Biodiversity gradients in the Alps: the overriding importance of elevation |
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Authors: | Fabrizio Sergio Paolo Pedrini |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Applied Biology, Estación Biológica de Do?ana, C.S.I.C., Avda. de Marìa Luisa s/n., Pabellón del Perú, Apdo 1056, Seville, 41013, Spain 2. Raptor Conservation Research Unit, Trento Museum of Natural Sciences, Via Calepina 14, Trento, 38100, Italy
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Abstract: | Land abandonment is causing woodland expansion and loss of open habitats in the Alps, coupled with a shift in forestry practices
from coppice management to high forest. Despite such rapid large-scale changes, there has been very little investigation of
the environmental predictors of biodiversity in the Alpine landscape. We assessed the richness of amphibians, reptiles and
breeding birds (n = 189 species), used as a surrogate of biodiversity, in 58 quadrats of 100 km2, located within a well surveyed area of the province of Trento (central-eastern Italian Alps). The surrogates were then related
to a series of environmental variables by means of stepwise multiple regression. Depending on the surrogate analysed, species
richness declined linearly or quadratically with elevation, and increased with habitat heterogeneity and the availability
of grassland and arid-rocky habitats. The same results were obtained when incorporating a measure of species threat into the
biodiversity estimates. Different surrogates were positively inter-correlated, probably because of a common response to the
same factor, namely elevation, which was the only variable to enter all models. Such elevational gradient produced a clear
biodiversity peak in low-elevation areas, generating potential conflict between efficient biodiversity conservation and economic
interests linked to human development, a scenario which probably applies to many mountain regions worldwide. The current network
of protected areas was quite satisfactory in terms of area covered but biased towards high-elevation areas, of high scenic
beauty but relatively low in animal biodiversity value. Low-elevation reserves were small and isolated. Proposed conservation
targets include the establishment of corridors increasing the connectivity of low-elevation reserves and the promotion of
incentives for the extensive management of grassland, an agro-ecosystem of high historical and biological value. |
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Keywords: | Alps Biodiversity Elevation Grassland Habitat heterogeneity Protected areas Reserve network Species richness Vertebrates |
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