Dynamic shifts of functional diversity through climate-resilient strategies and farmland restoration in a mountain protected area

• Published in: Journal of environmental management Vol. 366; p. 121622
• Main Authors: Campos, João C., Alírio, João, Arenas-Castro, Salvador, Duarte, Lia, Garcia, Nuno, Regos, Adrián, Pôças, Isabel, Teodoro, Ana C., Sillero, Neftalí
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2024
• Subjects: Animals; Biodiversity; Biodiversity conservation; Climate; Conservation of Natural Resources; Ecological niche models; Ecosystem; Ecosystem functioning; Farms; Forests; Future scenarios; Land-use change; Protected areas; Remote Sensing; Species communities; Protected areas; Biodiversity conservation; Species communities; Ecological niche models; Remote Sensing; Ecosystem functioning; Future scenarios; Land-use change
• ISSN: 0301-4797; 1095-8630; 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121622

Land-use land-cover (LULC) change contributes to major ecological impacts, particularly in areas undergoing land abandonment, inducing modifications on habitat structure and species distributions. Alternative land-use policies are potential solutions to alleviate the negative impacts of contemporary tendencies of LULC change on biodiversity.
This work analyzes these tendencies in the Montesinho Natural Park (Portugal), an area representative of European abandoned mountain rural areas. We built ecological niche models for 226 species of vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) and vascular plants, using a consensus modelling approach available in the R package ‘biomod2’. We projected the models to contemporary (2018) and future (2050) LULC scenarios, under four scenarios aiming to secure relevant ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation for 2050: an afforestation and a rewilding scenario, focused on climate-smart management strategies, and a farmland and an agroforestry recovery scenario, based on re-establishing human traditional activities. We quantified the influences of these scenarios on biodiversity through species habitat suitability changes for 2018–2050. We analyzed how these management strategies could influence indices of functional diversity (functional richness, functional evenness and functional dispersion) within the park.
Habitat suitability changes revealed complementary patterns among scenarios. Afforestation and rewilding scenarios benefited more species adapted to habitats with low human influence, such as forests and open woodlands. The highest functional richness and dispersion was predicted for rewilding scenarios, which could improve landscape restoration and provide opportunities for the expansion and recolonization of forest areas by native species. The recovery of traditional farming and agroforestry activities results in the lowest values of functional richness, but these strategies contribute to complex landscape matrices with diversified habitats and resources. Moreover, this strategy could offer opportunities for fire suppression and increase landscape fire resistance. An integrative approach reconciling rewilding initiatives with the recovery of extensive agricultural and agroforestry activities is potentially an harmonious strategy for supporting the provision of ecosystem services while securing biodiversity conservation and functional diversity within the natural park.
•We simulated 4 future LULC scenarios to secure ecosystem services and biodiversity.•Afforestation and rewilding benefited species adapted to low human influence.•The highest functional richness and dispersion were predicted for rewilding.•Traditional farming and agroforestry provided the lowest functional richness.•An integrative approach (rewilding/agroforestry) is a potential harmonious strategy.