BULLETIN 2017 / 4 CONTENTS 2 A Message from the Editor 3 60th Annual Symposium of the International Association for Vegetation Science 11 News from the Working Groups 16 A Worldwide Key to Plant Functional Types: a field test in the Sicilian Region 30 2018 IAVS Symposium 32 Dedication 37 Forum Stipecoma peltigera (Apocynaceae) is a common liana of Date of Publication: December 2017 Campos Rupestres in Goiás, Bahia and Minas Gerais, Brazil. © International Association for Vegetation Science ISSN 2415-184XWWW.IAVS.ORG (Online) IAVS BULLETIN 2017/4 PAGE 1 OF 40 DOI 10.21570/BUL-201712 © M. Janišová A Message from the Editor IAVS - a home for vegetation scientists of the world I know that vegetation scientists do not form a high proportion of most nations’ populations, but if one counts them from all around the world they likely form quite a large group. There are many people collecting, growing or just admiring plants and their assemblages, but not so many trying to understand or explain them despite them being so different from human beings. And in my opinion, this feature distinguishes vegetation scientists from other plant fans and hobbyists. I consider myself to be a vegetation scientist - I am fascinated by vegetation as a whole while admiring each individual part of its mosaic. Since my childhood this relation did not change in principle, it was only the scale that switched from the garden to the biome perspective, but I have always been happy sitting in the grass and looking around. Fortunately, I always had somebody around me to share my pleasure from this scientia amabile, being it my family members, schoolmates at the university or colleagues at the institute. But I remember how great it was to know also the vegetation scientists from abroad. And to recognize that, although their focus was on different vegetation types, their passion for vegetation has the same basis. In the IAVS I feel myself at home. Participation in its multiple activities such as fieldworks, excursions or conferences forms a substantial part of my working time each year. And I find this time well spent and shifting me in a proper direction. I wonder, how do you, the IAVS members, perceive the role of our scientific community and association in your professional and private lives? For this purpose, I prepared a few questions, which you are invited to answer by the monkey survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IAVS The link to the survey will be placed on our webpage and will stay open for several months. You can share your experiences and impressions on the fly, and we will inform you in one of the future bulletin issues about the survey results. Monika Janišová Editor of the IAVS Bulletin Brno 2015 WWW.IAVS.ORG IAVS BULLETIN 2017/4 PAGE 2 OF 40 DOI - 10.21570/BUL-201712-1 60th Annual Symposium of the International Association for Vegetation Science By Riccardo Guarino © R. Guarino The 60th Annual Symposium of the International biology, and urban ecology. This also included Association for Vegetation Science was held in applied research such as remote sensing, green Palermo, Italy, on June 20–24, 2017. The venue was infrastructures, ecosystem service valuation, nature the Botanical Garden of Palermo and the nearby conservation, management and restoration. NH Hotel, situated in the NE corner of the historical quarter “La Kalsa”. The name derives from the Besides the scientific sessions, the event comprised ), meaning a six-day pre-symposium excursion on the Sicilianةصلاخلا :Arabic name, Al-Khalisa (Arabic “the purest”. This was the centre of the Arab city coastal vegetation, a one-day pre-symposium conquered by the Normans in 1072 and many of its excursion to Cefalù, eight simultaneous mid- narrow, winding streets are clearly survivors of 11th- symposium excursions to different sites of Central century patterns. and Western Sicily, and a five-day post-symposium excursion on the Sicilian mountains (Etna, Nebrodi, The general topic of the symposium was “Vegetation Madonie). patterns in natural and cultural landscapes”, which offered an ideal framework for presenting and Participants discussing a great wealth of vegetation studies linking biological and cultural diversity on a wide The symposium saw 393 participants from 56 array of landscapes and land-use patterns at different countries across five continents. Twenty-three temporal and spatial scales. Most of the presented participants were supported by travel grants from the research linked with neighbouring disciplines, such IAVS Global Sponsorship Committee. The numbers as biogeography, palaeoecology, macroecology of participants by country (codified by ISO 3166-1 landscape history, global change biology, invasion alpha-3 standard) were as follows: WWW.IAVS.ORG IAVS BULLETIN 