# Topics and Trends in Most Cited Botany and Plant Ecology Studies Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/botany-and-plant-ecology-studies/2026*

## What topics and trends defined most-cited Botany and Plant Ecology Studies research in the Class of 2026?

Functional diversity, ecosystem multifunctionality, and microbial interactions dominate the Botany and Plant Ecology Class of 2026. Research is shifting rapidly toward climate-focused and applied solutions, with massive surges in studies on carbon storage, phytoremediation, and microbial diversity, while traditional descriptive floristic inventories and niche studies have declined.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Field | Botany and Plant Ecology Studies |
| Cohort label | Class of 2026 (2024 publications) |
| Papers analyzed | 5,333 |
| Papers ranked | 20 |
| Top topics in ranked papers | Functional diversity, ecosystem multifunctionality, microbial community |
| Publication window | Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024 |
| Eligibility | Research articles; reviews excluded |
| Citation window | 18 months post-publication |
| 18m citation range | 16–97 |
| Data source | OpenAlex · Retrieved Jul 2026 |
| License | CC BY 4.0 |

## Rankings

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | A second update to the checklist of the vascular flora native to Italy | Fabrizio Bartolucci, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Gabriele Galasso, Alessandro Alessandrini, Nicola M.G. Ardenghi, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Enrico Banfi, Giuseppina Barberis, Liliana Bernardo, Daniela Bouvet, M. Bovio, Giacomo Calvia, Miris Castello, Lorenzo Cecchi, Emanuele Del Guacchio, Gianniantonio Domina, Simonetta Fascetti, Lorenzo Gallo, Günter Gottschlich, Riccardo Guarino, Leonardo Gubellini, Nicole Hofmann, Mauro Iberite, Pedro Jiménez‐Mejías, Daniela Longo, D. Marchetti, Fabrizio Martini, R. R. Masin, Pietro Medagli, Simonetta Peccenini, Filippo Prosser, Francesco Roma‐Marzio, Leonardo Rosati, Annalisa Santangelo, Anna Scoppola, Alberto Selvaggi, Federico Selvi, Adriano Soldano, Adriano Stinca, Robert P. Wagensommer, Thomas Wilhalm, Fabio Conti | Lorenzo Peruzzi | Università di Camerino, Italy | Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology | 97 | 10.1080/11263504.2024.2320126 |
| 2 | Shifts in native tree species distributions in Europe under climate change | Marcin K Dyderski, Sonia Paź-Dyderska, Andrzej M Jagodziński, Radosław Puchałka | Marcin K. Dyderski | Institute of Dendrology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland | Journal of Environmental Management | 75 | 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123504 |
| 3 | Nitrogen availability in soil controls uptake of different nitrogen forms by plants | Min Liu, Xingliang Xu, Wolfgang Wanek, Jian Sun, Richard D Bardgett, Yuqiang Tian, Xiaoyong Cui, Lili Jiang, Zeqing Ma, Yakov Kuzyakov, Hua Ouyang, Yanfen Wang | Xingliang Xu, Yanfen Wang | Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, China | New Phytologist | 66 | 10.1111/nph.20335 |
| 4 | A second update to the checklist of the vascular flora alien to Italy | Gabriele Galasso, Fabio Conti, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Alessandro Alessandrini, Nicola M.G. Ardenghi, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Enrico Banfi, Giuseppina Barberis, Liliana Bernardo, Daniela Bouvet, M. Bovio, Miris Castello, Lorenzo Cecchi, Emanuele Del Guacchio, Gianniantonio Domina, Simonetta Fascetti, Lorenzo Gallo, Riccardo Guarino, Leonardo Gubellini, Alessandro Guiggi, Nicole Hofmann, Mauro Iberite, Pedro Jiménez‐Mejías, Daniela Longo, D. Marchetti, Fabrizio Martini, R. R. Masin, Pietro Medagli, Carmelo María Musarella, Simonetta Peccenini, Lina Podda, Filippo Prosser, Francesco Roma‐Marzio, Leonardo Rosati, Annalisa Santangelo, Anna Scoppola, Alberto Selvaggi, Federico Selvi, Adriano Soldano, Adriano Stinca, Robert P. Wagensommer, Thomas Wilhalm, Fabrizio Bartolucci | Lorenzo Peruzzi | Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano, Italy | Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology | 63 | 10.1080/11263504.2024.2320129 |
| 5 | <scp>FloraVeg</scp>.<scp>EU</scp> — An online database of European vegetation, habitats and flora | Milan Chytrý, Marcela Řezníčková, Petr Novotný, Dana Holubová, Zdenka Preislerová, Fabio Attorre, Idoia Biurrun, Petr Blažek, Gianmaria Bonari, Dariia Borovyk, Natálie Čeplová, Jiří Danihelka, D. A. Davydov, Pavel Dřevojan, Nina Fahs, Riccardo Guarino, Behlül Güler, S.M. Hennekens, Richard Hrivnák, Veronika Kalníková, Veronika Kalusová, Tomáš Kebert, Ilona Knollová, Kateřina Knotková, Dragan Koljanin, Анна Куземко, Javier Loidi, Zdeňka Lososová, Corrado Marcenò, Gabriele Midolo, Djordjije Milanović, Ladislav Mucina, Pavel Novák, Eckhard Von Raab-Straube, Kamila Reczyńska, J.H.J. Schaminée, Petra Štěpánková, Krzysztof Świerkosz, Jakub Těšitel, Tamara Těšitelová, Lubomír Tichý, Denys Vynokurov, Wolfgang Willner, Irena Axmanová | Milan Chytrý | Masaryk University, Czech Republic | Applied Vegetation Science | 41 | 10.1111/avsc.12798 |
| 6 | A model suitable for estimating above-ground biomass of potatoes at different regional levels | Yang Liu, Yiguang Fan, Jibo Yue, Xiuliang Jin, Yanpeng Ma, Riqiang Chen, Mingbo Bian, Guijun Yang, Haikuan Feng | Jibo Yue, Haikuan Feng | Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, China | Computers and Electronics in Agriculture | 40 | 10.1016/j.compag.2024.109081 |
