The impact of land abandonment on the plant diversity of olive groves

We investigated the effect of woody species’ encroachment on plant diversity changes with regard to vascular plants and bryophytes in traditional olive groves of the Maremma Regional Park (Tuscany, Italy) and assessed cross-taxon correlation between these two taxa. We classified the olive groves into four land use types, representing different successional stages. To describe the evenness of species distribution within a community, we plotted rank-abundance diagrams for each taxon and each land use type. The relationship between the number and cover of vascular plants, therophytes, bryophytes, colonists and phanerophytes in each plot was examined using linear regression. The effects of land use type on vascular plant and bryophyte richness and assemblages were assessed by permutational uni- and multivariate analysis of variance. The congruence in species composition between the two taxa was evaluated using Procrustes analysis. The number of vascular plants, bryophytes and therophytes decreased linearly with increased phanerophyte species cover. The number of species belonging to Thero-Brachypodietea progressively decreased throughout succession. Rank-abundance diagrams and multivariate analysis showed differences between the land use types, which were statistically significant for vascular plants between the traditional olive groves and the other land use types, and for bryophytes between the traditional olive groves and woodlands. PROTEST analysis and NMDS graphs showed a correlation between vascular plant and bryophyte communities. The results suggested that conservation measures are needed in the study area in order to ensure both the maintenance of traditional olive groves of conservation interest and high levels of environmental heterogeneity.