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Land‐use change is one of the main threats to biodiversity at the global level, and subtropical dry forests are not exempt from such a threat. Recent studies suggest that species can become extinct with a considerable time lag, even if no further habitat loss occurs. Hence, there may be an extinction debt, which poses a great challenge to conservation. Here, we analyzed the response of taxonomic and functional richness of forest and understory specialist birds to 30 years (data from 1989, 2004 and 2019) of land‐cover and land‐use changes in the Chaco Serrano forest of central Argentina. Our results showed the occurrence of extinction debt in both forest and understory specialist birds, with such debt being greater in forest specialist birds. Results for species trait debt were inconclusive. We also found evidence that birds are not equally sensitive to land‐use change, indicating a species‐specific response. We conclude that the current presence of some large native forest patches and an intermediate degree of isolation in the region might be prolonging the persistence of some bird species and traits. Moreover, ecological legacies can strongly affect the current species distribution pattern and the permanence of functional traits in fragmented landscapes. These findings should be considered in conservation planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Converting natural vegetation for agriculture has resulted in the loss of approximately 5% of the current global terrestrial soil organic carbon (SOC) stock to the atmosphere. Increasing the agricultural area under grassland may reverse some of these losses, but the effectiveness of such a strategy is limited by how quickly SOC recovers after conversion from cropland. Using soil data and extensive land‐use histories gathered during the national German agricultural soil inventory, this study aims to answer three questions regarding agricultural land‐use change (LUC): (i) how do SOC stocks change with depth following LUC; (ii) how long does it take to reach SOC equilibrium after LUC; and (iii) what is the legacy effect of historic LUC on present day SOC dynamics? By using a novel approach that substitutes space for time and accounts for differences in site properties using propensity score balancing, we determined that sites that were converted from cropland to grassland reached a SOC equilibrium level 47.3% (95% confidence interval (CI): 43.4% to 49.5%) above permanent cropland levels 83 years (95% CI: 79 to 90 years) after conversion. Meanwhile, sites converted from grassland to cropland reached a SOC equilibrium level −33.6% (95% CI: −34.1% to −33.5%) below permanent grassland levels after 180 years (95% CI: 151 to 223 years). We estimate that, over the past century, today's German agricultural soils (16.6 million ha) have gained about 40 million Mg C. Furthermore, croplands with historic LUC from grassland are losing SOC by −0.26 Mg ha−1 year−1 (10% of agricultural land) while grasslands historically converted from cropland are gaining SOC by 0.27 Mg ha−1 year−1 (18% of agricultural land). This study shows that even long‐standing temperate agricultural sites likely have ongoing SOC change as a result of historical LUC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecology needs a unified view of the patterns and processes of secondary succession; we addressed that on the Coiba Island, Panama. We measured tree diameters and determined the land-use histories and structural properties for nine stands. We detected land-use history-legacy gradients ranging from no-use to still-in-use sites (Linear Regressions, R2=0.87 for Above-Ground Biomass and Basal Area, n=7 stands). Three successional pathways derived from a meadow, another from shifting agriculture, another from a >400y-old forest, and four were related to a river and a camp. Our results clarify discussions like convergence-vs-divergence, organismic-vs-individualistic successions, chance-vsdeterminism, and provide land-use history-based suggestions for conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost 30 years ago, Naomi Miller and Katheryn Gleason edited the influential volume, The Archaeology of Garden and Field, a guide to the identification and interpretation of evidence for past agricultural practice inscribed within the landscape. Here we introduce a new collection of papers that advance both theoretical discourses and methodological approaches to the study of ancient field systems. Contemporary archaeological debates bring new urgency to explorations of relict agricultural features, as they offer powerful perspectives on the entanglements of humans with their environment in the Anthropocene, while also serving to decolonize the past through engagement with Indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge. Although many ancient fields are at dire risk of destruction or have already been lost to modern land‐use changes, an emerging suite of new technologies and innovative methods are now enabling archaeologists to find and interpret past agricultural systems as never before. Herein, we argue for the critical importance of archaeological investigations that prioritize discovery and interpretation of relict fields and their constitution within larger landscapes, both as a means to better understand people in the past as well as our role as a species in shaping global ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exotic plant invasions threaten biodiversity and are costly to farmers. Land use is a major pathway promoting the spread of exotic plant species; however, little is known about the processes underlying the success of exotic plants in tropical agricultural landscapes. Focussing on the heterogeneous smallholder landscapes of north‐eastern Madagascar, we studied exotic plants of understorey communities across a land‐use intensity gradient from unburned lands (old‐growth forests, forest fragments and forest‐derived vanilla agroforests) to burned ones (fallow‐derived vanilla agroforests, woody fallows and herbaceous fallows).We quantified the absolute species richness, abundance and cover of exotic plants across land‐use types and their proportional contribution to community richness, abundance and cover as indicators of exotic plant invasion. We tested for the effects of land‐use parameters, namely land‐use history, canopy closure and landscape‐level forest cover, on exotic plants. Additionally, we tested whether the phylogenetic relatedness between exotic and native species in the same plot affected invasion success, testing