Land use legacies on forest understory vegetation and soils in the Mediterranean region: Should we use historical maps or in situ land use remnants?

Abadie, Juliet; Avon, Catherine; Dupouey, Jean‐Luc; Lopez, Jean-Michel; Tatoni, Thierry; Bergès, Laurent

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2018.05.050

Cited by 19 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…Furthermore, land‐use legacies often enforce lagging ecosystem dynamics, so that ecosystems with a slower development have more potential to be influenced by their effects (Bürgi et al, ). Effects of land‐use legacies are consequently well‐documented in temperate forests, and on community dynamics in the herbaceous understorey layer in particular (Abadie et al, ; Brudvig, Grman, Habeck, Orrock, & Ledvina, ; Hermy & Verheyen, ; Newbold et al, ; Verheyen, Bossuyt, Hermy, & Tack, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light and warming drive forest understorey community development in different environments

Blondeel

Perring

Depauw

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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Plant community composition and functional traits respond to chronic drivers such as climate change and nitrogen (N) deposition. In contrast, pulse disturbances from ecosystem management can additionally change resources and conditions. Community responses to combined environmental changes may further depend on land‐use legacies. Disentangling the relative importance of these global change drivers is necessary to improve predictions of future plant communities. We performed a multifactor global change experiment to disentangle drivers of herbaceous plant community trajectories in a temperate deciduous forest. Communities of five species, assembled from a pool of 15 forest herb species with varying ecological strategies, were grown in 384 mesocosms on soils from ancient forest (forested at least since 1850) and postagricultural forest (forested since 1950) collected across Europe. Mesocosms were exposed to two‐level full‐factorial treatments of warming, light addition (representing changing forest management) and N enrichment. We measured plant height, specific leaf area (SLA) and species cover over the course of three growing seasons. Increasing light availability followed by warming reordered the species towards a taller herb community, with limited effects of N enrichment or the forest land‐use history. Two‐way interactions between treatments and incorporating intraspecific trait variation (ITV) did not yield additional inference on community height change. Contrastingly, community SLA differed when considering ITV along with species reordering, which highlights ITV’s importance for understanding leaf morphology responses to nutrient enrichment in dark conditions. Contrary to our expectations, we found limited evidence of land‐use legacies affecting community responses to environmental changes, perhaps because dispersal limitation was removed in the experimental design. These findings can improve predictions of community functional trait responses to global changes by acknowledging ITV, and subtle changes in light availability. Adaptive forest management to impending global change could benefit the restoration and conservation of understorey plant communities by reducing the light availability.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light and warming drive forest understorey community development in different environments

Blondeel

Perring

Depauw

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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“…The response of other taxa — insects (e.g., Assmann, 1999), lichens (e.g., Janssen et al, 2019), fungi (e.g., Spake et al, 2016) — to forest continuity has also been studied, and despite variations in the magnitude and significance of the effects, have overall highlighted the importance of ancient forests for conservation. However, although some studies have been carried out in areas other than temperate lowland forests, as is the case in mountain and mediterranean areas (Sciama et al, 2009; Abadie et al, 2018; Janssen et al, 2018), several forest types have been largely ignored in historical ecology (Bergès & Dupouey, 2021). This is especially the case for riparian forests, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The closer the better? Relative influence of forest continuity and distance to water on the taxonomic and functional structure of riparian plant communities along headwater streams

