The comprehensive analysis of all available non-forest vegetation-plot time series data from the Czech Republic revealed considerable temporal changes in habitat quality. Species richness increased over time in most habitat types, however, there were significant shifts in taxonomic and functional community composition, indicating a decline in habitat quality. Habitat specialists and threatened species became less represented in plant communities. Woody species, tall herbaceous plants, grasses, and strong competitors, as well as nutrient-demanding species and species successful in the colonisation of new habitats, increased in all non-forest habitats. At the same time, light-demanding species declined, suggesting an effect of eutrophication and natural succession following the abandonment of traditional management practices. We did not identify any significant trend in the representation of neophytes. There were considerable differences in temporal trends between individual habitat types, suggesting varying importance of multiple threatening factors. In wetlands, springs, and mires, moisture-demanding species decreased, probably due to drainage, river regulations, and increasing drought resulting from climate change. Dry grasslands, ruderal, weed, along with sand and shallow-soil vegetation became more mesic, and successional processes were most pronounced in these communities, suggesting a stronger effect of abandonment of traditional management and eutrophication. In alpine and subalpine vegetation, meadows and mesic pastures, Nardus grasslands and heathlands, insect-pollinated species declined, and the proportion of grasses increased.
Klinkovská, K., Sperandii M. G., Knollová, I., Danihelka, J., Hájek, M., Hájková, P., Hroudová, Z., Jiroušek, M., Lepš, J., Navrátilová, J., Peterka, T., Petřík, P., Prach, K., Řehounková, K., Rohel, J., Sobotka, V., Vávra, M., Bruelheide, H. & Chytrý, M. (2025). Half a century of temperate non-forest vegetation changes: no net loss in species richness, but considerable shifts in taxonomic and functional composition. Global Change Biology 31: e70030. 
