Decoupling of traditional burnings and grazing regimes alters plant diversity and dominant species competition in high-mountain grasslands

Changes on the Climatic Edge: Adaptation of and Challenges to Pastoralism in Montesinho (Northern Portugal)

“…Finally, limited pastures will always be the most restrictive factor to the development of pastoralism in the PNM. In all considered situations, the biggest challenge expected in future climate change projections for Mediterranean pastoral systems is decreased pasture productivity (Sebasti a 2007;Nardone et al 2010).…”

“…Shepherding practices also provide regulating services, such as fire risk control; cultural services, such as the maintenance of landscape heritage benefits; and supporting services, such as biodiversity and nutrient cycling (Tenerelli et al 2016;Hartel et al 2018;Marsoner et al 2018;Castro et al 2020;M ugica et al 2021). Nowadays, these ecosystem services are essential to confronting the threats posed by climate change (FAO 2016) and are well recognized by academics and researchers (Dumont et al 2019;Calle 2020).…”

“…Climate change is a major concern for current livestock systems worldwide (Salm et al 2020;Godde et al 2021) and has become a key issue for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (see FAO nd). Climate change will not affect the world's different regions and the type of livestock production systems (industrial or landless, crop or livestock, and grazing or pastoral) in a uniform way (Nardone et al 2010). Due to their variable dependence on climatic and natural resources, pastoral systems will be the most affected by summer temperatures in southern Europe (Johannesen et al 2013).…”

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function under Simulated Gradient Warming and Grazing

“…This result is consistent with the majority of studies showing that biodiversity loss is closely linked to drought [ 40 , 41 , 42 ]. Grazing reduces the number of plant species and alters the competitive relationships of species in the community, as shown in previous studies where grazing reduced the amount and height of taller grasses and shorter weeds had more ecological niches to grow [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]. Our study showed that simulated grazing significantly reduced phylogenetic diversity and increased phylogenetic endemism in plant communities, and slightly altered species interactions.…”

Comparison of Culturing and Metabarcoding Methods to Describe the Fungal Endophytic Assemblage of Brachypodium rupestre Growing in a Range of Anthropized Disturbance Regimes

“…This tall grass expansion causes a decline of the biodiversity of the natural grasslands and also has an impact on the ecosystem service of provisioning [ 26 ]. The competitive strategies of this group of species that explain the expansive process is a matter of interest [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ], as it is the study of the mycobiome that may help to understand these advantages. To date, the research in the Brachypodium genus has focused on the systemic fungi of the Clavicipitaceae family hosted by B. sylvaticum [ 34 , 35 ], B. phoenicoides [ 36 , 37 ] and B. pinnatum [ 38 ].…”