plant community measurements were made in each plot, to estimate the structural complexity of the community. For each plant community, the percentage cover of plant species was recorded in two 1 m2 quadrants along a diagonal transect within each plot. The total percentage cover can exceed 100% because plants in a community can overlap. The height of the vegetation was measured using the vertical drop disc method (Stewart et al. 2001). The disc weighed 200 g, had a diameter of 300 mm, and was... Mehr ...