Spontaneous primary succession and vascular plant recovery in the Iberian gypsum quarries: insights for ecological restoration in an EU priority habitat
Gypsum covers a vast area of the Iberian Peninsula, making Spain a leader in its production. Gypsum is a fundamental raw material for modern societies. However, gypsum quarries have an obvious impact on the landscape and biodiversity. Gypsum outcrops host a high percentage of endemic plants and uniq...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10835/14411 |
| _version_ | 1789406679610163200 |
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| author | Mota Poveda, Juan Francisco Martínez Hernández, Fabián Salmerón Sánchez, Esteban Mendoza-Fernández, Antonio Jesús Pérez García, Francisco Javier Merlo Calvente, María Encarnación |
| author_facet | Mota Poveda, Juan Francisco Martínez Hernández, Fabián Salmerón Sánchez, Esteban Mendoza-Fernández, Antonio Jesús Pérez García, Francisco Javier Merlo Calvente, María Encarnación |
| author_sort | Mota Poveda, Juan Francisco |
| collection | DSpace |
| description | Gypsum covers a vast area of the Iberian Peninsula, making Spain a leader in its production. Gypsum is a fundamental raw material for modern societies. However, gypsum quarries have an obvious impact on the landscape and biodiversity. Gypsum outcrops host a high percentage of endemic plants and unique vegetation, considered a priority by the EU. Restoring gypsum areas after mining is a key strategy to prevent biodiversity loss. For the implementation of restoration approaches, understanding vegetation’s successional processes can be of invaluable help. To fully document the spontaneous succession in gypsum quarries and to evaluate its interest for restoration, 10 permanent plots of 20 × 50 m were proposed, with nested subplots, in which vegetation change was recorded for 13 years in Almeria (Spain). Through Species-Area Relationships (SARs), these plots’ floristic changes were monitored and compared to others in which an active restoration was carried out, as well as others with natural vegetation. Furthermore, the successional pattern found was compared to those recorded in 28 quarries distributed throughout the Spanish territory. The results show that an ecological pattern of spontaneous primary auto-succession is widely recurring in Iberian gypsum quarries, which is capable of regenerating the pre-existing natural vegetation. |
| format | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| id | oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-14411 |
| institution | Universidad de Cuenca |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | MDPI |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-144112023-04-12T19:00:30Z Spontaneous primary succession and vascular plant recovery in the Iberian gypsum quarries: insights for ecological restoration in an EU priority habitat Mota Poveda, Juan Francisco Martínez Hernández, Fabián Salmerón Sánchez, Esteban Mendoza-Fernández, Antonio Jesús Pérez García, Francisco Javier Merlo Calvente, María Encarnación gypsophil passive restoration gypsum mining permanent plots Species-Area Relationships (SAR) successional chronosequence Gypsum covers a vast area of the Iberian Peninsula, making Spain a leader in its production. Gypsum is a fundamental raw material for modern societies. However, gypsum quarries have an obvious impact on the landscape and biodiversity. Gypsum outcrops host a high percentage of endemic plants and unique vegetation, considered a priority by the EU. Restoring gypsum areas after mining is a key strategy to prevent biodiversity loss. For the implementation of restoration approaches, understanding vegetation’s successional processes can be of invaluable help. To fully document the spontaneous succession in gypsum quarries and to evaluate its interest for restoration, 10 permanent plots of 20 × 50 m were proposed, with nested subplots, in which vegetation change was recorded for 13 years in Almeria (Spain). Through Species-Area Relationships (SARs), these plots’ floristic changes were monitored and compared to others in which an active restoration was carried out, as well as others with natural vegetation. Furthermore, the successional pattern found was compared to those recorded in 28 quarries distributed throughout the Spanish territory. The results show that an ecological pattern of spontaneous primary auto-succession is widely recurring in Iberian gypsum quarries, which is capable of regenerating the pre-existing natural vegetation. 2023-03-09T13:58:40Z 2023-03-09T13:58:40Z 2023-03-03 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2223-7747 http://hdl.handle.net/10835/14411 10.3390/plants12051162 en https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/12/5/1162 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess MDPI |
| spellingShingle | gypsophil passive restoration gypsum mining permanent plots Species-Area Relationships (SAR) successional chronosequence Mota Poveda, Juan Francisco Martínez Hernández, Fabián Salmerón Sánchez, Esteban Mendoza-Fernández, Antonio Jesús Pérez García, Francisco Javier Merlo Calvente, María Encarnación Spontaneous primary succession and vascular plant recovery in the Iberian gypsum quarries: insights for ecological restoration in an EU priority habitat |
| title | Spontaneous primary succession and vascular plant recovery in the Iberian gypsum quarries: insights for ecological restoration in an EU priority habitat |
| title_full | Spontaneous primary succession and vascular plant recovery in the Iberian gypsum quarries: insights for ecological restoration in an EU priority habitat |
| title_fullStr | Spontaneous primary succession and vascular plant recovery in the Iberian gypsum quarries: insights for ecological restoration in an EU priority habitat |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spontaneous primary succession and vascular plant recovery in the Iberian gypsum quarries: insights for ecological restoration in an EU priority habitat |
| title_short | Spontaneous primary succession and vascular plant recovery in the Iberian gypsum quarries: insights for ecological restoration in an EU priority habitat |
| title_sort | spontaneous primary succession and vascular plant recovery in the iberian gypsum quarries: insights for ecological restoration in an eu priority habitat |
| topic | gypsophil passive restoration gypsum mining permanent plots Species-Area Relationships (SAR) successional chronosequence |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10835/14411 |
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