We shall, in this last chapter, treat the floristic-sociological or Braun-Blanquet approach to classification and interpretation of communities.

The Braun-Blanquet Approach

This paper is a catalogue of all syntaxa from class to association ever described and recognized in Spain and Portugal (Iberian Peninsula, Balearic, Madeira, Azorean and Canary Islands), according with Braun-Blanquet approach (Braun-Blanquet 1964, Dierschke 1994) and the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature (Weber, Moravec & Theurillat 2000). The literature contents near all the publications cited in this paper, particularly those of portuguese and spanish syntaxa authors. The "Syntaxonomical Checklist of Spain and Portugal", prepared during the last ten years as a bassis of the Luso-Hispaniae Prodromus of the Plant Communities (in progress), has been reciprocally utilized to carry out the "Syntaxonomical Project of European Community Countries" (Biondi, Gehu, Grabherr, Pott & Rivas-Martinez, in progress), to assist the European Vegetation Survey (Rodwell, Mucina, Pignatti, Schaminee & Chytrý 1997), and to develop the phytosociological knowledge in the interpretation and evaluation of European Habitat Directive for conservation and management purposes

Syntaxonomical checklist of vascular plant communities of Spain and Portugal to association level

Summary

1
There is growing concern about declining species diversity in agro-ecosystems caused by agricultural intensification at the field and landscape scales. Species diversity of arable weeds is classically related to local abiotic factors and resource conditions. It is believed to be enhanced by organic farming but the surrounding landscape may also be important.

2
This study assessed the ruderal vegetation, seed bank and seed rain in 24 winter wheat fields to examine the relative importance of organic vs. conventional farming and landscape complexity for weed species diversity. Diversity was partitioned into its additive components: alpha, beta and gamma diversity. Percentage arable land in a circular landscape sector of 1-km radius around each study site was used as an indicator of landscape complexity.

3
Weed species diversity in the vegetation, seed rain and seed bank was higher in organic than in conventional fields. Increasing landscape complexity enhanced species diversity more strongly in the vegetation of conventional than organic fields, to the extent that diversity was similar in both farming systems when the landscape was complex. Species diversity of the seed bank was increased by landscape complexity irrespective of farming system.

4
Overall diversity was largely determined by the high heterogeneity between and within the fields (beta diversity). Only in very few cases could higher weed species diversity in complex landscapes and/or organic farming be related to species dependence on landscape or farming system.

5
Synthesis and applications. Local weed species diversity was influenced by both landscape complexity and farming system. Species diversity under organic farming systems was clearly higher in simple landscapes. Conventional vegetation reached similar diversity levels when the surrounding landscape was complex through the presence of refugia for weed populations. Consequently, agri-environment schemes designed to preserve and enhance biodiversity should not only consider the management of single fields but also of the surrounding landscape.

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01072.x

The effects of landscape complexity on arable weed species diversity in organic and conventional farming

Preface. 1. Lipids in Photosynthesis: An Overview N. Murata, P.-A. Siegenthaler. 2. Structure, Distribution and Biosynthesis of Glycerolipids from Higher Plant Chloroplasts J. Joyard, et al. 3. Membrane Lipids in Algae J.L. Harwood. 4. Membrane Lipids in Cyanobacteria H. Wada, N. Murata. 5. Membrane Lipids in Anoxygenic Photosynthetic Bacteria C. Benning. 6. The Physical Properties of Thylakoid Membrane Lipids and Their Relation to Photosynthesis W.P. Williams. 7. Molecular Organization of Acyl Lipids in Photosynthetic Membranes of Higher Plants P.-A. Siegenthaler. 8. Role of Acyl Lipids in the Function of Photosynthetic Membranes in Higher Plants P.-A. Siegenthaler, A. Tremolieres. 9. Reconstitution of Photosynthetic Structures and Activities with Lipids A. Tremolieres, P.-A. Siegenthaler. 10. Lipid-Protein Interactions in Chloroplast Protein Import B. de Kruijff, et al. 11. Development of Thylakoid Membranes with Respect to Lipids E. Selstam. 12. Triglycerides as Products of Photosynthesis. Genetic Engineering, Fatty Acid Composition and Structure of Triglycerides D. Facciotti, V. Knauf. 13. Genetic Engineering of the Unsaturation of Membrane Glycerolipid: Effects on the Ability of the Photosynthetic Machinery to Tolerate Temperature Stress Z. Gombos, N. Murata. 14. A Genetic Approach to Investigating Membrane Lipid Structure and Photosynthetic Function P. Vijayan, et al. 15. Involvement of Chloroplast Lipids in the Reaction of Plants Submitted to Stress J.L. Harwood. Index.

