Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors, after a very careful reading of your submitted manuscript entitled “Urban natural spaces as laboratories for learning and social awareness I recognized that the issues you wanted to highlight in your study are very important and very relevant today. Also, in your study you emphasized the importance of involving educated and informed citizens in both rural and urban areas to consider the threatened diversity and the need for sustainable use of the Mediterranean grasslands.

However, the content of the manuscript is not fully reflected by the current title, and I suggest either changing the title or aligning it with what is shown by the analyses and the results. You emphasized “applying an active teaching”, but the manuscript lacks any information about the target group(s) for whom the teaching was conducted, and the teaching methods used in this study. In other words, the information presented here is insufficient to fulfil the purpose stated in the study aims and in the title of the manuscript. Furthermore, it is not clear from the results presented what outcomes were achieved in the different phytosociological groups after conducting the planned research and teaching. I also suggest avoiding repetition and endeavoring to be more concise. This applies above all to the introductory section, but also to other parts of the manuscript, which should at least be largely rewritten.

Please follow Sustainability's instructions and format in-text citations and references accordingly. The citation style should be numbered according to the journal's guidelines for authors. Please check all references.

Please note some more detailed comments on specific parts of the manuscript:

Line 20: Italicize scientific name of Poa bulbosa. In general, species names need to be checked and should be italicized throughout the text if necessary.

Line 22: Change CO2 to CO₂ throughout the manuscript.

Introduction:

Line 33: “Unfortunately, in some countries we are witnessing the elimination of botanical disciplines, with the consequent impoverishment of the basic preparation of future managers in the environmental field and of future natural science teachers and researchers”. - Give some example(s) of countries.

Lines 49-54; 76-80: These parts are too long and difficult to understand.

Line 77: The reference that Rivas-Martínez quotes here should be numbered according to the journal's guidelines.

Lines 87-89: The sentence is difficult to understand.

Lines 90-100: These sections are too long and difficult to understand. This section needs to be restructured a little.

Line 104: Cite a document.

Line 105: change terophyte to therophyte

Lines 114-120: The sentence is too long and difficult to follow. This section needs to be restructured a little and divided into individual sentences.

Line 116: change Narduus stricta into Nardus stricta.

Materials and Methods

Lines 134-138: The same comment as for Lines 114-120.

Line 135: change terophytes into therophytes

Line 140: Specify the term “young researchers”. Specify the age, the number of students, the social structure, the previous level of education, etc.

Lines 161-166: The parts are repeated, write more concisely. Presentation and style are too extensive, need to be shortened.

Results

Lines 189-196: This sequence is too long and difficult to follow. The beginning of the Results contains information that is part of the description of the study area, as well as a repetition of some of the previous parts of the manuscript.

Lines 200-201: This part is intended for Discussion. According to the instructions for authors, no references can be given in the results.

Line 205: Delete the punctuation after 'breeding'.

Lines 207-208: This part is for Discussion. References cannot be cited in the Results.

Lines 208-219: It is not clear which are the authors' own results, and which are the results of other researchers. Give a short and precise description as well as graphical and tabular interpretations of your own experimental results.

Line 218: Change m2 to m²

Line 223: change terophytes into therophytes.

Line 228: References cannot be cited in the Results.

Line 234: change Diplitaxis virgata to Diplotaxis virgata.

Line 248: change Trifoliun cherleri to Trifolium cherleri.

Line 251: instead of “table 1” - “Table 1”.

Lines 251-252: Correct the sentence about the Shannon's diversity.

Line 259: change terophytes to therophytes.

Line 262: please follow the journal format instructions and move all in-text citations and references out of the Results.

Line 263: change Bromus eructus to Bromus erectus.

Line 265: delete "species" after Festuca sp.

Lines 277-280: Avoid repetition, try to be more concise and provide some graphical data on the results presented.

Discussion

Lines 310-313: The beginning of the Discussion section contains information that was not part of the results, namely what knowledge, attitudes and skills the students have acquired.

Line 348: Insert „communities“ after Poetea bulbosae.