| 7 | Global distribution and drivers of relative contributions among soil nitrogen sources to terrestrial plants | Chao-Chen Hu, Xue-Yan Liu, Avery W Driscoll, Yuan-Wen Kuang, E N Jack Brookshire, Xiao-Tao Lü, Chong-Juan Chen, Wei Song, Rong Mao, Cong-Qiang Liu, Benjamin Z Houlton | Xueyan Liu | Tianjin University, China | Nature Communications | 38 | 10.1038/s41467-024-50674-6 |
| 8 | Soil quality and ecosystem multifunctionality after 13-year of organic and nitrogen fertilization | Chunli Wang, Yuqing Ma, Wenhai He, Yakov Kuzyakov, Roland Bol, Haiqing Chen, Mingsheng Fan | Haiqing Chen, Mingsheng Fan | China Agricultural University, China | The Science of The Total Environment | 36 | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172789 |
| 9 | Plant biomass partitioning in alpine meadows under different herbivores as influenced by soil bulk density and available nutrients | Yuzhen Liu, Xinquan Zhao, Wenting Liu, Bin Feng, Weidong Lv, Zhenxiang Zhang, Xiaoxia Yang, Quanmin Dong | Xiaoxia Yang, Quanmin Dong | Qinghai University, China | CATENA | 30 | 10.1016/j.catena.2024.108017 |
| 10 | Does restoring apex predators to food webs restore ecosystems? Large carnivores in <scp>Y</scp>ellowstone as a model system | N. Thompson Hobbs, Danielle B. Johnston, Kristin N. Marshall, Evan C. Wolf, David J. Cooper | N. Thompson Hobbs | Colorado State University, United States | Ecological Monographs | 24 | 10.1002/ecm.1598 |
| 11 | Adaptive convergence and divergence underpin the diversity of Asteraceae in a semi-arid lowland region | Muhammad Waheed, Fahim Arshad | Muhammad Waheed | University of Okara, Pakistan | Flora | 22 | 10.1016/j.flora.2024.152554 |
| 12 | Plant species diversity and functional diversity relations in the degradation process of desert steppe in an arid area of northwest China | Wen Li, Yan Shen, Guohui Wang, Hongbin Ma, Yandong Yang, Guoqiang Li, Xinru Huo, Zhuo Liu | Hongbin Ma | Ningxia University, China | Journal of Environmental Management | 22 | 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121534 |
| 13 | Diversity and distribution of Raunkiær's life forms in European vegetation | Gabriele Midolo, Irena Axmanová, Jan Divíšek, Pavel Dřevojan, Zdeňka Lososová, Martin Večeřa, Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Wilfried Thuiller, Helge Bruelheide, Svetlana Aćić, Fabio Attorre, Idoia Biurrun, Steffen Boch, Gianmaria Bonari, Andraž Čarni, Alessandro Chiarucci, Renata Ćušterevska, Jürgen Dengler, Tetiana Dziuba, Emmanuel Garbolino, Ute Jandt, Jonathan Lenoir, Corrado Marcenò, Solvita Rūsiņa, Jozef Šibík, Željko Škvorc, Zvjezdana Stančić, Milica Stanišić‐Vujačić, Jens‐Christian Svenning, Grzegorz Swacha, Kiril Vassilev, Milan Chytrý | Gabriele Midolo | Masaryk University, Czech Republic | Journal of Vegetation Science | 21 | 10.1111/jvs.13229 |
| 14 | Map of forest tree species for Poland based on Sentinel-2 data | Ewa Grabska‐Szwagrzyk, Dirk Tiede, Martin Sudmanns, Jacek Kozak | Ewa Grabska‐Szwagrzyk | Jagiellonian University, Poland | Earth system science data | 21 | 10.5194/essd-16-2877-2024 |
| 15 | Major tree species of Central European forests differ in their proportion of positive, negative, and nonstationary growth trends | Jakub Kašpar, Jan Tumajer, Jan Altman, Nela Altmanová, Vojtěch Čada, Tomáš Čihák, Jiří Doležal, Pavel Fibich, Pavel Janda, Ryszard Kaczka, Tomáš Kolář, Jiří Lehejček, Jiří Mašek, Kateřina Neudertová Hellebrandová, Michal Rybníček, Miloš Rydval, Rohan Shetti, Miroslav Svoboda, Martin Šenfeldr, Pavel Šamonil, Ivana Vašíčková, Monika Vejpustková, Václav Treml | Jakub Kašpar | The Silva Tarouca Research Institute, Czech Republic | Global Change Biology | 21 | 10.1111/gcb.17146 |
| 16 | Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi alter microbiome structure of rhizosphere soil to enhance Festuca elata tolerance to Cd | Xueyi Hu, Lina Xu, Yufan Yuan, Xiao Guo, Wei Li, Guo Shaoxia | Wei Li, Guo Shaoxia | Binzhou Polytechnic, China | Applied Soil Ecology | 21 | 10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105735 |
| 17 | The Bryophyte Phylogeny Group: A revised familial classification system based on plastid phylogenomic data | Yunfeng Li, Lian Luo, Yang Liu, Qiang He, Ningning Yu, Naren Gaowa, Zhao‐Qin Yi, Junjie Wang, Wei Han, Tao Peng, Boon‐Chuan Ho, Xiaolan He, Li Zhang, Zhiduan Chen, Yu Jia, Qing‐Hua Wang | Yu Jia, Qing‐Hua Wang | China National Botanical Garden Beijing 100093 China, China | Journal of Systematics and Evolution | 17 | 10.1111/jse.13063 |
| 18 | Examining the Sensitivity of Satellite-Derived Vegetation Indices to Plant Drought Stress in Grasslands in Poland | Maciej Bartold, Konrad Wróblewski, Marcin Kluczek, Katarzyna Dąbrowska-Zielińska, Piotr Goliński | Konrad Wróblewski | Institute of Geodesy and Cartography, Poland | Plants | 17 | 10.3390/plants13162319 |
| 19 | Long‐term shift towards shady and nutrient‐rich habitats in Central European temperate forests | Ondřej Vild, Markéta Chudomelová, Martin Macek, Martin Kopecký, Jindřich Prach, Petr Petřík, Petr Halas, Michal Juříček, Marie Smyčková, Jan Šebesta, Martin Vojík, Radim Hédl | Ondřej Vild | Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic | New Phytologist | 16 | 10.1111/nph.19587 |
| 20 | Red-list of Italian bryophytes. 2. Mosses | Marta Puglisi, Patrizia Campisi, Michele Aleffi, Giulia Bacilliere, Ilaria Bonini, Annalena Cogoni, Maria Giovanna Dia, Luca Miserere, Maria Privitera, Manuel Tiburtini, Silvia Poponessi | Marta Puglisi | University of Catania, Italy | Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology | 16 | 10.1080/11263504.2024.2386330 |

