Sixty years of plant community change in Europe indicate a shift toward nutrient-richer and denser vegetation.
Midolo G, Clark AT, Chytrý M, Essl F, Dullinger S
Soil Health
Wild plants disappearing from meadows, wetlands, and forests near you are being quietly replaced by a smaller set of tough, nutrient-loving species — meaning the diverse, colorful landscapes many of us grew up with are slowly becoming more uniform and less wildlife-friendly.
Scientists looked at decades of plant surveys from across Europe and found that our landscapes are changing in a big way. Too much fertilizer and pollution in the air has caused nitrogen-loving plants — the ones that grow big and fast and shade out their neighbors — to take over almost everywhere. At the same time, the delicate plants that thrive in wet, low-nutrient places like bogs and fens are disappearing, and mountain plants are slowly shifting as temperatures creep up.
Key Findings
Nitrogen-demanding species increased significantly across all major habitat types between 1960 and 2020, analyzed across 18,345 time series.
Shade-tolerant species moderately increased Europe-wide, indicating vegetation is becoming denser and more closed-canopy over six decades.
Wetland plant communities showed a decline in moisture-dependent species, while alpine habitats showed recent warming-driven shifts in temperature indicator species.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A sweeping 60-year study of nearly 645,000 plant survey sites across Europe found that plant communities are shifting dramatically — more nutrient-hungry, shade-tolerant species are taking over, while wetland plants are declining and alpine areas are warming.
Abstract Preview
Anthropogenic impacts are reshaping plant biodiversity patterns, yet how community-composition shifts track environmental change at large spatial and temporal scales remains unclear. Here, we quant...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Street trees cut heat deaths by 39 percent in European cities
Trees in your local park or street aren't just pretty — they are literally keeping people alive during heatwaves, and planting even a modest number of the ri...
Eutrophication is the process by which excess nutrients — particularly nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural runoff, sewage, or industrial discharge — accumulate in aquatic ecosystems, triggering explosive growth of algae and aquatic plants. This nutrient overload is a central concern in plant
arrow_forward Explore topic