Cork Oak Woodlands on the Edge: Ecology, Adaptive Management, and Restoration

Torres, Enrique

doi:10.1111/j.1526-100x.2010.00701.x

Cited by 14 publications

(30 citation statements)

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“…This study was conducted in Los Alcornocales Natural Park (Southern Iberian Peninsula), a hotspot of biodiversity in the Mediterranean Basin (M edail & Qu ezel, 1997). This natural park contains the largest and best conserved forests of Q. suber in Europe (Junta de Andaluc ıa, 2017), a tree species with large economic value due to their use for cork production (Aronson et al, 2009). The diverse shrubby understory is very rich in endemic taxa (Ojeda et al, 2000).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Soil‐borne pathogens as determinants of regeneration patterns at community level in Mediterranean forests

et al. 2020

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Summary Emergent diseases are an increasing problem in forests worldwide. Exotic pathogens are now threatening forests where pathogens have not traditionally been considered to be major ecological drivers of tree demography, such as water‐limited Mediterranean forests. However, how pathogens might limit regeneration in invaded forests is largely unknown. Here we used fungicide to analyse the impact of soil‐borne oomycete pathogens on seedling establishment at community level in Mediterranean forests invaded by the exotic oomycete Phytophthora cinnamomi. Fungicide effects were modelled as a function of the tree neighbourhood composition, the seed mass of the target species, and the abiotic environment. Fungicide application had positive effects on seedling performance that varied in magnitude and spatial structure among coexisting species. Seed mass predicted fungicide effects on seedling emergence, but not on survival or growth. Positive fungicide effects were modulated by levels of abiotic resources, mainly water, increasing with soil moisture. Our results support a novel role for soil‐borne oomycete pathogens as one more axis of the regeneration niche of woody species in water‐limited forests. Given the increasing numbers of exotic oomycete pathogens worldwide, more research is needed to understand the role of this relevant microbial group as a factor shaping seedling establishment.

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Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Soil‐borne pathogens as determinants of regeneration patterns at community level in Mediterranean forests

et al. 2020

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“…The cork oak VS (SA19 and SA20) seem to play an essential role in the land occupation strategies of the Nuragic people, probably because of the several provisioning ES they could provide (Bagella et al, 2020) and its low mortality by the fire with above‐ground sprouting (Carrión et al, 2000). These series are historically managed for pasture and browse for livestock, cereal cropping, firewood, charcoal, fruits, oils, berries, mushrooms, wild animals and, especially recently, for cork (Torres, 2010). There is also some archaeological evidence of Nuragic people using cork for insulating nuraghi walls (Melis, 2003) and other possible uses (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology meets archaeology: Past, present and future vegetation‐derived ecosystems services from the Nuragic Sardinia (1700–580 BCE)

et al. 2023

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Incorporating archaeology within the ecosystem services (ES) framework can offer decision‐makers lessons from the past and a broader sustainability perspective. Given the claimed archaeology‐ES link, the island of Sardinia (Italy) offers an unparalleled opportunity where a unique archaeological heritage occurs in an area of high biodiversity value. More than 5000 nuraghi, megalithic edifices distinctive of the Nuragic civilization (1700–580 BCE), are still present on the island. By crossing the map of Vegetation Series (VS) with nuraghi occurrences, we aimed at acquiring a long‐term perspective on the interactions between Nuragic people and the vegetation as ES provider, so as to enrich our understanding of the past and the present, and potentially inform future practice for the region of Sardinia. A VS is here intended as a hypothesis of a succession of plant communities that can potentially succeed each other over time in a particular land unit. The vegetation‐derived ES represented a driving force in the land occupation strategies of the Nuragic people, who preferred, for their settlements, the mesophiluos cork oak VS and secondary the deciduous broad‐leaved ones, which, with fresh climatic conditions on fertile substrates and gentle slopes on effusive magmatic rocks, can provide land for grazing and agriculture. Conversely, the Nuragic land occupation strategies shaped the VS, transforming the landscape into agro‐silvo‐pastoral systems. Our results suggest that the origin of the present agro‐silvo‐pastoral landscapes (i.e. Pascolo arborato/Dehesa) in Sardinia could be traced back to the Nuragic civilization. The interaction between humans and vegetation in Sardinia is ancient, reciprocal and dynamic. This interaction is crucial for the survival of the present agro‐silvo‐pastoral landscapes that represent important suppliers of provisioning, regulating and cultural ES. Among others, these landscapes are a good example of intimate and sustainable relationships between people and nature and provide a marked sense of place and identity for Sardinia inhabitants. This transdisciplinary approach linking plant ecology with archaeology offered archaeology a better understanding of the environmental settings and subsistence of the Nuragic civilization and provided plant ecology with a long‐term perspective on human‐vegetation interactions. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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“…Cork oak (Quercus suber) Mediterranean woodlands are multiple use silvopastoral systems with masting cycles, where animal-mediated acorn dispersal is critical to the ecosystem sustainability (Pons & Pausas, 2006;Aronson et al, 2009;Campos et al, 2013). Cork oak woodlands are classified as "high nature value farming systems" and have high conservation and socio-economic value (Paracchini et al, 2008;Bugalho et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grazing hinders seed dispersal during crop failure in a declining oak woodland

Vaz

Bugalho

Fedriani

2023

Preprint

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Masting, the reproductive strategy of many perennial plants with variable and synchronized inter-annual seed production, often occurs in grazed systems and is occasionally interspersed with years of extreme crop failure in which few plants remain fecund. Crop failures are becoming more stochastic or common with climate change. Yet, our understanding of the potential costs of the combined effects of crop failure and grazing on seed dispersal and seed-to-seedling transition remains limited. We conducted this study in central Portugal within a silvopastoral system with masting cycles and experiencing a Mediterranean-wide decline partially associated with overgrazing. We tracked the rodent-mediated dispersal of cork-oak (Quercus suber) acorns until seedling emergence in years with contrasting masting seasons in cattle grazed and non-grazed areas. Extreme crop failure resulted in six times longer and faster seed dispersals and 83% more dispersal events, although, consistent with the predator satiation hypothesis, the percentage of predated acorns also increased by 84% as compared to the crop success year. The higher acorn predation in the failure year was offset by a 2.4 times higher percentage of dispersed acorns recruited into seedlings among the unpredated ones, with both years ending up recruiting a similar number of seedlings from the tracked acorns. Seedlings from the tracked acorns emerged 3.4 times farther in the failure year than in the crop success year. Cattle grazing was the main negative factor affecting seed dispersal distance by reducing it by 51% during the extreme crop failure year, whereas it had no noticeable effect during the crop success year. Synthesis: Our study provides empirical evidence that cattle grazing can modulate how an extreme crop failure year can surprisingly be an opportunity for trees remaining fecund to have seedlings established farther apart than in a crop success year. If we are to better manage and preserve the high conservation and socio-economic value of Mediterranean cork oak woodlands in the face of climate change, we must recognize and pay particular attention to controlling seed dispersal drivers such as cattle grazing around fecund trees in years of crop failure.

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Cork Oak Woodlands on the Edge: Ecology, Adaptive Management, and Restoration

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

Soil‐borne pathogens as determinants of regeneration patterns at community level in Mediterranean forests

Soil‐borne pathogens as determinants of regeneration patterns at community level in Mediterranean forests

Ecology meets archaeology: Past, present and future vegetation‐derived ecosystems services from the Nuragic Sardinia (1700–580 BCE)

Grazing hinders seed dispersal during crop failure in a declining oak woodland

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