Multiple Recruitment Limitation Causes Arrested Succession in Mediterranean Cork Oak Systems |
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Authors: | Vanda Acácio Milena Holmgren Patrick A Jansen Ondrej Schrotter |
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Institution: | (1) Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Center for Ecosystem Studies, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, Wageningen, 6700 AA, The Netherlands;(2) Centro de Ecologia Aplicada Prof. Baeta Neves, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisboa, 1349-017, Portugal;(3) Resource Ecology Group, Center for Ecosystem Studies, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, Wageningen, 6700 AA, The Netherlands;(4) Community and Conservation Ecology Group, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 14, Haren, 9750 AA, The Netherlands;(5) Česká Zemědělská Univerzita v Praze, Fakulta Lesnická a Environmentální, Kamycká 1176, Praha, 165 21, Czech Republic |
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Abstract: | Lack of tree regeneration and persistency of species-poor shrublands represent a growing problem across Mediterranean evergreen
oak forests. What constrains forest regeneration is poorly understood, and restoration attempts have been largely unsuccessful.
We assessed the contribution of four different mechanisms of tree recruitment limitation (that is, source, dispersal, germination,
and establishment) in a cork oak (Quercus suber) system in southern Portugal. Using a combination of field studies and experiments, we quantified seed production, seed removal
and dispersal, seed survival and germination, seedling establishment and survival, as well as cork oak natural regeneration
for the three dominant vegetation types in this system (Cistus ladanifer shrubland, oak forest, and oak savanna). We found that all four forms of cork oak recruitment limitation were significantly
more severe in shrublands than in oak forests and savannas, so that oak seedling recruitment in shrubland was impeded in multiple
ways. Our results explain why transitions from shrublands to oak savannas and forests are extremely difficult, and that the
release from arrested succession in this system requires the simultaneous relief of multiple constraints on recruitment limitation
in the early life history of oaks. These results have important implications for the restoration and conservation of Mediterranean
oak systems. |
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Keywords: | alternative states Cistus ladanifer facilitation forest regeneration seed dispersal seed predation seedling establishment shrub encroachment Quercus suber |
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