biodiversity-change
Biodiversity change refers to shifts in the variety and abundance of species within ecosystems over time, driven by factors such as climate change, habitat loss, and human activity. For plant science, understanding these changes is critical because plants form the foundation of most terrestrial ecosystems, and alterations in plant species composition can cascade through food webs and ecological communities. Tracking biodiversity change helps researchers identify vulnerable plant populations, prioritize conservation efforts, and predict how ecosystems may respond to ongoing environmental pressures.
open_in_new WikipediaPubMed · 2026-05-08
A massive 100-year study of nearly 57,000 European plant communities found that local plant diversity has generally increased — more species, more functional variety — but these gains come with troubling trade-offs: more invasive non-native species and more generalists crowding out specialists, with the biggest changes hitting wetlands and mires hardest.
Plant communities gained an average of 0.2% more species per year and 0.7% more vegetation cover per year over the past 100 years across Europe.
Gains in species richness were accompanied by increases in non-native (invasive) species and generalist species, while specialist species declined — a pattern called 'biotic homogenization.'
Mire and wetland habitats showed the most dramatic diversity changes, and habitat type plus disturbance history explained up to 36.6% of variation in diversity trends across sites.