Anthropogenic drivers of plant diversity: perspective on land use change in a dynamic cultural landscape

Abstract

Changes in land use are among the forces shaping Earth's surface. In many industrialized areas, the loss of a traditional state of dynamic equilibrium between traditional management and natural dynamics is followed by abandonment to regeneration processes. This can reduce ecological complexity at the landscape scale and negatively affect biodiversity patterns. In this study, we investigate the relation between land use change and plant species diversity in the network of protected areas (PAs) of the province of Siena (Tuscany, Central Italy). This is an area characterized by long-lasting human activities and highly renowned cultural landscapes. We used remotely sensed, mapping and ground based plant compositional data, to investigate the present pattern of plant species diversity, the changes of landscape structure and changes in forest habitats. Most of the plant diversity present in this network of PAs is due to broad scale gradients due to ecological diversity but also to human management. Most of the area is currently covered by forests and analysis of a historical sequence of spatial data reveals that this is largely a consequence of the abandonment of traditional management during the last decades. Finally, focusing on forest succession as a consequence of land use change, we demonstrate that species richness significantly declines with increasing age of forest stands. Taken together, our results confirm that the recent trends of rural abandonment are leading Communicated by Mauro Agnoletti.to homogenization and biodiversity loss in traditional landscapes of Mediterranean Europe. We discuss implications for policy, and suggest that PA management in cultural and historical landscapes should pay increasing attention traditional anthropic practices.

Landscape and biocultural diversity

“…According to Amici et al (2015), changing land-use is a major transformational force in the landscape today resulting in novel ecosystem components. Especially in developed areas, there has been a rapid decline in the traditional dynamic equilibrium between human intervention and natural ecological dynamics.…”

“…However, the twin processes of intensification or abandonment may both lead to reduced ecological complexity at the landscape scale, with significant implications for organismal biodiversity. Amici et al (2015) address the relationship of land-use changes to contemporary diversity of plant species in the protected areas network of the province of Siena, in Tuscany (Italy). In this region, historic human activity and rapid structural changes at landscape scale perhaps make classic ecological models less able to predict distributions and changes.…”

“…When traditional and customary uses and utilisation of landscapes occur, there is often a dramatic and rapid decline in the associated ecology (e.g. Amici et al 2015;Baiamonte et al 2015). In these situations, the end of tradition (Rotherham 2013), especially where confused with re-wilding, inherently leads to the demise of important and often unrecognised bio-cultural heritage (e.g.…”

Shrines in Central Italy conserve plant diversity and large trees

“…In most cases, however, it is not possible to determine the areal extent of SNS with reasonable confidence, due to two reasons: (1) the lack of clear borders delimiting their natural areas; (2) SNS in Central Italy, differently from elsewhere (e.g., Aerts et al 2006), are frequently included in broader areas with similar landcover. This may be a consequence of relatively recent processes of reforestation that have reconnected previously isolated forest fragments following the abandonment of rural areas (Amici et al 2015).…”

When new human‐modified habitats favour the expansion of an amphibian pioneer species: Evolutionary history of the natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) in a coal basin

“…In this context, recent studies investigated the strength of genetic drift induced by reduced functional connectivity across an urban matrix (e.g., Beninde et al., ; Furman, Scheffers, Taylor, Davis, & Paszkowski, ; Lourenço et al., ; Munshi‐South, Zak, & Pehek, ). However, it appears that new anthropogenic habitats can also promote the establishment of pioneer species in highly disturbed areas (Amici et al., ; Flavenot, Fellous, Abdelkrim, Baguette, & Coulon, ). This is particularly true for postindustrial environments such as former mining areas that may act as biodiversity refugia (Brock, Aboling, Stelzer, Esch, & Papenbrock, ).…”