Roadside verges and cemeteries: Comparative analysis of anthropogenic orchid habitats in the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

Several important habitats have become threatened in the last few centuries in the Mediterranean Basin due to major changes adopted in land‐use practices. The consequent loss of natural and seminatural orchid habitats leads to the appreciation of small anthropogenic habitats, such as cemeteries and roadside verges. Colonization of cemeteries and roadside verges by orchids has long been known, but no study to date compared the suitability of these two anthropogenic habitats for orchids. Therefore, in this paper our aim was to survey cemeteries and roadside verges and to compare these two habitats regarding their role in conserving Mediterranean terrestrial orchids. We conducted field surveys in three Mediterranean islands, Cyprus, Crete, and Lesbos, where both cemeteries and roadside verges were sampled on a geographically representative scale. We found a total of almost 7,000 orchid individuals, belonging to 77 species in the two anthropogenic habitat types. Roadside verges hosted significantly more individuals than cemeteries in Crete and Lesbos, and significantly more species across all three islands. Our results suggest that although cemeteries have a great potential conservation value in other parts of the world, intensive maintenance practices that characterized cemeteries in these three islands renders them unable to sustain valuable plant communities. On the other hand, roadside verges play a prominent role in the conservation of Mediterranean orchids in Cyprus and Greece. The pioneer status of roadside verges facilitates their fast colonization, while roads serve as ecological corridors in fragmented landscapes.

Roadsides provide refuge for orchids: characteristic of the surrounding landscape

“…During our extensive field surveys, we found more than 2,000 orchid individuals of 27 different orchid species in roadsides. This alone suggests that roadsides provide an important habitat for orchids in Central Europe, similarly to other regions across Europe (Fekete et al, 2017(Fekete et al, , 2019. Furthermore, we found a number of rare orchid taxa on roadsides, including G. × suaveolens in Austria, Orchis mascula in Slovakia, a species that is near threatened according to the Red List of vascular plants of the Carpathian part of Slovakia (Turis et al, 2014).…”

“…As a part of roadside management, regular mowing is a cost-efficient element of their maintenance, and it is obligatory in most of the countries for safety reasons. According to a previous study from the Mediterranean, the regularly mowed 0-2-m part of the roadside is the most suitable for orchid individuals (Fekete et al, 2019).…”

“…Despite these negative effects, the beneficial role of roadsides as linear landscape elements is increasingly appreciated. For instance, roadsides appear to serve as refuges in the landscape and aid the maintenance of plant species richness, and have been considered as important areas due to their function in supporting native vegetation in Brazil (Allem, 1997), Pakistan (Ahmad et al., 2009; Akbar et al., 2003), Saudi Arabia (Batanouny, 1979), Australia (Bennett, 1991; Hussey, 1999; Schabel & Eldridge, 2001), South Africa (Dawson, 1991), and several regions across Europe, including Belgium (Deckers et al., 2005; Godefroid, 1999), Finland (Jantunen et al., 2006), Norway (Hovd & Skogen, 2005), Sweden (Cousins, 2006), the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean region (Djordjević & Tsiftsis, 2020; Fekete et al., 2017, 2019), and the United Kingdom (Atherden, Rotherham, & Handley, 2018; Harrington, 1994; Perring, 1969; Way, 1970).…”

“…Moreover, colonization by orchids has long been known in roadsides (Turrill, 1932) as well as in other anthropogenically strongly influenced habitats (Box , 1999; Bzdon, 2009; Deák et al., 2016; Esfeld et al., 2008; Grant & Koch, 2003; Jurkiewicz et al., 2001; Kelcey, 1984; Löki et al., 2015; Lundholm & Richardson, 2010; Molnár V. et al., 2017; Ratcliffe, 1974). For instance, in the Mediterranean region, orchids are frequently present on roadsides (Brandes, 1998a, 1998b; Fekete et al., 2019), Himantoglossum (lizard orchids) being one of the most characteristic genera utilizing these anthropogenic habitats (Bódis et al., 2018; Federici & Serpieri, 1868; Fekete et al., 2017; Good, 1936; Klaver, 2011; Zahariev, 2014).…”

Legacies of past land use challenge grassland recovery – An example from dry grasslands on ancient burial mounds

“…In intensively used agricultural landscapes, the remaining natural and semi-natural habitats often occur on small natural features (SNFs). Many of SNFs, such as verges, field margins and midfield islets are physically inappropriate for agricultural utilisation (Lindborg et al 2014;Jakobsson et al 2018;Fekete et al 2019). Other types of SNFs have religious or cultural importance, which prevented their agricultural utilisation (Dudley et al 2009;Molnár V. et al 2017;Löki et al 2019).…”