OJS Software Workshop Report

This report summarizes the achievements of the OJS community members from Germany and Switzerland in the OJS Workshop in Heidelberg University Library, Germany from February 20 and 21, 2020. Main goal of the workshop was to share knowledge and challenges, conceptualize and document problem solving suggestions and collectively develop software in and around OJS. Participants worked on a variety of subjects including data import/export plugins, search functionality, containerization, long-time archiving and XML workflows in and around OJS and OMP. The workshop is a continuation of fruitful meetings within the German OJS user and developer community under auspices of OJS-de.net networ

Die Textualität der Kultur. Gegenstände, Methoden, Probleme der kultur- und literaturwissenschaftlichen Forschung

Im Zuge des sogenannten "cultural turn", der die traditionellen Geisteswissenschaften als Kulturwissenschaften neu bestimmte, sah sich auch die Literaturwissenschaft mit ganz neuen Ansprüchen konfrontiert: Statt sich wie bisher mit literarischen Werken oder Texten des täglichen Gebrauchs zu befassen, sollte sie plötzlich mittels interdisziplinärer Ansätze kulturelle Phänomene aller Art wie Rituale, politische Machtstrukturen oder gesellschaftliche Konstellationen analysieren und erklären. Eine Möglichkeit, das Verhältnis von Text und kulturellem Kontext zu denken, bildet die Vorstellung der Textualität der Kultur, die von Stephen Greenblatt, Louis Montrose und anderen Vertretern des New Historicism unter Bezugnahme auf den Kulturbegriff des Ethnologen Clifford Geertz entwickelt wurde. Geertz versteht Kultur als ein „Netzwerk von bedeutungstragenden Verknüpfungen“ (Geertz 1973), dem ein semiotischer, also ein textueller Charakter eigen ist. Dieses analytische Modell eröffnet die Möglichkeit eines bruchlosen Übergangs zwischen dem Text und dem ihn umgebenden Kontext – eines Übergangs, der in beide Richtungen funktioniert und zudem als "dynamisch" vorgestellt wird: Nicht nur wird der Text als Produkt kultureller Einflüsse angesehen und in einen bereits existierenden Kontext eingeordnet, auch dieser Kontext selbst ist als Zeichengewebe charakterisiert durch seine latenten Bedeutungspotentialen, die erst in der entsprechenden Lektüre aktualisiert und damit realisiert werden. Diese Auffassung von der Textualität der Kultur und der Kulturalität von Texten bildet die gemeinsame methodische Annahme der im vorliegenden Tagungsband versammelten Beiträge.After the "cultural turn" of the 1990s redefined the traditional humanities under the label “Cultural Studies”, literary studies were confronted with new challenges. Suddenly, instead of concentrating mainly on literary works or texts fromeveryday life, they were expected to analyse and explain cultural phenomena such as rituals, structures of power or social constellations, using interdisciplinary methods. One possibility for conceptualizing the relationship between text and context is the notion of the "textuality of culture". This idea was coined by Stephen Greenblatt, Louis Montrose, and other scholars of "the New Historicism," referring to a concept of culture first developed by the ethnologist Clifford Geertz. To Geertz, culture is a “web of significance” of a semiotic and textual nature (Geertz 1973). Assuming a dynamic rather than a static relationship, this analytical model allows for fluent interactions between text and context: No longer is a text just considered to be a product of cultural influences set within a given context. Instead, this context, being a web of signs, was understood to be itself "textual", creating unfulfilled potentials of meaning. Only by being ‘read’ and actualized, are these cultural meanings solidified andthus made real. These notions of the "culturality of texts" and the "textuality of culture" constitute the common methodological assumptions of all the articles assembled in this volume

Context-dependent assembly rules and the role of dominating grasses in semi-natural abandoned sub-Mediterranean grasslands

We investigated fine-scale patterns of trait-based community assembly in calcareous grasslands of the Central Apennines, Italy. We used the habitat template of environmentally contrasting north-facing and south-facing slopes of a mountain valley to understand mechanisms that contribute to species coexistence (i.e. the persistence of diversity) after cessation of previous land use practices. Firstly, we tested late successional dominating grasses (Sesleria nitida, Brachypodium rupestre and Bromopsis erectus) for their ability to serve as biotic filtering effects on the diversity of subordinate species in plant communities. Secondly, we analyzed fine-scale trait-based (i.e. species-level traits related to competition, regeneration, establishment, dispersal, and flowering) community assembly of subordinate species in absence of dominant grass. We found that assembly rules for traits related to the same life-history process were mostly consistent within habitats. Further we established that within habitats the traits related to different lifehistory processes can show different assembly rules. For example, while generative regeneration traits (seed mass) may show convergence pattern, divergence was inferred for the vegetative (clonal) regeneration traits. Depending on traits, the assembly rules can be similar or contrasting in different habitats. We conclude that our finding of non-random assembly in the majority of investigated traits emphasizes the importance of hierarchical exclusion of strong biotic filters when searching for trait-based assembly rules in abandoned grasslands. Thus, for nature conservation purposes, disturbance appears to be the process that is most important in driving the survival of subordinate species by the exclusion of biotic filters. Subsequently, a multitude of trait-based mechanisms allow for coexistence of the subordinate species. These mechanisms depend on habitats and traits and thus may vary from community to community, indicating that heterogeneous landscapes might support multiple processes of coexistence

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

This article has 730 authors, of which I have only listed the lead author and myself as a representative of University of HelsinkiPlant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.Peer reviewe