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Past cover modulates the intense and spatially structured natural regeneration of woody vegetation in a pastureland

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Abstract

Vegetation natural regeneration after agricultural abandonment is changing the landscape patterns in many areas worldwide. However, the expansion rate, spatio-temporal dynamics, and the role of past vegetation cover in shaping such patterns are still barely quantified in fine and meso scales. Here, we aim to quantify the expansion rate and assess the spatio-temporal patterns and the effects of past cover on natural woody vegetation cover increase. We sampled woodland and shrubland cover from 1992 to 2016 in 30 ha in a formerly managed pastureland in Sicily, Italy. We combined field sampling, GIS tools, and spatial analysis to assess the spatial structure dynamics and test the effects of past cover amount and type and distance from forest or nearest woody patch on the proportional expansion of natural regeneration. After 24 years, woody cover increased 68%, despite the aggregated spatial structure in 1992 remaining almost unchanged in 2016. The past vegetation cover was the best predictor of woody vegetation expansion in two out of three plots. Distance to continuous forest and to the nearest woody patch, as well as cover type, was not relevant. Our study highlights the importance of fine- and meso-scale studies to reveal both the deterministic and stochastic facet of woody vegetation dynamics. Natural regeneration may strongly change landscape patterns even under constant herbivory pressure and long-term deforestation. The detection of cold and hotspots of regeneration provide an important prompt for the design of restoration programs and landscape management.

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Acknowledgements

We thanks Giovanni Giardina for sharing helpful information regarding the history of Ficuzza and the Sicilian Dipartimento Regionale dello Sviluppo Rurale e Territoriale for the logistical support. Funding: RSB received a Ph.D. fellowship from the University of Palermo. Fieldwork and TL were funded by Italian “Ministero dell'Istruzione dell'Università e della Ricerca” (CARBOTREES—201049EXTW). DG was supported by Spanish “Ministerio de Economía y Empresa” (FEDER CGL2015‐68963‐ C2‐2‐R) and DG & MG were supported by CYTED program (Red Temática 418RT0555).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA), Palermo, Italy

    Rafael da Silveira Bueno & Tommaso La Mantia

  2. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), São Paulo, Brazil

    Rafael da Silveira Bueno & Mauro Galetti

  3. Departamento de Biología de Organismos y Sistemas – UMIB, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

    Daniel García

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  1. Rafael da Silveira Bueno
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  2. Daniel García
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  4. Tommaso La Mantia
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Contributions

RDSB, TLM and MG conceived the study. RDSB and DG developed the sampling design, methodology and the analytical framework, and interpreted results. RDSB collected and analyzed the data and wrote the first manuscript. DG revised the first manuscript and all authors revised and improved the final version.

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Correspondence to Rafael da Silveira Bueno.

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Communicated by James D. A. Millington.

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Bueno, R.S., García, D., Galetti, M. et al. Past cover modulates the intense and spatially structured natural regeneration of woody vegetation in a pastureland. Plant Ecol 221, 205–218 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-020-01006-3

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