Diagnostic Species Diversity Pattern Can Provide Key Information on Vegetation Change: An Insight into High Mountain Habitats in Central Apennines
High mountain ecosystems are hotspots of biodiversity that are highly vulnerable to climate warming and land use change. In Europe, high mountain habitats are included in the EC Directive 92/43/EEC (Habitats Directive) and the identification of practices facilitating effective monitoring is crucial...
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doaj-fc6a444889a9418a8eb781c4a29eae042021-09-26T00:33:04ZengMDPI AGJournal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens2673-56362021-09-0123345347210.3390/jzbg2030033Diagnostic Species Diversity Pattern Can Provide Key Information on Vegetation Change: An Insight into High Mountain Habitats in Central ApenninesMarco Varricchione0Valter Di Cecco1Lucia A. Santoianni2Angela Stanisci3Mirko Di Febbraro4Luciano Di Martino5Maria Laura Carranza6EnvixLab, Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, C. da Fonte Lappone, 86090 Pesche, IS, ItalyMaiella Seed Bank, Maiella National Park, Loc. Colle Madonna, 66010 Lama dei Peligni, CH, ItalyEnvixLab, Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, Via Duca degli Abruzzi, 67, 86039 Termoli, CB, ItalyEnvixLab, Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, C. da Fonte Lappone, 86090 Pesche, IS, ItalyEnvixLab, Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, Via Duca degli Abruzzi, 67, 86039 Termoli, CB, ItalyMaiella Seed Bank, Maiella National Park, Loc. Colle Madonna, 66010 Lama dei Peligni, CH, ItalyEnvixLab, Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, C. da Fonte Lappone, 86090 Pesche, IS, ItalyHigh mountain ecosystems are hotspots of biodiversity that are highly vulnerable to climate warming and land use change. In Europe, high mountain habitats are included in the EC Directive 92/43/EEC (Habitats Directive) and the identification of practices facilitating effective monitoring is crucial for meeting HD goals. We analyzed the temporal changes in species composition and diversity on high mountain EU habitats and explored if the subgroup of diagnostic species was able to summarize the comprehensive information on plant community variations. We performed a re-visitation study, using a set of 30 georeferenced historical plots newly collected after 20 years on two EU habitats (<i>Galium magellense</i> community growing on screes (8120 EU) and <i>Trifolium thalii</i> community of snowbeds (6170 EU)) in the Maiella National Park (MNP), which is one of the most threatened Mediterranean mountains in Europe. The presence of several endangered species and the availability of a botanical garden, a seed bank, and a nursery, make the MNP an excellent training ground to explore in situ and ex situ conservation strategies. We compared overall and diagnostic species richness patterns over time by rarefaction curves and described the singular aspects of species diversity (e.g., richness, Shannon index, Simpson index, and Berger–Parker index), by Rènyi’s diversity profiles. Diversity values consistently varied over time and across EU habitat types, with increasing values on scree communities and decreasing values on snowbeds. These changes could be associated with both land use change, through the increase of grazing pressure of Apennine chamois (<i>Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata</i>), which determined a rise of nitrophilous species in the scree community, and an increase of grasses at the expense of forbs in snowbeds, and to climate change, which promoted a general expansion of thermophilous species. Despite the two opposite, ongoing processes on the two plant communities studied, our results evidenced that diagnostic species and overall species followed the same trend of variation, demonstrating the potential of diagnostics for EU habitat monitoring. Our observations suggested that the re-visitation of historical plots and the implementation of frequent monitoring campaigns on diagnostic species can provide important data on species abundance and distribution patterns in these vulnerable ecosystems, supporting optimized in situ and ex situ conservation actions.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5636/2/3/33ecological monitoringEU Habitats Directiverarefaction curvesRènyi’s diversity profilesre-visitation studyvegetation database |
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DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Marco Varricchione Valter Di Cecco Lucia A. Santoianni Angela Stanisci Mirko Di Febbraro Luciano Di Martino Maria Laura Carranza |
