Isolated cork oak trees affect soil properties and biodiversity in a Mediterranean wooded grassland

Rossetti, Ivo; Bagella, Simonetta; Cappai, Chiara; Caria, Maria Carmela; Lai, Roberto; Roggero, Pier Paolo; Silva, Pedro Martins da; Sousa, José Paulo; Querner, Pascal; Seddaiu, Giovanna

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2015.01.008

Cited by 61 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…This site typology can be seen as a result of different habitat conditions which in part reflect the land use history and management practices among different land use types (Setälä et al, 1995;Hedlund et al, 2004;Rossetti et al, 2015). In effect, collembolan species richness also did not show a significant difference among the three studied land use types, while functional diversity based on community traits of life-form was significantly different among these groups, particularly between forests and grasslands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Among soil fauna, collembolans have been included as biodiversity and ecological indicators among soil fauna in these "indicator shopping baskets" (sensu Stork, 1995), considering that they are among the main soil invertebrate groups in terms of abundance and diversity in the uppermost soil layers of European ecosystems (Gardi et al, 2009;Mulder et al, 2011). Also, collembolans can be good indicators as they respond to a variety of environmental and ecological factors (Hopkin, 1997), particularly to changes in soil chemistry (e.g., soil pH: Van Straalen and Verhoef, 1997;Van Straalen 1998;Rossetti et al, 2015), microclimatic conditions and microhabitat configuration, e.g., moisture (Verhoef and Van Selm, 1983;Pflug and Wolters, 2001), litter quality and humus type Chagnon et al, 2000;Hasegawa, 2002), as well as to land use type and management, like forestry and agricultural practices (Sousa et al, 2000(Sousa et al, , 2004Alvarez et al, 2001;Gardi et al, 2002;Ponge et al, 2003). Collembolans also play a relevant role in litter decomposition and nutrient cycling of the soil system at the local scale (Hopkin, 1997), while these processes may be influenced by species distributions and collembolan community patterns throughout landscape mosaics (Hedlund et al, 2004;Martins da Silva et al, 2012;Ponge and Salmon, 2013;Heiniger et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Traits of collembolan life-form indicate land use types and soil properties across an European transect

Silva

Carvalho

Dirilgen

et al. 2016

Applied Soil Ecology

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traits of collembolan life-form indicate land use types and soil properties across an European transect

Silva

Carvalho

Dirilgen

et al. 2016

Applied Soil Ecology

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“…This is due to the higher tree biomass growth and litter inputs to soil from litterfall and rhizodeposition, as well as to soil protection by tree canopies. In fact, the soil carbon stock under the adult tree canopy can be double that of areas with lower tree incidence (Howlett et al, 2011a;Rossetti et al, 2015).…”

Section: Shrub Layer Importancementioning

confidence: 99%

Forest management and carbon sequestration in the Mediterranean region: A review

et al. 2017

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Aim of study: TTo review and acknowledge the value of carbon sequestration by forest management in the Mediterranean area. Material and methods:We review the main effects of forest management by comparing the effects of silvicultural systems (even-aged vs. uneven-aged stands, coppice systems, agroforestry systems), silvicultural options (thinning, rotation period, species composition), afforestation, harvesting, fire impact or effects of shrub layer on carbon sequestration in the Mediterranean area.Main results: We illustrate as forest management can clearly improve forest carbon sequestration amounts. We conclude that forest management is an effective way to maintain and enhance high carbon sequestration rates in order to cope with climate change and provision of ecosystem services. We also think that although much effort has been put into this topic research, there are still certain gaps that must be dealt with to increase our scientific knowledge and in turn transfer this knowledge to forest practitioners in order to achieve sustainable management aimed at mitigating climate change.Research highlights: It is important to underline the importance of forests in the carbon cycle as this role can be enhanced by forest managers through sustainable forest management. The effects of different management options or disturbances can be critical as regards mitigating climate change. Understanding the effects of forest management is even more important in the Mediterranean area, given that the current high climatic variability together with historical human exploitation and disturbance events make this area more vulnerable to the effects of climate change.Additional keywords: global carbon cycle; forest sink; forest mitigation strategies; carbon sequestration potential; climate change mitigation; Mediterranean forests.

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“…Many of these changes affected the grasslands of the less productive areas, where pastoral activity has almost disappeared (Peeters 2008, Targetti et al 2010) and a gradual colonization by invasive plants and shrubs occurred (Alday et al 2012). This evolution affects not only the floristic composition of pastures (Rook & Tallowin 2003), but also other important aspects such as biodiversity, ecological service provision and the forage quality of wooded grasslands (Mack et al 2000, Bagella et al 2013, McAllister et al 2014, Rossetti et al 2015. In addition, the replacement of open areas by woody species has a remarkable impact on the homogeneity of territory, in terms of fragmentation of such habitats (Laiolo et al 2004, Lengyel et al 2008.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agronomic methods for mountain grassland habitat restoration for faunistic purposes in a protected area of the northern Apennines (Italy)

Cervasio¹,

Argenti²,

Genghini³

et al. 2016

iForest

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The abandonment of pastures often leads to a remarkable deterioration of grasslands, caused by the spread of intrusive, herbaceous and woody species which reduces the general quality of pastures. Different treatments aimed at improving the grassland and enhancing the forage quality of herbaceous resources have been developed to face this problem. We report the results of a five-year experiment conducted in a protected area of central Italy (the "Laghi di Suviana e Brasimone" regional park) on an abandoned pasture inside a beech forest encroached by intrusive species (mainly bracken). We analyzed the effect on sward's specific composition and grazing value of two agronomic factors: (i) the establishment method (ploughing followed by sowing of a forage mixture versus no intervention), and (ii) the number of cuts performed on vegetation during the growing season (0, 1 or 2 cuts). Plots were arranged according to a split-split-plot experimental design with three replications, with the sampling dates as the main factor, the establishment technique as the subplot factor, and the number of cuts as the sub-subplot factor. In each plot, data were recorded once a month from June to September every year from 2006 to 2010, in order to assess the botanical composition and the quality of the sward. The main pastoral and botanical parameters of pastures were significantly affected by both cutting and sowing. Establishment by sowing significantly reduced the presence of bracken, even with no cuts, with strong effects on the qualitative value of the pasture. A single cut resulted in an efficient recovery of the pasture as compared to cutting twice, especially in sown plots. Our results confirmed that the regular and continued maintenance of the recovered areas is crucial to ensure the long-term preservation of the results achieved by the improvements.

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Isolated cork oak trees affect soil properties and biodiversity in a Mediterranean wooded grassland

Cited by 61 publications

References 83 publications

Traits of collembolan life-form indicate land use types and soil properties across an European transect

Traits of collembolan life-form indicate land use types and soil properties across an European transect

Forest management and carbon sequestration in the Mediterranean region: A review

Agronomic methods for mountain grassland habitat restoration for faunistic purposes in a protected area of the northern Apennines (Italy)

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