Montado management effects on the abundance and conservation of reptiles in Alentejo, Southern Portugal

Godinho, Sérgio; Santos, Paola Ferreira; Sá-Sousa, Paulo

doi:10.1007/s10457-010-9346-3

Cited by 28 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(59 reference statements)

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“…In this sense, the loss of traditional agricultural landscapes and extensive grazing practices is linked to the decline of amphibian populations in southern Spain (Roche et al, 2012). Regarding reptiles, diversity is greater in agro‐silvopastoral systems where a scattered tree layer with a well‐preserved shrub mosaic and low livestock densities are maintained (Godinho, Santos, & Sá‐Sousa, 2011). Our results support these habitat preferences, which coincide with habitats of increasing cattle diversity (Figure 3j,k).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships between the distribution of wildlife and livestock diversity

Velado‐Alonso

Morales‐Castilla

Rebollo

et al. 2020

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim Wild biodiversity and agrobiodiversity are affected by challenges such as agricultural intensification. However, it is unknown whether or not both components of biodiversity respond similarly to environmental factors and to these challenges. Here, we examine the spatial relationships between the distributions of wild biodiversity and agrobiodiversity, to quantify how and where they covary across the geography. Location Mainland Spain, a European region that harbours high values of both wild and agro‐ biodiversity. Methods We used geographically weighted regression models to analyse the spatial variation in the relationships between the distribution of wild vertebrates and environmental and agrobiodiversity variables. We modelled the spatial gradients in species richness of native terrestrial vertebrates—that is, specific groups of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals—as a function of local livestock breed richness—that is, bovine, ovine, caprine, asinine, equine and porcine—climate variables and human footprint. Results We found significant covariation between the distribution of native vertebrate species richness and climate, human footprint and livestock diversity. Overall, the association between species richness of the four wild terrestrial vertebrate groups and local livestock breed richness is positive across most of the studied area. However, local breed richness of cattle and sheep breed displays contrasting patterns, where cattle breeds associate positively to most wildlife vertebrates and sheep breeds show negative associations. Main conclusion Wildlife diversity distributions are significantly associated with livestock agrobiodiversity. These spatial relationships are mediated by large‐scale environmental gradients. Since both, wildlife and livestock agrobiodiversity, tend to co‐occur spatially, future strategies for conservation in agricultural landscapes could benefit from integrated approaches.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships between the distribution of wildlife and livestock diversity

Velado‐Alonso

Morales‐Castilla

Rebollo

et al. 2020

Diversity and Distributions

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“…Scattered shrubs often constitute the third main microhabitat type in wood-pastures and savanna-like landscapes (Bergmeier et al, 2010;Bugalho et al, 2011;Plieninger et al, 2015;Vetaas, 1992); however, their importance to ecosystem functioning and wildlife conservation has rarely been studied (but see Moreno et al, 2016). Shrubs can provide roosting, nesting, resting and signing places for birds (Hartel et al, 2014), and shelter for reptiles (Godinho et al, 2011;Martıń and Lopez, 2002) and butterflies (Dover et al, 1997). Moreover, in open ventilated landscapes such as many wood-pastures, shrubs retain tree leaves that would otherwise be blown away by the wind (Facelli and Pickett, 1991; see also Rossetti et al, 2015), most likely altering the nutrient cycle and providing new habitat for litter-dwelling fauna (Sayer, 2005).…”

Section: U N C O R R E C T E D P R O O Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microhabitat heterogeneity promotes soil fertility and ground-dwelling arthropod diversity in Mediterranean wood-pastures

