Lowland forest fragment characteristics and anthropogenic disturbances determine alien plant species richness and composition

Mirjana Šipek (Author), Nina Šajna (Author)

Abstract

Loss of habitat and biological invasion are the main threats to biodiversity. In intensive agricultural or urban landscapes, forest fragments, even if they are small and isolated represent biodiversity refugia. Environmental variables such as landscape structure, abiotic conditions and anthropogenic disturbance affect the biodiversity of the fragments. In this study, we explored plant species richness in 48 forest fragments embedded in predominantly agricultural landscapes on the alluvial plains of the Mura and Drava rivers in NE Slovenia. We determined several forest fragment characteristics such as perimeter, area, shape complexity, length and proportion of edge shared with adjacent land-cover types and anthropogenic disturbance indicated by the presence of footpaths and waste disposed in fragments. The abiotic condition of these fragments was assessed by Ellenberg indicator values. We built generalized linear models and ordination analyses to assess the importance of environmental variables for the richness and composition of alien plant species and other ecologically meaningful plant groups. Shape complexity had a consistent positive effect on the richness of native and alien plants species. Major drivers of alien plant composition in forest fragments included adjacent land-cover and urbanization level. An increasing proportion of arable land along the forest fragment perimeter negatively affected the richness of alien plants, while the effect of urban areas was positive. Our results confirmed that forest fragments in the rural-urban matrix represent biodiversity refugia and support native plant species; however, they are not resistant to invasions; instead invasion depends on the land-cover type in the surroundings of a given forest fragment.

Keywords

kmetijska zemljišča;urbana območja;naselja;okrasne rastline;agricultural land;urban area;settlements;fragment size;fragment shape complexity;ornamental plants;

Data

Language:	English
Year of publishing:	2024
Typology:	1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:	UM FNM - Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Publisher:	Springer Nature
UDC:	581.1
COBISS:	187604227
ISSN:	1387-3547
Views:	0
Downloads:	1
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
Metadata:

Other data

Secondary language:	Slovenian
Secondary keywords:	kmetijska zemljišča;urbana območja;naselja;okrasne rastline;
Type (COBISS):	Scientific work
Pages:	str. 1595-1614
Volume:	ǂVol. ǂ26
Issue:	ǂiss. ǂ5
Chronology:	2024
DOI:	10.1007/s10530-024-03269-7
ID:	25429450