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Impact of Grazing on Diversity of Semi-Arid Rangelands in Crete Island in the Context of Climatic Change

The rangelands of Crete island (Greece) are typical Mediterranean habitats under high risk of degradation due to long-term grazing and harsh climatic conditions. We explored the effect of abiotic (climatic conditions, altitude) and biotic factors (long-term grazing by small ruminants) on the florist...

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Autores principales: Karatassiou, Maria, Parissi, Zoi M., Panajiotidis, Sampson, Stergiou, Afroditi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9003301/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35406961
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants11070982
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author Karatassiou, Maria
Parissi, Zoi M.
Panajiotidis, Sampson
Stergiou, Afroditi
author_facet Karatassiou, Maria
Parissi, Zoi M.
Panajiotidis, Sampson
Stergiou, Afroditi
author_sort Karatassiou, Maria
collection PubMed
description The rangelands of Crete island (Greece) are typical Mediterranean habitats under high risk of degradation due to long-term grazing and harsh climatic conditions. We explored the effect of abiotic (climatic conditions, altitude) and biotic factors (long-term grazing by small ruminants) on the floristic composition and diversity of selected lowland (Pyrathi, Faistos) and highland (Vroulidia, Nida) rangelands. In each rangeland, the ground cover was measured, and the floristic composition was calculated in terms of five functional groups: grasses, legumes, forbs, phrygana, and shrubs. The aridity index, species turnover, species richness, Shannon entropy, and Gini–Simpson index (with the latter two converted to the effective number of species) were calculated. Our results reveal that highlands are characterized by the highest aridity index (wetter conditions). Lowland rangelands, compared to highland, exhibited a higher percentage contribution of grasses, legumes, and forbs, while species turnover decreased along the altitudinal gradient. The Shannon entropy index was correlated (a) positively with Gini–Simpson and mean annual temperature and (b) negatively with mean annual precipitation, aridity index, and altitude. Moreover, the Gini–Simpson index correlated positively with mean annual temperature and negatively with altitude. Our results could help to understand the effects of grazing on rangeland dynamics and sustainability in semi-arid regions in the context of climatic change.
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spelling pubmed-90033012022-04-13 Impact of Grazing on Diversity of Semi-Arid Rangelands in Crete Island in the Context of Climatic Change Karatassiou, Maria Parissi, Zoi M. Panajiotidis, Sampson Stergiou, Afroditi Plants (Basel) Article The rangelands of Crete island (Greece) are typical Mediterranean habitats under high risk of degradation due to long-term grazing and harsh climatic conditions. We explored the effect of abiotic (climatic conditions, altitude) and biotic factors (long-term grazing by small ruminants) on the floristic composition and diversity of selected lowland (Pyrathi, Faistos) and highland (Vroulidia, Nida) rangelands. In each rangeland, the ground cover was measured, and the floristic composition was calculated in terms of five functional groups: grasses, legumes, forbs, phrygana, and shrubs. The aridity index, species turnover, species richness, Shannon entropy, and Gini–Simpson index (with the latter two converted to the effective number of species) were calculated. Our results reveal that highlands are characterized by the highest aridity index (wetter conditions). Lowland rangelands, compared to highland, exhibited a higher percentage contribution of grasses, legumes, and forbs, while species turnover decreased along the altitudinal gradient. The Shannon entropy index was correlated (a) positively with Gini–Simpson and mean annual temperature and (b) negatively with mean annual precipitation, aridity index, and altitude. Moreover, the Gini–Simpson index correlated positively with mean annual temperature and negatively with altitude. Our results could help to understand the effects of grazing on rangeland dynamics and sustainability in semi-arid regions in the context of climatic change. MDPI 2022-04-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9003301/ /pubmed/35406961 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants11070982 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Karatassiou, Maria
Parissi, Zoi M.
Panajiotidis, Sampson
Stergiou, Afroditi
Impact of Grazing on Diversity of Semi-Arid Rangelands in Crete Island in the Context of Climatic Change
title Impact of Grazing on Diversity of Semi-Arid Rangelands in Crete Island in the Context of Climatic Change
title_full Impact of Grazing on Diversity of Semi-Arid Rangelands in Crete Island in the Context of Climatic Change
title_fullStr Impact of Grazing on Diversity of Semi-Arid Rangelands in Crete Island in the Context of Climatic Change
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Grazing on Diversity of Semi-Arid Rangelands in Crete Island in the Context of Climatic Change
title_short Impact of Grazing on Diversity of Semi-Arid Rangelands in Crete Island in the Context of Climatic Change
title_sort impact of grazing on diversity of semi-arid rangelands in crete island in the context of climatic change
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9003301/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35406961
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants11070982
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