Identification of ash-associated understorey diversity—a lesson from historical vegetation records

Key message 

Forest communities historically dominated by common ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) were characterized by particularly high species richness in the understorey and included a distinct set of vascular plant species statistically associated with higher ash cover. These findings establish a valuable ecological baseline. The vulnerability index complements this by highlighting species potentially sensitive to environmental changes following ash decline, without aiming to assess current impacts of the ash dieback disease.

Keywords
Understorey vegetation; Historical vegetation data; Biodiversity; Ash dieback; Relative Importance Value

Publication
Richter, J., Erfmeier, A., Jansen, F. et al. Identification of ash-associated understorey diversity—a lesson from historical vegetation records. Annals of Forest Science 82, 30 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13595-025-01304-8

Data availability
The primary data supporting the findings of this study will be made available upon reasonable request. In addition, the supplementary appendix tables are available online via Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15448502.

Handling editor
Erwin Dreyer