spellingShingle |
Marco Varricchione Valter Di Cecco Lucia A. Santoianni Angela Stanisci Mirko Di Febbraro Luciano Di Martino Maria Laura Carranza Diagnostic Species Diversity Pattern Can Provide Key Information on Vegetation Change: An Insight into High Mountain Habitats in Central Apennines Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens ecological monitoring EU Habitats Directive rarefaction curves Rènyi’s diversity profiles re-visitation study vegetation database |
author_facet |
Marco Varricchione Valter Di Cecco Lucia A. Santoianni Angela Stanisci Mirko Di Febbraro Luciano Di Martino Maria Laura Carranza |
author_sort |
Marco Varricchione |
title |
Diagnostic Species Diversity Pattern Can Provide Key Information on Vegetation Change: An Insight into High Mountain Habitats in Central Apennines |
title_short |
Diagnostic Species Diversity Pattern Can Provide Key Information on Vegetation Change: An Insight into High Mountain Habitats in Central Apennines |
title_full |
Diagnostic Species Diversity Pattern Can Provide Key Information on Vegetation Change: An Insight into High Mountain Habitats in Central Apennines |
title_fullStr |
Diagnostic Species Diversity Pattern Can Provide Key Information on Vegetation Change: An Insight into High Mountain Habitats in Central Apennines |
title_full_unstemmed |
Diagnostic Species Diversity Pattern Can Provide Key Information on Vegetation Change: An Insight into High Mountain Habitats in Central Apennines |
title_sort |
diagnostic species diversity pattern can provide key information on vegetation change: an insight into high mountain habitats in central apennines |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens |
issn |
2673-5636 |
publishDate |
2021-09-01 |
description |
High mountain ecosystems are hotspots of biodiversity that are highly vulnerable to climate warming and land use change. In Europe, high mountain habitats are included in the EC Directive 92/43/EEC (Habitats Directive) and the identification of practices facilitating effective monitoring is crucial for meeting HD goals. We analyzed the temporal changes in species composition and diversity on high mountain EU habitats and explored if the subgroup of diagnostic species was able to summarize the comprehensive information on plant community variations. We performed a re-visitation study, using a set of 30 georeferenced historical plots newly collected after 20 years on two EU habitats (<i>Galium magellense</i> community growing on screes (8120 EU) and <i>Trifolium thalii</i> community of snowbeds (6170 EU)) in the Maiella National Park (MNP), which is one of the most threatened Mediterranean mountains in Europe. The presence of several endangered species and the availability of a botanical garden, a seed bank, and a nursery, make the MNP an excellent training ground to explore in situ and ex situ conservation strategies. We compared overall and diagnostic species richness patterns over time by rarefaction curves and described the singular aspects of species diversity (e.g., richness, Shannon index, Simpson index, and Berger–Parker index), by Rènyi’s diversity profiles. Diversity values consistently varied over time and across EU habitat types, with increasing values on scree communities and decreasing values on snowbeds. These changes could be associated with both land use change, through the increase of grazing pressure of Apennine chamois (<i>Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata</i>), which determined a rise of nitrophilous species in the scree community, and an increase of grasses at the expense of forbs in snowbeds, and to climate change, which promoted a general expansion of thermophilous species. Despite the two opposite, ongoing processes on the two plant communities studied, our results evidenced that diagnostic species and overall species followed the same trend of variation, demonstrating the potential of diagnostics for EU habitat monitoring. Our observations suggested that the re-visitation of historical plots and the implementation of frequent monitoring campaigns on diagnostic species can provide important data on species abundance and distribution patterns in these vulnerable ecosystems, supporting optimized in situ and ex situ conservation actions. |
topic |
ecological monitoring EU Habitats Directive rarefaction curves Rènyi’s diversity profiles re-visitation study vegetation database |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5636/2/3/33 |
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