Janssen

Chevalier

Évette

et al. 2021

Applied Vegetation Science

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Questions (a) Is forest temporal continuity an important factor in structuring the riparian plant communities along small alluvial valleys? (b) To what extent can distance from the stream modulate the effect of forest continuity and provide a better understanding of the taxonomic and functional structure of these communities? Location Ouanne watershed, France. Methods We used a paired‐samples design, involving stands close to and far from the stream, in ancient or recent riparian forests, in which we studied the vegetation. We performed analyses of species richness and cover, as well as mean values of species preferences and functional traits, and measures of species composition, distinguishing between the understorey and overstorey. Results Strong differences in richness and mean values, as well as in composition, were found between ancient and recent forests. Ancient forests were characterized by species with a dominant stress‐tolerant strategy, whereas recent forests were dominated by hygrophilous and nitrophilous species with a dominant competitive strategy. Furthermore, we found that ancient and recent stands close to the stream encompassed a larger richness of species, than ancient and recent riparian stands far from the stream, a pattern mostly driven by the greater co‐occurrence of small ruderal species with rapid leaves turnover but also of ancient forest species. Conclusions In small riparian forests along headwater streams, we have shown that past human activities leave still detectable traces in contemporary plant communities. In addition, we pointed out that colonization by ancient indicator species was faster in recent forests closer to the stream. This underscores the need to protect remaining ancient riparian forests that are well connected to the stream, even if they are small, and suggests that bank reforestation as well as restoration of hydrological connectivity on rivers fragmented by artificial barriers may be an effective way to increase forest biodiversity in riparian zones.

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“…Among them, thermophilous deciduous, broadleaved evergreen and coniferous forests and woodlands represent a wide range of habitats of conservation concern in the Mediterranean (Gauquelin et al 2018). In this context, human disturbance has, among others, caused simplification of forest structure, changes in plant composition, abundance and distribution (Blasi et al 2010, Abadie et al 2018. Moreover, forest conversions into managed systems have been proven to decrease the capacity of storing carbon below ground due to simplification of foliage and root litter inputs (Błonska et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Mediterranean Basin, Amici et al (2013) showed that light-demanding species richness decreased with increasing successional age of forest. Plant species in old-growth forests are often specialists, with short distance dispersal mechanisms and no persistent soil seed bank, which makes them more vulnerable to forest habitat loss (Burrascano et al 2009, Campetella et al 2016, Abadie et al 2018.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Brunialti et al 2010), and invertebrates, like Cerambyx cerdo L. (Casula 2017), are found as indicators of old-growth features in Mediterranean forests. Despite such a kind of promising results, compared to temperate contexts, old-growth forests have been much less explored in the Mediterranean (Abadie et al 2018). Patched and uncomplete information is present at this scale, and exhaustive literature on old-growth dynamics and features is available for only few Mediterranean territories, such as the Cilento, central Italy or eastern Pyrenees (e.g., Marchetti et al 2010, Fortuny et al 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Structural heterogeneity and old-growthness: A first regional-scale assessment of Sardinian forests

Fantini

Fois

Casula

et al. 2020

AFR

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Mediterranean forests have been altered by several human activities. Consequently, relatively intact forests that have been unmodified by humans for a relatively long time (i.e., old-growth forests) are often reduced to isolated and fragmented stands. However, despite their high conservation value, little is known about their features and even presence several Mediterranean areas. First steps of their investigation are based on the identification of old-growth features such as amount of large‐size and old trees, tree species composition, canopy heterogeneity, occurrence and amount of deadwood. The Structural Heterogeneity Index (SHI) is commonly used to summarise features of old-growthness in one single value. Here, the SHI was derived for 68 plots included in 45 forest stands within the 4,297 km2 of territory that is covered by forests in Sardinia. SHI values were affected by variables that are likely to be related to forest age and structural complexity, such as presence of cerambycids, canopy cover, forest layers, location and three old-growthness classes. Results confirm a high structural variability among forests with old-growth features, determined by the presence, or lack, of given living and deadwood features. Our findings identified, for the first time, most of the forest stands that need special protection in Sardinia for the presence of old-growth features. In this sense, the SHI was confirmed useful for improving their management and conservation, although more specific and deeper studies are necessary for better understanding their species composition and dynamics.

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Land use legacies on forest understory vegetation and soils in the Mediterranean region: Should we use historical maps or in situ land use remnants?

Cited by 19 publications

References 48 publications

Light and warming drive forest understorey community development in different environments

Light and warming drive forest understorey community development in different environments

The closer the better? Relative influence of forest continuity and distance to water on the taxonomic and functional structure of riparian plant communities along headwater streams

Structural heterogeneity and old-growthness: A first regional-scale assessment of Sardinian forests

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