Chronicle of a death foretold: The vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communities
Badlands are peculiar geomorphological formations shaping landscapes of high ecological and cultural value. In the last decades, land reclamation for agricultural purposes and the cessation of traditional land use, such as sheep grazing, led to their decline in extent in many areas. To quantify the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423002901 |
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| author | Emanuele Fanfarillo Dino Torri Claudia Angiolini Giovanni Bacaro Gianmaria Bonari Giacomo Cangelmi Silvia Cannucci Andrea Coppi Paola De Giorgi Leopoldo de Simone Tiberio Fiaschi Daniel Fontana Jacopo Franzoni Antonio Giacò Lorenzo Lazzaro Michela Marignani Michele Mugnai Lorenzo Pinzani Duccio Rocchini Adriano Stinca Manuel Tiburtini Simona Maccherini |
| author_facet | Emanuele Fanfarillo Dino Torri Claudia Angiolini Giovanni Bacaro Gianmaria Bonari Giacomo Cangelmi Silvia Cannucci Andrea Coppi Paola De Giorgi Leopoldo de Simone Tiberio Fiaschi Daniel Fontana Jacopo Franzoni Antonio Giacò Lorenzo Lazzaro Michela Marignani Michele Mugnai Lorenzo Pinzani Duccio Rocchini Adriano Stinca Manuel Tiburtini Simona Maccherini |
| author_sort | Emanuele Fanfarillo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Badlands are peculiar geomorphological formations shaping landscapes of high ecological and cultural value. In the last decades, land reclamation for agricultural purposes and the cessation of traditional land use, such as sheep grazing, led to their decline in extent in many areas. To quantify the changes in badland-related plant communities, we resurveyed badland vegetation in a site of the Crete Senesi (Siena, central Italy) after 16 years (2006–2022), using 48 quasi-permanent vegetation plots and by means of uni- and multivariate analysis of variance. We found an increase in the total vegetation cover of plant communities growing in former bare soil and sparsely vegetated areas, in line with an overall decrease in the extent of bare soil surfaces in the study area, which we highlighted through the analysis of multitemporal satellite images. Pioneer vegetation characterized by the endemic plant Artemisia caerulescens subsp. cretacea changed into ruderal annual grasslands, while former bare soils were colonized by such pioneer vegetation. In contrast, perennial grasslands remained stable. Grasslands with shrubs became more similar to perennial grasslands in species composition. Species richness increased in former bare soils, and using the total vegetation cover as a proxy for successional stages, we found that Shannon diversity and evenness peaked at about 90% of total cover. In all the stages of colonization, short distance dispersal species prevailed, both therophytes (Avena sterilis, Parapholis strigosa) and perennials (Artemisia caerulescens subsp. cretacea, Bromopsis erecta). Long distance dispersal species (Galatella linosyris) started colonizing at about 60% of total vegetation cover, and at high vegetation cover all the functional groups coexisted. Our results confirm that the badland landscapes of southern Tuscany and specialist plant diversity adapted to badlands are vanishing after a diminishing of active land management, suggesting the current ineffectiveness of the Natura 2000 network in their conservation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:04:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2ae2fa5d3ecd4167b6e32dae43cc2252 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2351-9894 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:04:49Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj.art-2ae2fa5d3ecd4167b6e32dae43cc22522023-10-25T04:16:20ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942023-11-0147e02655Chronicle of a death foretold: The vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communitiesEmanuele Fanfarillo0Dino Torri1Claudia Angiolini2Giovanni Bacaro3Gianmaria Bonari4Giacomo Cangelmi5Silvia Cannucci6Andrea Coppi7Paola De Giorgi8Leopoldo de Simone9Tiberio Fiaschi10Daniel Fontana11Jacopo Franzoni12Antonio Giacò13Lorenzo Lazzaro14Michela Marignani15Michele Mugnai16Lorenzo Pinzani17Duccio Rocchini18Adriano Stinca19Manuel Tiburtini20Simona Maccherini21Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy; NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, Italy; Corresponding author at: Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy.CNR-IRPI, 06128 Perugia, Italy; Corresponding author.Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy; NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy; Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, ItalyBIOME Lab, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy; NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, 50121 Florence, ItalyPLANTSEED Lab, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, ItalyERSE, Ecological Research and Service for the Environment, 55049 Viareggio, ItalyPLANTSEED Lab, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, ItalyPLANTSEED Lab, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, 50121 Florence, ItalyDepartment of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, 90123 Cagliari, ItalyNBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, Italy; Department of Biology, University of Florence, 50121 Florence, ItalyDepartment of Sciences, University of Roma Tre, 00146 Rome, ItalyBIOME Lab, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Spatial Sciences, Suchdol, 16500 Praha, Czech RepublicDepartment of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81100 Caserta, ItalyPLANTSEED Lab, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy; NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, ItalyBadlands are peculiar geomorphological formations shaping landscapes of high ecological and cultural value. In the last decades, land reclamation for agricultural purposes and the cessation of traditional land use, such as sheep grazing, led to their decline in extent in many areas. To quantify the changes in badland-related plant communities, we resurveyed badland vegetation in a site of the Crete Senesi (Siena, central Italy) after 16 years (2006–2022), using 48 quasi-permanent vegetation plots and by means of uni- and multivariate analysis of variance. We found an increase in the total vegetation cover of plant communities growing in former bare soil and sparsely vegetated areas, in line with an overall decrease in the extent of bare soil surfaces in the study area, which we highlighted through the analysis of multitemporal satellite images. Pioneer vegetation characterized by the endemic plant Artemisia caerulescens subsp. cretacea changed into ruderal annual grasslands, while former bare soils were colonized by such pioneer vegetation. In contrast, perennial grasslands remained stable. Grasslands with shrubs became more similar to perennial grasslands in species composition. Species richness increased in former bare soils, and using the total vegetation cover as a proxy for successional stages, we found that Shannon diversity and evenness peaked at about 90% of total cover. In all the stages of colonization, short distance dispersal species prevailed, both therophytes (Avena sterilis, Parapholis strigosa) and perennials (Artemisia caerulescens subsp. cretacea, Bromopsis erecta). Long distance dispersal species (Galatella linosyris) started colonizing at about 60% of total vegetation cover, and at high vegetation cover all the functional groups coexisted. Our results confirm that the badland landscapes of southern Tuscany and specialist plant diversity adapted to badlands are vanishing after a diminishing of active land management, suggesting the current ineffectiveness of the Natura 2000 network in their conservation.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423002901Biodiversity monitoringDiachronic analysisEcological successionEU Directive Annex I habitatResamplingRevisiting |
| spellingShingle | Emanuele Fanfarillo Dino Torri Claudia Angiolini Giovanni Bacaro Gianmaria Bonari Giacomo Cangelmi Silvia Cannucci Andrea Coppi Paola De Giorgi Leopoldo de Simone Tiberio Fiaschi Daniel Fontana Jacopo Franzoni Antonio Giacò Lorenzo Lazzaro Michela Marignani Michele Mugnai Lorenzo Pinzani Duccio Rocchini Adriano Stinca Manuel Tiburtini Simona Maccherini Chronicle of a death foretold: The vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communities Global Ecology and Conservation Biodiversity monitoring Diachronic analysis Ecological succession EU Directive Annex I habitat Resampling Revisiting |
| title | Chronicle of a death foretold: The vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communities |
| title_full | Chronicle of a death foretold: The vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communities |
| title_fullStr | Chronicle of a death foretold: The vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chronicle of a death foretold: The vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communities |
| title_short | Chronicle of a death foretold: The vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communities |
| title_sort | chronicle of a death foretold the vanishing of an emblematic cultural landscape results in the loss of its unique plant communities |
| topic | Biodiversity monitoring Diachronic analysis Ecological succession EU Directive Annex I habitat Resampling Revisiting |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423002901 |
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