Change the Discussion section to better fit your study and results. Avoid repetition, try to be more concise and provide more specific comments on the results obtained.

Lines 425-428: In Conclusions: “The use of active methodologies within the teaching of complex concepts demonstrates that through their implementation a better assimilation and understanding of them is generated. For this, it is useful to use urban peripheral areas to improve social knowledge about natural resources.” - Your results? Previous findings (if so, add references).

References

Citations must comply with the journal's standards and instructions for authors, for example:

1. Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C.D. Title of the article. Abbreviated Journal Name Year, Volume, page range.

Check all references in the bibliography.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, we sincerely thank you for the corrections made, thanks to them we have improved the article. We have made several changes in the paragraphs of the text, modifying and even adding new text, in order to make the text more understandable, for this we have followed your advice and we have shortened the length of the paragraphs, we have taken special care with the linguistic aspects, taking care with the sentences, so that they do not give rise to doubts and are perfectly understandable, with the changes made we think that the title is adapted to the content.

All the references to results have been eliminated, also at the Editor's request we have eliminated part of the self-citations, so we have had to list again the citations in the text and in the references.

All corrections have been made in terms of italics, plant names, etc.

We have specified the term young researchers and added information about it.

Regarding the references, we have followed the guide for authors of the journal Sustainability.

All this you can see in the text, expressed in red color

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Please see attached file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear reviewer, we sincerely appreciate the corrections made, thanks to them we have improved the article. In response to your suggestions we have included a table, we also provide some photographs of interest. You can see all this in the article in blue.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,

The new version of your manuscript is now better and more clearly organized. Nevertheless, there are still some shortcomings and inconsistencies that should be corrected.

Please consider further comments and suggestions on your manuscript:

Line 96: The reference for Cano-Ortiz and collaborators should be numbered according to the journal's guidelines.

Line 227: Italicize Hordeum leporinum and Poa bulbosa

Line 270: Italicize Poa bulbosa

Lines 293 – 334: This part should only contain the data of the own results. However, it is not entirely clear which parts refer only to the specific results of this investigation, as the paragraphs also contain information from different Mediterranean areas and other countries. This approach is more suitable for the Discussion section.

Line 325: Figure 1 - Provide information about the location or habitat.

Line 364: Figure 2 - Combine both photos into one Figure 2 (or separate them into Figure 2 and Figure 3) and provide information about the location.

Line 388: Same comments as for line 364.

Line 430: Table 3 is new and not visible in full format in the peer-reviewed version for technical reasons. If the table contains your own results, it should appear under Results. If there are different sources from the literature, emphasize this in the title of the table.

Line 464: Change CO2 to CO₂

Line 644: Change Scondary to Secondary.

Author Response

RESPONSE TO THE REVIEWER

Dear reviewer, we appreciate your comments that allow us to improve the article, we have made all the changes you have suggested. You can check it in the text highlighted in purple color.

Line 96: The reference for Cano-Ortiz and collaborators should be numbered according to the journal's guidelines.

The reference is included

Line 227: Italicize Hordeum leporinum and Poa bulbosa

Correction made

Line 270: Italicize Poa bulbosa

Correction made

Lines 293 – 334: This part should only contain the data of the own results. However, it is not entirely clear which parts refer only to the specific results of this investigation, as the paragraphs also contain information from different Mediterranean areas and other countries. This approach is more suitable for the Discussion section.

This paragraph and the figure have been moved to discussion

Line 325: Figure 1 - Provide information about the location or habitat.

The location is added at the bottom of the figure

Line 364: Figure 2 - Combine both photos into one Figure 2 (or separate them into Figure 2 and Figure 3) and provide information about the location.

Both images are combined into one and location is added.

Line 388: Same comments as for line 364.

Both images are combined into one and location is added.

Line 430: Table 3 is new and not visible in full format in the peer-reviewed version for technical reasons. If the table contains your own results, it should appear under Results. If there are different sources from the literature, emphasize this in the title of the table.

It is an original table and consequently we pass it to results.

Line 464: Change CO2 to CO₂

Correction made

Line 644: Change Scondary to Secondary.

Correction made

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf