Meet the editors

Manuel T. Oliveira is Professor in the Department of Agronomy at Universidade Tras os Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), specializing in soil science and viticulture. He was head of the Department of Agronomy and a member of the scientific council of UTAD. He was an invited researcher at Cornell University (USA), Catholic University of Santiago (Chile), and Universidad de La Rioja (Spain). He is a member of the editorial council of

*Plant and Soils* and a regular referee for *Sustainable Agriculture Research* and *Agriculture Ecosystem & Environment*. He is a member of the Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Horticultural Society of Portugal, and Portuguese Society of Agricultural Science. He is also a member of the Portuguese Association for National Defense.

Dr. Feyza Candan received her Ph. D in Biological Sciences at Botany section from Manisa Celal Bayar University, Turkey in 2007. Her doctorate thesis was about a part of Crocus genus which is known publicly as saffron. After thesis studies, she has described 7 new Crocus taxa to the world literature in 2013. She completed her post doctoral research at Middle East Technical University, Turkey, between 2012-2104. She has worked as a

short time researcher at Delaware State University, USA, in 2016. Her studying area is about plant morphology, anatomy, cytology, systematics, and molecular biology. She attended numerous national and international congresses, conferences and symposiums according to all her academic research life. She is currently working as an Associate Professor at Manisa Celal Bayar University, Turkey.

Anabela Afonso Fernandes da Silva is a professor in the department of Agronomy at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal. She specializes in agrometeorology, crops' water needs, and oliviculture. Her research interests include crops' response to water deficits, water resources management, sustainable agriculture, crops and fruits production's response to climate change, and olives and olive oil composition

and quality. She is a coordinator of two national research projects. She is the director of a BSc course in Agricultural Engineering. She has published around twenty peer-reviewed papers and authored two book chapters. She is a frequent reviewer for a number of JCR- and ISI-indexed journals. She is also a member of the Portuguese Horticultural Society.

Contents

**Section 1**

*by Feyza Candan*

**Section 2**

*by Herminia García-Mozo*

*and Ludger Herrmann*

Plateau of Northern China

*and Chengcheng Gang*

**Preface XI**

Plant Phenology **1**

**Chapter 1 3**

**Chapter 2 27**

**Chapter 3 39**

Plants and Land Degradation **61**

**Chapter 4 63**

**Chapter 5 103**

**Chapter 6 135**

Eastern Poison Ivy (*Toxicodendron radicans* L.): A Bioindicator of Natural

Responses of Community Structure, Productivity and Turnover Traits to Long-Term Grazing Exclusion in a Semiarid Grassland on the Loess

*by Jimin Cheng, Wei Li, Jishuai Su, Liang Guo, Jingwei Jin* 

Vegetation Dynamics. Natural versus Cultural and the Regeneration

*by Erhard Schulz, Aboubacar Adamou, Sani Ibrahim, Issa Ousseini* 

Plant Phenology and An Assessment of the Effects Regarding Heavy Metals, Nanoparticles, and Nanotubes on Plant Development:

Runner Bean, Artichoke, and Chickpea Seedlings

Phenological Behaviour of Early Spring Flowering Trees

Phenological Plasticity of Wild and Cultivated Plants *by Amber L. Hauvermale and Marwa N.M.E. Sanad*

Potential. The Example of Sahara-Sahel

and Anthropogenic Stress in Fields and Forests *by Dean G. Fitzgerald, David R. Wade and Patrick Fox*
