Indirect interactions occur when the effect of one species on another is mediated by a third species. These interactions occur in most multi‐species assemblages and are diverse in their mechanistic pathways. The interest in indirect interactions has increased exponentially over the past three decades, in recognition of their importance in determining plant community dynamics and promoting species coexistence. Here, we review the literature on indirect interactions among plants published since 1990, using a novel synthetic framework that accounts for and classifies intervening species and mechanisms within trophic networks. The objectives of this review are: (1) to identify the geographical regions and ecosystem types where indirect interactions have been examined; (2) to summarize the information on the number of trophic levels examined in studies of indirect interactions; (3) to test whether the frequency of indirect interactions varies across environmental gradients; and (4) to identify the experimental approaches most commonly used in studies of indirect interactions. Studies examining indirect interactions in plants have been conducted primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, with a focus on grasslands and forests. The majority of studies (67%) examined two trophic levels. Indirect facilitation and apparent competition are the interactions that have been most frequently examined, with the latter being reported more frequently in relatively productive environments. Other indirect interactions reported include associational resistance, exploitative competition or facilitation, shared defenses, and trophic cascades. Generally, field experiments tested indirect interactions based on single target species. While the majority of studies on indirect interactions dealt with basic ecology issues, several studies have dealt with such interactions in the context of biological invasions (18%) and rangeland management (12%). This review allowed us identifying a number of research needs, including the study of non‐feeding interactions and that for more realistic complex designs, explicitly testing indirect interactions across different trophic levels, in geographical regions that have been under‐examined to date, and in stressful ecosystems.

Forest and land degradation is a serious problem worldwide and the Peruvian National Map of Degraded Areas indicates that 13.78% (177,592.82 km²) of the country’s territory is degraded. Forest plantations can be a restoration strategy, while conserving economically important species affected by climate change and providing forestry material for markets. This study modelled the species distribution under current conditions and climate change scenarios of five Timber Forest Species (TFS) in the Amazonas Department, northeastern Peru. Modelling was conducted with Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) using 26 environmental variables. Of the total distribution under current conditions of Cedrelinga cateniformis, Ceiba pentandra, Apuleia leiocarpa, Cariniana decandra and Cedrela montana, 34.64% (2985.51 km²), 37.96% (2155.86 km²), 35.34% (2132.57 km²), 33.30% (1848.51 km²), and 35.81% (6125.44 km²), respectively, correspond to degraded areas and, therefore, there is restoration potential with these species. By 2050 and 2070, all TFS are projected to change their distribution compared to their current ranges, regardless of whether it will be an expansion and/or a contraction. Consequently, this methodology is intended to guide the economic and ecological success of forest plantations in reducing areas degraded by deforestation or similar activities.

The Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change Project set out to improve the diversity, quantity, and accessibility of germplasm collections of crop wild relatives (CWR). Between 2013 and 2018, partners in 25 countries, heirs to the globetrotting legacy of Nikolai Vavilov, undertook seed collecting expeditions targeting CWR of 28 crops of global significance for agriculture. Here, we describe the implementation of the 25 national collecting programs and present the key results. A total of 4587 unique seed samples from at least 355 CWR taxa were collected, conserved ex situ, safety duplicated in national and international genebanks, and made available through the Multilateral System (MLS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty). Collections of CWR were made for all 28 targeted crops. Potato and eggplant were the most collected genepools, although the greatest number of primary genepool collections were made for rice. Overall, alfalfa, Bambara groundnut, grass pea and wheat were the genepools for which targets were best achieved. Several of the newly collected samples have already been used in pre-breeding programs to adapt crops to future challenges.