Chronicle of a death foretold: The vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communities

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41330%2F23%3A97218" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41330/23:97218 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02655" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02655</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02655" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02655</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Chronicle of a death foretold: The vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communities

Original language description

Badlands are peculiar geomorphological formations shaping landscapes of high ecological and cultural value. In the last decades, land reclamation for agricultural purposes and the cessation of traditional land use, such as sheep grazing, led to their decline in extent in many areas. To quantify the changes in badland-related plant communities, we resurveyed badland vegetation in a site of the Crete Senesi (Siena, central Italy) after 16 years (2006-2022), using 48 quasipermanent vegetation plots and by means of uni- and multivariate analysis of variance. We found an increase in the total vegetation cover of plant communities growing in former bare soil and sparsely vegetated areas, in line with an overall decrease in the extent of bare soil surfaces in the study area, which we highlighted through the analysis of multitemporal satellite images. Pioneer vegetation characterized by the endemic plant Artemisia caerulescens subsp. cretacea changed into ruderal annual grasslands, while former bare soils were colonized by such pioneer vegetation. In contrast, perennial grasslands remained stable. Grasslands with shrubs became more similar to perennial grasslands in species composition. Species richness increased in former bare soils, and using the total vegetation cover as a proxy for successional stages, we found that Shannon diversity and evenness peaked at about 90% of total cover. In all the stages of colonization, short distance dispersal species prevailed, both therophytes (Avena sterilis, Parapholis strigosa) and perennials (Artemisia caerulescens subsp. cretacea, Bromopsis erecta). Long distance dispersal species (Galatella linosyris) started colonizing at about 60% of total vegetation cover, and at high vegetation cover all the functional groups coexisted. Our results confirm that the badland landscapes of southern Tuscany and specialist plant diversity adapted to badlands are vanishing after a diminishing of active land management, suggesting the current ineffectiveness of the Natura 2000 network in their conservation.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

—

Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION

ISSN

2351-9894

e-ISSN

2351-9894

Volume of the periodical

47

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2023

Country of publishing house

NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

Number of pages

13

Pages from-to

1-13

UT code for WoS article

001088963500001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85173454219