BACKGROUND Biodiversity is under siege, with greatly enhanced rates of local and global
extinction and the decline of once-abundant species. Current rates of human-induced …

Ecology Letters (2011) 14: 709–722 Abstract Encroachment of woody plants into grasslands
has generated considerable interest among ecologists. Syntheses of encroachment effects …

The worldwide phenomenon of shrub encroachment in grass‐dominated dryland
ecosystems is commonly associated with desertification. Studies of the purported …

Cork oak has historically been an important species in the western Mediterranean—
ecologically as a canopy or “framework” tree in natural woodlands, and culturally as an …

Facilitating adaptive responses of organisms in modified landscape will be essential to
overcome the negative effects of climate change and its interaction with land use change …

Montado decline has been reported since the end of the nineteenth century in southern
Portugal and increased markedly during the 1980s. Consensual reports in the literature …

Woody plant encroachment has profound impacts on the sustainable management of water
resources in water-limited ecosystems. However, our understanding of the effects of this …

This book begins with a brief account of the extraordinary sequence of events that led to
emergence of grasslands as major vegetation formations that now occupy some of the driest …

Abstract In Central-Western Spain, forests and woodlands composed of Quercus sp. support
outstanding levels of biodiversity, but there is increasing concern about their long-term …

In extensive low input farming and in agroforestry systems, the importance for biodiversity of
managed productive fields with respect to unmanaged marginal habitats that occupy a low …