García-Tejero¹,

Taboada²

2016

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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Mediterranean wood-pastures are extensive agroforestry systems that hold great ecological, social and cultural values, which consist of mixtures of grassland, scattered trees and shrubs, primarily used for livestock grazing. For centuries, low-intensity management in these landscapes has resulted in multiple microhabitats that favour biodiversity and are considered key elements for the long-term persistence of wood-pastures. However, the relative contribution of each microhabitat type to wood-pasture biodiversity and functioning remains poorly studied. We investigated the impact that different wood-pasture microhabitats have on soil chemical fertility and the decomposition food web. We analysed the two main microhabitats that make wood-pastures upopen grasslands and isolated Treesand three additional "litter-trapping" microhabitatsshrubs scattered in the grassland matrix, canopied shrubs and piles of pruning debris-in terms of soil chemical properties (organic matter content, total N, C:N ratio, available P, and exchangeable base cations), collembolan and dipteran (mostly detritivores) abundance, and carabid (seed-eaters and predators) and staphylinid (mostly predators) beetle abundance, body size, biomass, species richness and composition. Grasslands were the most different microhabitats, with the lowest soil nutrient content and particular carabid and staphylinid species composition. Trees had the highest soil fertility levels and abundance of Diptera and staphylinids, and held unique staphylinid assemblages. "Litter-trapping" microhabitats had medium to high soil nutrient values and shared a distinct staphylinid assemblage compared to grasslands and trees. Besides, scattered shrubs provided shelter for large-sized carabid and staphylinid predators, while canopied shrubs held the highest carabid abundance and biomass. "Litter-trapping" microhabitats retained tree leaves that would otherwise be lost to the wood-pasture, recovering nutrients to the system, and provided new habitat, shelter and food for detritivores and unique predator assemblages. "Litter-trapping" microhabitats thus enhanced soil fertility and the decomposition process, at the same time as increased the abundance and diversity of the communities of ground-dwelling detritivores and predators inhabiting wood-pastures. These findings confirmed that microhabitat heterogeneity resulting from low-intensity management is essential to maintain both the primary production and the biodiversity conservation value of wood-pastures.

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“…remarkable conservation value (Almeida et al, 2013), although this may change due to management (e.g. Godinho et al, 2011) and other disturbance factors (e.g. Acácio et al, 2009).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire patterns and landscape changes in Mediterranean oak woodlands

Guiomar

Godinho

Fernandes

et al. 2015

Science of The Total Environment

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• Transitions in Mediterranean oak woodlands (montados) were assessed; • Low spatial connectedness in montado landscape increases its vulnerability; • Changes were mostly explained by fire characteristics and spatial factors; • Large fires have a major role in transitions from montado to pioneer communities. Fire is infrequent in the oak woodlands of southern Portugal (montado) but large and severe fires affected these agro-forestry systems in [2003][2004][2005]. We hypothesised transition from forest to shrubland as a fire-driven process and investigated the links between fire incidence and montado change to other land cover types, particularly those related with the presence of pioneer communities (generically designed in this context as "transitions to early-successional communities"). We present a landscape-scale framework for assessing the probability of transition from montado to pioneer communities, considering three sets of explanatory variables: montado patterns in 1990 and prior changes from montado to early-successional communities (occurred between 1960 and 1990), fire patterns, and spatial factors. These three sets of factors captured 78.2% of the observed variability in the transitions from montado to pioneer vegetation. The contributions of fire patterns and spatial factors were high, respectively 60.6% and 43.4%, the influence of montado patterns and former changes in montado being lower (34.4%). The highest amount of explained variation in the occurrence of transitions from montado to earlysuccessional communities was related to the pure effect of fire patterns (19.9%). Low spatial connectedness in montado landscape can increase vulnerability to changes, namely to pioneer vegetation, but the observed changes were mostly explained by fire characteristics and spatial factors. Among all metrics used to characterize fire patterns and extent, effective mesh size provided the best modelling results. Transitions from montado to pioneer communities are more likely in the presence of high values of the effective mesh size of total burned area. This G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o

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Montado management effects on the abundance and conservation of reptiles in Alentejo, Southern Portugal

Cited by 28 publications

References 38 publications

Relationships between the distribution of wildlife and livestock diversity

Relationships between the distribution of wildlife and livestock diversity

Microhabitat heterogeneity promotes soil fertility and ground-dwelling arthropod diversity in Mediterranean wood-pastures

Wildfire patterns and landscape changes in Mediterranean oak woodlands

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