The DOI matches its Crossref record; 2 of the 2 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Ecological Significance of the Herbaceous Layer in Temperate Forest Ecosystems
Abstract
Abstract Despite a growing awareness that the herbaceous layer serves a special role in maintaining the structure and function of forests, this stratum remains an underappreciated aspect of forest ecosystems. In this article I review and synthesize information concerning the herb layer's structure, composition, and dynamics to emphasize its role as an integral component of forest ecosystems. Because species diversity is highest in the herb layer among all forest strata, forest biodiversity is largely a function of the herb-layer community. Competitive interactions within the herb layer can determine the initial success of plants occupying higher strata, including the regeneration of dominant overstory tree species. Furthermore, the herb layer and the overstory can become linked through parallel responses to similar environmental gradients. These relationships between strata vary both spatially and temporally. Because the herb layer responds sensitively to disturbance across broad spatial and temporal scales, its dynamics can provide important information regarding the site characteristics of forests, including patterns of past land-use practices. Thus, the herb layer has a significance that belies its diminutive stature.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Nitrogen cycles: Past, present, and future
Galloway, J. N., Dentener, F. J., Capone, D. G., Boyer, E. W., Howarth, R. W., Seitzinger, S. P., Asner, G. P., Cleveland, C. C., Green, P. A., Holland, E. A., et al. (2004) · Biogeochemistry · doi:10.1007/s10533-004-0370-0 · Cited by 5,315
Anderson, R. C., Loucks, O. L., & Swain, A. M. (1969) · Ecology · doi:10.2307/1934853 · Cited by 232
Cited by
Soil compaction impact and modelling. A review
Nawaz, M. F., Bourrié, G., & Trolard, F. (2013) · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · doi:10.1007/s13593-011-0071-8 · Cited by 787
Gandhi, K. J. K., & Herms, D. A. (2010) · Biological Invasions · doi:10.1007/s10530-009-9627-9 · Cited by 435
Spatial models reveal the microclimatic buffering capacity of old-growth forests
Frey, S. J. K., Hadley, A. S., Johnson, S. L., Schulze, M., Jones, J. A., & Betts, M. G. (2016) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501392 · Cited by 369
Bump, J. K., Webster, C. R., Vucetich, J. A., Peterson, R. O., Shields, J. M., & Powers, M. D. (2009) · Ecosystems · doi:10.1007/s10021-009-9274-0 · Cited by 135
Frelich, L. E., Peterson, R. O., Dovčiak, M., Reich, P. B., Vucetich, J. A., & Eisenhauer, N. (2012) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0235 · Cited by 82
Metadata
- Authors
- Gilliam, F. S.
- Venue
- BioScience
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2007-11-01
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 845-858
- ISSN
- 0006-3568 (ISSN-L)
- 1525-3244
- OpenAlex
- W2141325479
- Cited by
- 1,183
- References
- 2
- FWCI
- 17.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The Ecological Significance of the Herbaceous Layer in Temperate Forest Ecosystems. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1641/b571007
- The paper
- Gilliam, F. S. (2007). The Ecological Significance of the Herbaceous Layer in Temperate Forest Ecosystems. BioScience. https://doi.org/10.1641/b571007
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
