Sustainability is a grand challenge of our time. While there is a universal recognition that
sustainability includes social, economic, and environmental components, the relationship …

Background The reasons that clonal plants shift between sexual and clonal reproduction
have persisted as a knowledge gap in ecological literature. We hypothesized that clonal …

Background and aims In deserts, some shrubs can facilitate their associated herbaceous
communities. Here we tested the hypothesis that such a positive effect of shrubs may be …

Questions Woody‐shrub encroachment affects community structure and composition.
However, most studies focus on their effects on understorey plant communities, and the …

Shrub species have increased in density and cover in desertification areas, however, the
role of sandy habitats in contributing to the expansion of shrubs is poorly understood …

As the increases of climatic aridity and grazing intensity, shrubs play an increasingly
important role in grassland ecosystem in arid and semi-arid regions, and its abundance also …

Plant can alter reproductive strategies for adaptation to different environments. However,
alterations in flowering strategies and sexual allocation for the same species growing in …

草原灌丛化已成为全球干旱和半干旱地区的普遍现象, 关于灌木扩张对草地土壤固氮微生物群落
的影响及其机制尚不清楚. 小叶锦鸡儿是广泛生长于内蒙古草原的豆科灌木, 研究其对土壤固氮 …

In many arid ecosystems, vegetation frequently occurs in high-cover patches interspersed in
a matrix of low plant cover. However, theoretical explanations for shrub patch pattern …

Abstract Key message Mature Caragana stenophylla shrubs facilitated intraspecific sapling
establishment by two mechanisms: microhabitat amelioration and protection against …