Search results for "Old field"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Vertebrate-mediated seed rain and artificial perches contribute to overcome seed dispersal limitation in a Mediterranean old field
2019
Natural regeneration of vegetation is a frequent outcome of land abandonment, although the rate and diversity of such regeneration may be severely restricted by seed dispersal limitation, among other factors. In spite of this, studies aiming to quantify seed rain and test methods to enhance it, such as artificial perches, are still underrepresented in the Mediterranean. In our study, we quantified seed rain density and richness and tested the effects of artificial perches on such rain over a distance gradient on seven Mediterranean island old fields. In each of the seven sites, we positioned three sampling stations, each consisting of 1 seed trap under an artificial perch and 1 as a control…
PLANT SUCCESSION ON SICILIAN TERRACES
2007
189 phytosociological relevés have been made in five areas of Sicily, three on volcanic substrates and two on limestones, to study plant community succession trends within abandoned terraced vineyards and cereal fields. Disturbance status and abandonment age was recorded for each sample plot. DCA of these relevés suggests that four are the most important factors driving succession, i.e. geological substrate, bioclimate, age of abandonment and disturbance. In most cases - if there are some dispersal centres near the old fields - undisturbed and less disturbed terraces evolve quite rapidly towards the local potential “climax” community. Different tren…
An empirical test of neighbourhood effect and safe-site effect in abandoned Mediterranean vineyards
2011
The importance of both neighbourhood effect and safe-site effect for the colonization of Mediterranean old fields by woody plants was investigated. Using a transect approach, we recorded colonization of 21 species of woody plants on abandoned, terraced vineyards on Pantelleria Island (Sicily) in dependence from neighbouring terraces in older succession stages (Maquis) and available safe sites for seedling establishment (former crop plant, terrace wall). With a paired design of four treatments, including presence/absence of adjacent older successional stages, and North-/South-facing slopes, a neighbourhood effect could be shown for both expositions if the transect started from an adjacent fi…