An expert system as an applied tool for the conservation of semi-natural grasslands on the Iberian Peninsula

Identifying typical and early warning species by the combination of functional-based diagnostic species and dark diversity

“…In any case, we should consider that a species strongly correlated with specific ecosystem properties of a given habitat subtype will certainly be identified as a diagnostic species regardless of its trait values. However, using traditional methods the given species may be diagnostic, and thus typical, for more than one habitat type (Nicod et al 2019;Rodríguez-Rojo et al 2020). Using functional-based methods, the focus turns to the functional centroid, and ubiquitous species are recognized as exclusive thanks to the functional fine-tuning to the specific condition of the habitat (Ricotta et al 2020).…”

“…Typical species can show large dominance or can be specialists of specific functions in plant communities of a habitat type, hence their abundance can be a sensitive indicator of changes in habitat types' conservation status (Kovač et al 2016(Kovač et al , 2020Rodríguez-Rojo et al 2020). Accordingly, the decline to the point of disappearance of typical species can have drastic consequences on ecosystem functions (Nicod et al 2019), even locally, and thus the selection of a most sensitive subset of typical species is crucial for the monitoring of habitat types.…”

“…However, sets of diagnostic species could form the starting point for the identification of typical species, provided that all other features required by the reporting guidelines are verified (e.g. Nicod et al 2019;Rodríguez-Rojo et al 2020). In phytosociology, the term 'diagnostic species' defines a combination of 'character or differential species' (Chytrý and Tichý 2003) that indicate the ecology of respectively a single or multiple vegetation unit (sensu Braun-Blanquet 1932).…”

VegeT: An Easy Tool to Classify and Facilitate the Management of Seminatural Grasslands and Dynamically Connected Vegetation of the Alps

“…Although the grassland classification on which VegeT is based has the benefit to go beyond the syntaxonomy [63] (commonly to other modern systems of classification of habitats [64,65]), this instrument has the limitation of being only operational in the Alps (and nearby areas) because N and MV indexes used were built on about 6500 species of Alps [45]. This limitation can be overcome with future studies that analyze the nutrients requirements in the soil and the mowing tolerance of species inhabiting other geographical areas so that N and MV indexes value can be determined.…”

“…The production regulations of these cheeses stipulate that the alimentation of cattle must rely on local forage for the most part of their diet, although this forage is becoming less available due to grassland abandonment (Figure 1). VegeT cannot substitute other tools/procedures to evaluate the forage quantity and quantity neither the biological values of grasslands [3,9,18,[65][66][67][68]. However, it can be combined with other tools to facilitate the definition and planning of the best management practices for maintaining grasslands that, other than being a biodiversity heritage, could be excellent resources for agro-food production chains [69].…”