Current research on vegetation makes a difference in people’s lives. Plant community classification is a backbone of land management, plant communities are changing in response to anthropogenic drivers, and the processes of change have impacts on ecosystem services. In the following progress report, we summarize the status of classification and recent research on vegetation responses to pollution, especially nitrogen deposition, invasive species, climate change, and land use and direct exploitation. Two areas with human feedbacks are underscored: fire ecology and urban ecology. Prominent questions at the current research frontier are highlighted with attention to new perspectives.

当前对植被的研究改变了人们的生活。植物群落分类是土地管理的骨干，植物群落正在响应人为驱动因素而发生变化，并且变化过程对生态系统服务产生影响。在以下进展报告中，我们总结了植被对污染（尤其是氮沉降，入侵物种，气候变化以及土地利用和直接开发）的响应的分类状态和最新研究。强调了两个具有人类反馈的领域：火灾生态学和城市生态学。当前研究前沿的突出问题突出了对新观点的关注。