## Topic trends

### What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

In the Class of 2026 for Botany and Plant Ecology Studies, functional diversity, ecosystem multifunctionality, and microbial community emerged as the most dominant themes. The high frequency of these topics indicates a strong emphasis on understanding how different plant species and microbial communities interact to support complex ecosystem processes. Researchers are increasingly focusing on how biodiversity directly impacts ecosystem resilience and the multifaceted services that these ecosystems provide. Additionally, significant attention was given to species diversity, soil moisture, and phytoremediation. The prominence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi further highlights the critical role of below-ground interactions and symbioses in shaping above-ground plant health and community structure. Together, these topics reflect a paradigm shift towards holistic, trait-based approaches that integrate microbial dynamics and functional traits to better predict ecological outcomes in varying environments.

*Leading research themes*

### How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

The transition from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026 revealed notable shifts in research priorities within Botany and Plant Ecology. We observed significant surges in topics related to microbial diversity, phytoremediation, and carbon storage, reflecting an urgent shift toward applied ecological solutions and climate change mitigation strategies. Climate warming and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi also saw substantial increases, underscoring a growing recognition of the interconnectedness of climate stressors and symbiotic soil interactions. Conversely, more traditional descriptive approaches such as floristic inventory, along with specific studies on bryophytes, mosses, and alpine meadows, experienced relative declines. This shift suggests that the field is moving rapidly from cataloging plant life and studying isolated ecological niches toward functional, systems-level analyses aimed at addressing global environmental challenges.

*How topics shifted year over year*

## Cite this ranking

```
Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited Botany and Plant Ecology Studies Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/botany-and-plant-ecology-studies/2026. Accessed 2026-07-15.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459
```