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Contrasting time-scale effects of land-use legacy on species richness, diversity and composition in Mediterranean scrubland communities

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Abstract

Context

It is known that land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes affect plant community assembly for decades. However, both the short- and the long-term effects of contrasting LULC change pathways on this assembly are seldom explored.

Objectives

To assess how LULC change pathways affect woody plant community parameters (i.e. species richness, diversity and evenness) and species’ presence and abundance, compared with environmental factors and neutral processes.

Methods

The study was performed in Mediterranean limestone scrublands in NE Spain. Cover of each woody species was recorded in 150 scrubland plots belonging to five LULC change pathways along the past century, identified using land-cover maps and fieldwork. For each plot, total woody and herbaceous vegetation cover, local environmental variables and geographical position were recorded. Effects of these pathways and factors on plant community parameters and on species presence and abundance were assessed, considering spatial effects potentially associated to neutral processes.

Results

Species richness and diversity were associated with LULC change pathways and elevation, while evenness was only associated with this last. Pathways and environmental variables explained similar variance in both species’ presence and cover. In general, while community parameters were affected by recent-past (1956) use, species presence and abundance were associated with far-past (pre-1900) cropping. No relevant spatial effect was detected for any studied factor.

Conclusions

Historical LULC changes and current environmental factors drive local-scale community assembly in Mediterranean scrublands to an equal extent, while contrasting time-scale effects are found at community and species level. Neutral, dispersal-based processes are found to be non-relevant.

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Acknowledgements

The study was partially funded by the FORASSEMBLY (CGL2015-70558-P) and NEWFORLAND (RTI2018-099397-B-C22) projects of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and by the Fondo de Incentivos of the Consejo Nacional para Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICIT), Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones (MICITT) of Costa Rica.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Nancy Gamboa-Badilla, Alfonso Segura, Guillem Bagaria, Corina Basnou & Joan Pino

  2. Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Escuela de Ingeniería Forestal, 159-7050, Cartago, Costa Rica

    Nancy Gamboa-Badilla

  3. Xarxa per a la Conservació de la Natura (XCN), Sagrada Família 7, 08500, Vic, Spain

    Guillem Bagaria

  4. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Joan Pino

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  1. Nancy Gamboa-Badilla
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  2. Alfonso Segura
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  3. Guillem Bagaria
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  4. Corina Basnou
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  5. Joan Pino
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Correspondence to Joan Pino.

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Gamboa-Badilla, N., Segura, A., Bagaria, G. et al. Contrasting time-scale effects of land-use legacy on species richness, diversity and composition in Mediterranean scrubland communities. Landscape Ecol 35, 2745–2757 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01087-5

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