Editors' Choice paper for the second quarter of 2026

As an established tradition for the past several years, every three months, the VCS Chief Editors select an Editors' Choice paper of the quarter. The winning papers are highlighted on the journal website, and one of the four selected papers goes on to win the Editors' Award of the year.

For the second quarter of 2026, the VCS Editors' Choice goes to José Carlos Costa and colleagues for their study "TDV-optimization exemplified: Application to coastal cliff vegetation in Cabo Verde."

This paper showcases Total Differential Value (TDV) optimization, a vegetation classification technique, alongside new methodological refinements for identifying syntaxa at different ranks and their diagnostic species. Applied to the coastal cliff vegetation of the Cabo Verde archipelago, the approach produced a new syntaxonomic synthesis based on 167 relevés, analysed through a five-step classification procedure combining formal logic rules, differential species analysis, and the Differential Value (DiffVal) index.

The study identifies 17 associations, two alliances, one order, and one class, each supported by clear biogeographic and ecological interpretations. The results highlight Cabo Verde's distinctness from Mediterranean and Eurosiberian vegetation, confirming its affinity with the Warm deserts and semi-deserts subbiome and its placement within the Tropical Sahara region.

By relying solely on presence-absence data, TDV-optimization and the DiffVal index prove to be effective tools for vegetation classification at multiple scales, offering a valuable framework for future research on Cabo Verdean and other African vegetation.

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