2017/4 PAGE 3 OF 40 ITA 54 IRN 3 The contributed talks and posters were presented in 14 standard sessions and six special sessions. The DEU 34 NAM 3 special sessions were proposed and convened by BRA 32 NZL 3 the symposium participants to map the current state JPN 19 SVN 3 of research on a selected topic or to cover selected sub-disciplines of vegetation science. CHN 18 ARM 2 CZE 18 BEL 2 Measured by the number of contributed presentations, USA 17 CYP 2 the most attractive standard oral and poster sessions were those on “Plant diversity patterns across ESP 15 IND 2 biomes, habitats and communities” (12 talks, 16 HUN 14 ISR 2 posters), “Functional diversity along environmental POL 14 TWN 2 gradients” (12 talks, 15 posters), “Vegetation, traits FRA 13 BGR 1 and ecosystem services valuation” (12 talks, 10 posters), “Vegetation classification, vegetation EST 10 DNK 1 management and restoration ecology” (12 talks, 9 RUS 10 DZA 1 posters), “Grasslands, land uses and environmental NOR 9 EGY 1 changes” (12 talks, 8 posters), and “Invasive species: past, present and future trends” (12 talks, AUS 8 GHA 1 8 posters). In addition, the sessions on “Vegetation PRT 8 IDN 1 dynamics and human-induced successions” and UKR 7 KOR 1 “Habitat monitoring and conservation assessment” ZAF 7 LTU 1 received 13 posters each. These contributor’s choices reflect quite well not only the main theme AUT 5 LVA 1 of the symposium, but also the current interest FIN 5 MKD 1 of vegetation scientists in plant functional traits, KAZ 5 NGA 1 diversity patterns and ecosystem services valuation, MEX 5 NPL 1 along with their commitment to applied topics related to nature conservation and habitat monitoring. SWE 5 PHL 1 CHE 4 ROU 1 Given the novel and multidisciplinary approaches presented in the session on “Green infrastructures GBR 4 SVK 1 and vegetation science”, the session conveners HRV 4 TZA 1 were invited by Valeria Rinaudo, publishing editor NLD 4 URY 1 of Springer, to propose a monographic contribution GRC 3 VNM 1 in the series Future City, based on the subjects presented during the symposium. TOTAL 393 Keynote Talks 8 Scientific Program and Presentations Talks 168 The programme of the symposium included eight Ordinary Sessions 126 plenary lectures, contributed talks running in four Special Sessions 42 parallel sessions and two poster sessions. The invited plenary speakers were Jiquan Chen (Michigan State Posters 136 University), Ulrich Deil (Fribourg University), Nigel Ordinary Sessions 116 Dunnett (Sheffield University), Brigitta Erschbamer, Special Sessions 22 (Innsbruck University), Ladislav Mucina (University of Western Australia), and David Ward (Kent State The overall symposium contributions consisted of: University). Keynote lectures were intended as introductory, broad overviews on the main topics of The program of the symposium is avalable here: the symposium. Plenary sessions also included two http://iavs.org/Meetings/Past-Meetings/2017- special events: (1) a lecture on “Biogeography of Program-Book.aspx social-ecological systems as a basis for predicting future change” by Terry Chapin, awardee of the The abstract book is available here: http://iavs.org/ Alexander von Humboldt Medal, with laudatio by Bob Meetings/Past-Meetings/2017-Abstract-Book.aspx Peet, and (2) a presentation of the second edition of Hardcopies of the abstract book can be ordered the Flora of Italy by Sandro Pignatti, past President through the on-line shop of the Palermo University and honorary member of the IAVS, with laudatio by press: https://www.unipapress.it/it/category/atti-e- Joop Schaminée. convegni_2/catalogo_12/ Contacts: [email protected] WWW.IAVS.ORG IAVS BULLETIN 2017/4 PAGE 4 OF 40 © R. Guarino Poster session from above. Awards Honorable Mentions: At each of its annual symposia IAVS recognizes the Liis Kasari: Good dispersers disappear from young scientists who have presented the best talks European calcareous grasslands following the and posters. This year the awards went to: payment of extinction debt Co-author: Aveliina Helm Oral Presentations Francesca Jaroszynska: Shifts in biotic interactions First prize: with climate change in semi-natural grasslands in Western Norway Francesco Petruzellis: Sampling intraspecific Co-authors: Vigdis Vandvik, Siri Lie Olsen, Kari variability in leaf functional traits: practical Klanderud suggestions to maximize collected information Co-authors: Chiara Palandrani, Tadeja Savi , Roberto Excursions Alberti , Andrea Nardini, Giovanni Bacaro The aim of the excursions was to become familiar Honorable Mentions: with the main vegetation units of Sicily, with a focus Mária Májekova: Temporal fluctuations and functional on its Central and Western parts. The flora of Sicily traits in high-diversity plant communities includes