title: Contrasting land uses in Mediterranean agro-silvo-pastoral systems generated patchy diversity patterns of vascular plants and below-ground microorganisms.
abstract: The aims of this paper were (i) to define how contrasting land uses affected plant biodiversity in Mediterranean agro-silvo-pastoral-systems across a gradient of disturbance regimes: cork oak forests, secondary grasslands, hay crops, grass covered vineyards, tilled vineyards; (ii) to determine whether these patterns mirrored those of below-ground microorganisms and whether the components of γ-diversity followed a similar model. The disturbance regimes affected plant assemblage composition. Species richness decreased with increasing land use intensity, the Shannon index showed the highest values in grasslands and hay crops. Plant assemblage composition patterns mirrored those of Basidiomycota and Ascomycota. Richness in Basidiomycota, denitrifying bacteria and microbial biomass showed the same trend as that observed for vascular plant richness. The Shannon index pattern of below-ground microorganisms was different from that of plants. The plant γ-diversity component model weakly mirrored those of Ascomycota. Patchy diversity patterns suggest that the maintenance of contrasting land uses associated with different productions typical of agro-silvo-pastoral-systems can guarantee the conservation of biodiversity.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, University of Sassari, Via Piandanna 4, 07100 Sassari, Italy; NRD Nucleo di Ricerca sulla Desertificazione, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy. Electronic address: sbagella@uniss.it.
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bagella
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, University of Sassari, Via Piandanna 4, 07100 Sassari, Italy; NRD Nucleo di Ricerca sulla Desertificazione, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Rossella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Filigheddu
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, University of Sassari, Via Piandanna 4, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Carmela
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Caria
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Mariangela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Girlanda
authors.affiliation: NRD Nucleo di Ricerca sulla Desertificazione, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy; Dipartimento di Agraria, University of Sassari, Via De Nicola, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Pier Paolo
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Roggero
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000639:trends*; D001203:Ascomycota / Q000235:genetics; D018533:Biomass; D017753:Ecosystem; D065928:Forests; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000502:physiology*; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*; D006109:Poaceae; D012988:Soil Microbiology
keywords: Cork oak forests; Grass covered vineyards; Grazing; Hay crops; Secondary grasslands; Tilled vineyards