Lipids in photosynthesis: structure, function and genetics.

Genes, species and ecosystems are often considered to be assets. The need to ensure a sufficient diversity of this asset is being increasingly recognised today. Asset managers in banks and insurance companies face a similar challenge. They are asked to manage the assets of their investors by constructing efficient portfolios. They deliberately make use of a phenomenon observed in the formation of portfolios: returns are additive, while risks diversify. This phenomenon and its implications are at the heart of portfolio theory. Portfolio theory, like few other economic theories, has dramatically transformed the practical work of banks and insurance companies. Before portfolio theory was developed about 50 years ago, asset managers were confronted with a situation similar to the situation the research on biodiversity faces today. While the need for diversification was generally accepted, a concept that linked risk and return on a portfolio level and showed the value of diversification was missing. Portfolio theory has closed this gap. This article first explains the fundamentals of portfolio theory and transfers it to biodiversity. A large part of this article is then dedicated to some of the implications portfolio theory has for the valuation and management of biodiversity. The last section introduces three development openings for further research.

Bio-folio: applying portfolio theory to biodiversity

Bestimmungsbuch der Pflanzengesellschaften Deutschlands

Die zwergstrauchreichen azidiphilen Pflanzengesellschaften Mitteldeutschlands

Handbuch der Segetalpflanzen Mitteleuropas

Im August 1968 wurde vom Botanischen Institut der Staatsuniversitat Ulan-Bator unter der Leitung von Olsih-chutag eine Expedition in die zentralen und westlichen Gebiete der Mongolischen Volksrepublik durchgefuhrt. Sie hatte das Ziel, die Moos- und Flechtenflora der bereisten Landschaften zu erforschen und damit einen Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Pflanzenwelt der West-Mongolei zu liefern. Wahrend der Expedition konnten von W. Schubert 398 Moosproben und von R. Schubert 672 Flechtenproben gesammelt werden. Die Bestimmung der Flechtenaufsammlung erbrachte 241 Neufunde fur die Mongolische Volksrepublik — darunter auch einige Neufunde fur Asien — und 92 Bestatigungen von Arten, die bereits fur die Mongolei durch die Arbeiten von Klement 1965, Vežda 1965, Schubert, Klement & Schamsran 1969 bekannt waren. Wenngleich fur die Mongolische Volksrepublik in Zukunft, vor allem aus den ariden Gebieten der sudlichen und ostlichen Mongolei, noch zahlreiche Neufunde zu erwarten sind, so gestattet das vorliegende Material doch einen ersten groben Uberblick uber die Flechtenflora des Landes.



Under the leadership of the head of the botanical department from the University of Ulan-Bator, Mr. Olsih-chutag, an expedition was started to the central and western landscapes of the Mongolian Republic in august 1968. The scientific aim of this expedition was to discover the moss- and lichen-flora of these landscapes.



During the expedition 672 lichens have been collected. The determination results 241 new-records for the mongolian area, some of these species were new for Asia, and 92 verifications of species, which were known by the publications of Klement 1965, Vežda 1965, Schubert, Klement & Schamsran 1969. Although for the Mongolian Republic in future, mainly from the arid landscapes of the southern and eastern Mongolia, many new-records can be expected, it is possible to give a first conspect of the lichen-flora of Mongolia by the publicated material.

Rudolf Schubert

Papers

Bestimmungsbuch der Pflanzengesellschaften Deutschlands

Die zwergstrauchreichen azidiphilen Pflanzengesellschaften Mitteldeutschlands

Handbuch der Segetalpflanzen Mitteleuropas

Beitrag zur Flechtenflora der Mongolischen Volksrepublik

Beiträge zur Pflanzengeographie des Westhimalajas