On the trails of Josias Braun-Blanquet : changes in the grasslands of the inneralpine dry valleys during the last 70 years. First results from the 11th EDGG Field Workshop in Austria

The 11th EDGG Field Workshop was held from 6 to 13 July 2018 in Austria. Its aim was to revisit dry grasslands in the inneralpine dry valleys of Austria that were investigated in the late 1950s by Braun-Blanquet and to collect high-quality biodiversity data from these. Sampling was carried out in the Styrian Mur Valley, the Virgen Valley in East Tyrol, the Upper Inn Valley in the Austrian Eastern Alps, and Griffen in Carinthia. In total, we sampled 15 EDGG biodiversity plots and 37 additional 10 m2 plots. Butterfly data were record-ed in four biodiversity plots and two additional plots. We found maximum richness values of 49, 68 and 95 vascular plant species on 1, 10 and 100 m², while the corresponding values for the complete terrestrial vegetation were 56, 73 and 106 species. Maximum butterfly richness was 19, but it was in general quite low, and generalists dominated. Some of the areas originally studied by Braun-Blanquet were no longer dry grasslands and only a few sites remained largely unchanged. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) showed profound changes between the old (1950s and 1980s) and our current plots. Without grazing or other human land management activities, only very small cores of rocky dry grassland could survive in the comparatively humid Austrian inneralpine valleys. Finally, the sampled data raise questions about the syntaxonomic position of some of the grasslands, which needs to be addressed in a more comprehensive study, which is planned as the next step

Priorities in journal selection for authors, reviewers, editors, librarians and science funders

With this Forum contribution I wish to shed light on the problematic developments in scientific publishing resulting from the strong push of science funders towards gold open access (OA). This has given rise to numerous “predatory” journals, that maximise profit at the expense of scientific quality. With a bibliometric analysis in the field of ecology I demonstrate that over the period 2014–2022 the publication numbers in “predatory” OA journals have grown exponentially (+44% annually), while in all other journal types, article numbers were stagnating or even decreasing since a few years. Then I highlight how different OA publication models from society-owned journals to publisher-owned “predatory” journals, differ in the prices authors pay and how the income is split between effective costs, pure profit and money transferred back to science. To help with the recognition of the different journal types, I provide a list journals in the fields of ecology and organismal botany that are owned by academic societies, as well as a list of criteria to recognize “predatory” journals. Authors, reviewers and editors should consider carefully where they submit papers or provide volunteer service. My suggestion is to prioritize society-owned journals, while avoiding cooperation with “predatory” journals. Science funders and libraries have played a major role in the negative developments reviewed in this paper, but at the same time they have the capacity to change the course, mainly by two steps: In the short term they should link the payment of article processing charges (APCs) to strict quality criteria, while in the medium term, they should overcome the gold OA system towards a diamond OA system that would avoid the inflation of low-quality publications and remove barriers not only from readers, but also from authors, while at the same time likely reducing the overall costs. Abbreviations: APC = article processing charge; AVS = Applied Vegetation Science; IAVS = International Association for Vegetation Science; COVID-19 = Coronavirus disease 2019; DOAJ = Directory of Open Access Journals; JIF = 2-year Journal Impact Factor of the Web of Science; JVS = Journal of Vegetation Science; OA = open access; VCS = Vegetation Classification and Survey; WoS = Web of Science Core Collection

Alpine grassland vegetation at Gornergrat (Canton of Valais, Switzerland) : vegetation mapping for environ-mental planning

Alpine landscapes are increasingly used by tourism. At the highly frequented Gornergrat in Switzerland there was a need to develop a concept to demerge the paths of hikers and mountain bikers and thus enable a conflict-free use for all user groups. The present study aimed at providing vegetation maps of the sensible areas at Gornergrat to derive recommendations for the planning and restoration of the new trail network. For this purpose, we sampled 32 vegetation plots (10 m²). These were then subjected to TWINSPAN classification, and the derived five units characterized by their diagnostic species based on standardized phi-values. We used ANOVA to test for differences of these units with regard to environmental parameters. The five distinguished vegetation units were assigned to syntaxa down to the alliance level. Finally, a mapping key was derived from the synoptic table to allow the delimitation of units in the field, which resulted in two vegetation maps. We found protected habitats and vascular plant species, as well as a species of the Red List of vascular plants in the study area. Especially at the Riffel Lake, the area has striking disturbances of vegetation due to trampling, which has increased significantly in the last 30 years. For the Gornergrat concept we thus recommend (i) to make the disturbed vegetation at the eastern lake shore inaccessible to visitors, (ii) to restore this part with low-intensity measures and (iii) not to lead the planned new changes through sensitive areas (snow beds and fens)

Vegetation classification goes open access

With this inaugural editorial, we introduce Vegetation Classification and Survey (VCS), the new gold open access (OA) journal of the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS). VCS is devoted to vegetation classification at any spatial and organisational scale and irrespective of the methodological approach. It welcomes equally case studies and broad-scale syntheses as well as conceptual and methodological papers. Two Permanent Collections deal with ecoinformatics (including the standardised Database Reports published in collaboration with GIVD, the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases) and phytosociological nomenclature (edited in collaboration with the respective IAVS Working Group). We discuss the advantages of OA as well as challenges and drawbacks caused by the way it is currently implemented, namely “pay for flaws” and publication impediments for scientists without access to funding. Being a society-owned journal, editorial decisions in VCS are free from economic considerations, while at the same time IAVS offers significant reductions to article processing charges (APCs) for authors with financial constraints. However, it is recognised that sustainable OA publishing will require that payment systems are changed from author-paid APCs to contracts between the science funding agencies and publishers or learned societies, to cover the production costs of journals that meet both quality and impact criteria

Proposal (31) to conserve the name Brachypodietalia pinnati Korneck 1974 as a nomen conservandum with a conserved type

After a nomenclatural review of the available names for the order of mesoxeric grasslands within the class Festuco-Brometea, we propose the conservation of the name Brachypodietalia pinnati (with a conserved type) against the names Brometalia erecti and Scorzoneretalia villosae. In syntaxonomic concepts not accepting a single order for the mesoxeric grasslands of Europe, the latter names could still be used, as they are based on different nomenclatural types. (31) Brachypodietalia pinnati Korneck 1974: 123 nom. cons. propos. Typus: Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati Hadač & Klika in Klika and Hadač 1944 (lectotypus; Dengler et al. 2003: 608; typus cons. propos.). (=) Brometalia erecti W. Koch 1926: 20. Typus: Bromion erecti W. Koch 1926: 121 (holotypus). (=) Scorzoneretalia villosae Kovačević 1959: 7 Typus: Scorzonerion villosae Horvatić ex Kovačević 1959 (holotypus) Syntaxonomic reference: Mucina et al. (2016). Abbreviations: ICPN = International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature, 4th edn (Theurillat et al. 2021)

IUNR Campus-Tag der Biodiversität : erste "Volkszählung der Biodiversität" auf dem Campus Grüental der ZHAW Wädenswil

Jagen, fangen, pflücken, bestimmen, auflisten – das war die Devise am IUNR Campus-Tag Biodiversität, der am 6. Juni 2019 erstmals stattfand. Und zwar alles, was auf dem Gelände des Campus Grüental der ZHAW in Wädenswil an Pflanzen und Tieren an diesem Tag zu finden war. Die rund 80 Teilnehmenden, je zur Hälfte UI-Studierende und IUNR-Mitarbeitende, hatten die Qual der Wahl zwischen 11 verschiedenen Artengruppen, bei denen sie mitmachen konnten