Relația de facilitare interspecifică și aplicațiile sale în ecologia reabilitării și în reconstrucția ecologică [Interspecific facilitative interaction applied to ecological rehabilitation and reconstruction]

Abstract

The new paradigm of community ecology, facilitation as a driving force of plant communities’ assemblage under various abiotic and biotic stresses has gained important empirical support during the last two decades. Conceived at the beginning as a positive, asymmetrical interaction at the same trophic level the concept was refined and at the present moment, facilitation covers a continuum from diffuse mutualism to protective effect of one species upon the benefactor species. The paper is a review of the current state of knowledge on facilitation in plant communities dominated or only containing woody species such as shrubs and trees. The nurse plant syndrome is analyzed in a large context, from degraded or exposed to extreme factors mediterranean ecosystems to ecological rehabilitations in various parts of the world. Several empirical observation performed during 2015 in North-Western Transylvania on nurse plant syndrome characterizing secondary successions are presented with the aim to support the idea of using this natural model for reforestation and rehabilitation plans in Romania. The aim of the present paper was to endorse the idea of the employment of natural models in the rehabilitation of degraded lands or in biodiversity conservation.

Keywords

• facilitation interaction
• nurse plant syndrome
• degraded ecosystems’ rehabilitation
• biodiversity