Bioclimatology, Structure, and Conservation Perspectives of Quercus pyrenaica, Acer opalus subsp. Granatensis, and Corylus avellana Deciduous Forests on Mediterranean Bioclimate in the South-Central Part of the Iberian Peninsula

Piñar Fuentes Piñar Fuentes,Río Río,Musarella Musarella,Canas Canas,Gomes Gomes,Spampinato Spampinato,Cano-Ortiz Cano-Ortiz,Cano Cano

doi:10.3390/su11226500

Piñar Fuentes Piñar Fuentes, Río Río + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226500

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Abstract

The plant variability in the southern Iberian Peninsula consists of around 3500 different taxa due to its high bioclimatic, geographic, and geological diversity. The deciduous forests in the southern Iberian Peninsula are located in regions with topographies and specific bioclimatic conditions that allow for the survival of taxa that are typical of cooler and wetter bioclimatic regions and therefore represent the relict evidence of colder and more humid paleoclimatic conditions. The floristic composition of 421 samples of deciduous forests in the south-central part of the Iberian Peninsula were analyzed. The ecological importance index (IVI) was calculated, where the most important tree species were Quercus pyrenaica, Acer opalus subsp. Granatensis, and Corylus avellana. These species are uncommon in the south-central part of the Iberian Peninsula, forming forests of little extension. An analysis of the vertical distribution of the species (stratum) shows that the majority of the species of stratum 3 (hemicriptophics, camephytes, geophites, and nanophanerophytes) are characteristic of deciduous forests, and their presence is positively correlated with high values of bioclimatic variables related to humidity and presence of water in the soil (nemoral environments), while they are negatively correlated with high values of bioclimatic variables related to high temperatures, evapotranspiration, and aridity. This work demonstrates that several characteristic deciduous forest taxa are more vulnerable to disappearance due to the loss of their nemoral conditions caused by gaps in the tree or shrub canopy. These gaps lead to an increase in evapotranspiration, excess insolation, and a consequent loss of water and humidity in the microclimatic conditions.

Highlights

It has been proven that territories behave differently in response to the general climate, substrate type, and the topography of the terrain [1]
The first group comprises taxa that are negatively correlated with temperature-related bioclimatic variables such as mean maximum (Tmax) or mean minimum temperature (Tmin)
These species have their optimum in colder regions with mild summers and with lower summer evapotranspiration (PEs) and annual evapotranspiration (PE) values [71]. This can be seen in the correlation coefficients between the abovementioned species and the bioclimatic variables potential evapotranspiration (PE) and PE in places or microclimates where the abundance or presence of these mesophytic species, declines when the values of PEs and PE increase, either due to high temperatures [72] or to gaps in the vegetation [20,21]

Summary

Introduction

It has been proven that territories behave differently in response to the general climate, substrate type, and the topography of the terrain [1]. Bioclimatology is defined as the geobotanical science that studies the reciprocity between climate and the distribution of living beings and their communities on Earth and has much to offer in these cases. The indices of Rivas Martínez [3] have established a close correlation between bioclimatic data and plant communities, enabling each territory to be characterised in these terms [4]. This bioclimatic approach can be applied to a range of crops under a Mediterranean macro-bioclimate. Edaphohygrophilous woodlands occupy especially humid soils and are found in riverbeds, marshes, peat bogs, and similar environments and have a higher humidity corresponding to the ombroclimate [5]

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