The important role of scattered trees on the herbaceous diversity of a grazed Mediterranean dehesa |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Departamento de Sistemas y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, s/n 28040, Madrid, ES, Spain;2. ECOGESFOR, Ecología y Gestión Forestal Sostenible, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, s/n 28040, Madrid, ES, Spain;3. Laboratorio Lactología y Sanidad Animal, Consejería de Agricultura, 45600 Talavera de la Reina, ES, Spain;4. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3110, USA;1. Department of Plant Ecology and Environmental Conservation, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, ul. Żwirki i Wigury 101, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland;2. Department of Botany, Kherson State University, ul. Universytetska 27, 73000 Kherson, Ukraine;1. Agroécologie, AgroSup Dijon, INRA, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000, Dijon, France;2. ITRA/CRAL, BP 1163, Lomé, Togo;3. Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400, Orsay, France;1. Disturbance Ecology, BayCEER, University of Bayreuth, Germany;2. Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, 3114, Bangladesh;3. Experimental Plant Ecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, Greifswald University, Germany;4. Biogeography, BayCEER, University of Bayreuth, Germany;1. College of Agriculture and Forestry, Puer University, Puer, Yunnan Province, 665000, China;2. Rural Development Research Center, Puer University, Yunnan Province, 665000, China;3. College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, 110866, China;1. Forest Ecology and Environment Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun 248006, Uttarakhand, India;2. Department of Botany, Govt. Degree College, Kathua, 184104, Jammu & Kashmir, India |
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| Abstract: | Scattered trees are considered keystone structures and play an important role in Mediterranean sylvopastoral systems. Such systems are associated with high biodiversity and provide important natural resources and ecosystem services. In this study, we measured the contribution of scattered trees and different grazing management (cattle, sheep and wildlife only) to the diversity of the grassland sward in a dehesa (open holm oak woodland) located in Central Spain. We analyzed alpha and beta diversity through measurement of species richness, Shannon-Wiener, and Whittaker indices, respectively; and the floristic composition of the herb layer using subplots within two adjacent plots (trees present vs. trees absent) under three different grazing management regimes, including wildlife only, during a year. We found a 20–30% increment in the alpha diversity of wooded plots, compared to those without trees, regardless of grazing management. All beta indices calculated showed more than 60% species turnover. Wooded plots were occupied by different herbaceous species in different heterogeneous microsites (under the canopy, in the ecotone or on open land) created by the trees. Livestock grazing modified species composition (e.g. more nitrophilous species) compared to wildlife only plots. In addition to all their other benefits, trees are important to maintaining grassland diversity in Mediterranean dehesas. |
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| Keywords: | Open woodland Inter-tree gaps Sylvopastoralism Grazing species |
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