Sacred sites in north‐western Morocco – naturalness of their vegetation and conservation value for vulnerable plant species

Abstract

The vegetation and flora of 86 sacred sites (surroundings of tombs of local saints, cemeteries) in NW Morocco was studied to assess their conservation value for undisturbed Mediterranean evergreen forests and vulnerable plants. Habitats were mapped, based on life form, maximum height and cover value, and classified according to naturalness. Vascular plants were classified according to pre‐defined risk factors like stenochory or grazing sensitivity. Naturalness index and refugial value were calculated for each site. Only 20% of the mapped site area was closed forest. On many places, human impact had created a vegetation mosaic. Most of the vulnerable plants were mesophilous forest species or grazing sensitive taxa. Endemic species occurred only rarely. The occurrence of vulnerable plants and the naturalness of the vegetation were positively correlated. Sacred site extension had no significant effect on the number of vulnerable species. Results indicate a limited relevance of sacred sites in northern Morocco for the protection of intact forests and vulnerable plants. However, these localities can play an important role as stepping stones in agricultural landscapes. They protect plants, sensitive to opening of the tree layer, to deforestation and to intense grazing. Certain formerly widespread forest communities survived exclusively on sacred sites.

When nature meets the divine: effect of prohibition regimes on the structure and tree species composition of sacred forests in northern Greece

“…The plots that had no tree or shrub cover in the sampled size classes at either plot or subplot layers (18 overall) were removed from the analysis of woody species composition. The resulting distance matrix was then repeatedly clustered (iteratively from 2 to 10 clusters) using a "k-means" clustering protocol with 25 random starts (Aerts et al, 2006;Dufrene and Legendre, 1997). A measure of cluster homogeneity (silhouette) was used to identify the most explanatory cluster level.…”

“…Indicator species analysis was applied to determine which group of tree species best characterized each of the selected clusters. The indicator species analysis was run following the prescriptions of Dufrene and Legendre (1997) with 1000 permutations. Similarly, only those indicator species that emerged as significant (p < 0.05) and with an indicator value > 25 % were considered (De Cáceres et al, 2012).…”

“…The custodial groups (which include local religious authorities) define specific management regimes, including duties and prohibitions on forest use. Such regimes vary from site to site and reflect the communities' objectives and the way they wish to manage local resources, their environment, and their spiritual values (e.g., strict protection, prohibition of felling trees, control of grazing; Stara et al, 2016;Frosch et al, 2016).…”

Quantifying the conservation value of Sacred Natural Sites

“…Firstly, these two groves and their control sites are in closer proximity to the nearest village than is the case for the other sites. This could have led to more intense anthropogenic influence or, alternatively, it might have increased the effectiveness of the protection associated with religious prohibitions (Frosch et al, 2016). Secondly, they are located on very steep slopes, so these groves would require strict protection to fulfil the role of erosion or landslide control.…”

Assessing and modelling socio-ecological interactions of sacred forests in northwestern Greece

“…As, SNSs, they can be found in many different cultures around the world. The literature mentions sacred forests in countries such as: India, Tibet, China, Japan, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Morocco, Tanzania, Australia, Estonia, United Kingdom, Italy, and Greece (Xu et al, 2006;Daye and Healey, 2015;Verschuuren, 2010;Frosch et al, 2017;Zhuang and Corlett, 1997;Castro and Aldunate, 2003;Rose et al, 2003;Chandran and Hughes, 2000;Ylhäisi, 2006;Frascaroli et al, 2019;Mallarach et al, 2012). Sacred groves vary markedly in size and management regime, depending on whether they serve practical (secular) needs or are sites for worship and rites (Dudley et al, 2005).…”