Darwin's naturalisation and pre‐adaptation hypotheses.All indicators of exotic plant invasion were lowest in old‐growth forests and forest fragments and highest in fallow‐derived vanilla agroforests, woody fallows and herbaceous fallows. Absolute and proportional exotic richness were negatively affected by canopy closure, and landscapes with high forest cover had lower proportions of exotic plant richness. High phylogenetic relatedness between exotics and natives was associated with lower proportional richness but higher proportions of exotics in abundance and cover. However, individual exotic species showed contrasting responses to land‐use parameters and relatedness to natives.Synthesis and applications: Our results indicate that maintaining unburned lands, land‐use types with dense canopies and landscapes with high forest cover prevents the spread of exotic plants within the agricultural landscapes of north‐eastern Madagascar. Supporting Darwin's pre‐adaptation hypothesis, exotic plants that are phylogenetically closely related to native plants are more likely to become successful invaders in terms of abundance and cover. Nevertheless, individual species show different responses to land‐use changes and phylogenetic relatedness. Therefore, land‐use decisions and management choices can be tailored to limit the spread of exotic species and to preserve native plants in this global biodiversity hotspot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Ecosystem services provided by mountain forests are critically linked to forest structure. Social-ecological disturbance regimes (i.e., the rate, frequency, and patch size distribution of disturbances driven by interacting natural and anthropogenic processes) and land use affect forest structure, but their specific impacts are not fully understood. Objectives: We examine how differences in disturbance regimes affect patterns of forest structure across three European mountain ranges with similar vegetation types but different land-use histories: the European Alps, the Carpathians, and the Caucasus. Methods: We related data on horizontal and vertical forest structure, measured by spaceborne lidar (GEDI), with Landsat-derived information on forest disturbances (1986–2020) and topographic, climatic, and anthropogenic predictors. Results: We found similar social-ecological disturbance regimes in the Alps and Carpathians (average annual disturbance rates of 0.34% and 0.39%, respectively, and median patch size < 0.5 ha), yet much lower disturbance rates and patch sizes in the Caucasus (0.08% yr−1 and < 0.2 ha). Despite different disturbance regimes, we found similar patterns of forest structure. Two alternative states emerged consistently across all mountain ranges: a tall and closed-canopy state in 74–80% of forests and a low and open-canopy state (< 50% canopy cover) in the rest. While forest structure responded consistently to abiotic drivers such as topography and climate, its association with anthropogenic pressures differed between mountain ranges. Stand-replacing disturbances played an important role in the Carpathians, while forest structure in the Caucasus was related to proximity to settlements, reflecting local forest use. Conclusions: Different social-ecological contexts in mountain regions can produce markedly different forest disturbance regimes. Despite these differences, similar states of forest structures emerge, suggesting strong attractors of structure in temperate mountain forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fundamental question in invasive plant ecology is whether invasive and native plants have different ecological roles. Differences in functional traits have been explored, but we lack a comparison of the factors affecting the spread of co-occurring natives and invasives. Some have proposed that to succeed, invasives would colonize a wider variety of sites, would disperse farther, or would be better at colonizing sites with more available light and soil nutrients than natives. We examined patterns of spread over 70 years in a regenerating forest in Connecticut, USA, where both native and invasive species acted as colonizers. We compared seven invasive and 19 native species in the characteristics of colonized plots, variation in these characteristics, and the importance of site variables for colonization. We found little support for the hypotheses that invasive plants succeed by dispersing farther than native plants or by having a broader range of site tolerances. Colonization by invasives was also not more dependent on light than colonization by natives. Like native understory species, invasive plants spread into closed-canopy forest and species-rich communities despite earlier predictions that these communities would resist invasion. The biggest differences were that soil nitrate and the initial land cover being open field increased the odds of colonization for most invasives but only for some natives. In large part, though, the spread of native and invasive plants was affected by similar factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under increasing human‐related threats to forests, many studies suggest that increasing tree species diversity may boost forest resilience by enhancing the range of species' responses to disturbances. However, it remains unclear whether passive or active forest management strategies should be applied to increase tree diversity. This issue would benefit from investigating which management and environmental factors, together with species' functional traits, influence temporal changes in tree species diversity.We explored the influence of the bioclimatic region, land‐use history, forest cover, protection, management, forest structure and changes in temperature and precipitation, to explain tree species diversity changes in NE Iberian forests, by comparing 3141 plots from the Spanish National Forest Inventory sampled between 1989 and 2016. Moreover, we assessed which species' functional traits (dispersal habit, drought and shade tolerance) were most relevant for diversity changes.After 27 years, tree species richness and diversity moderately increased in the tree and regeneration layers. This trend occurred mostly in long‐established, non‐recently managed forests and in those with a lower initial basal area. Increasing temperature had negative effects for diversity increase in the tree layer but positive for the regeneration compartment, while decreasing precipitation showed the opposite effects.Tree species with higher drought tolerance, and especially those animal‐dispersed ones arriving from the regional pool, mostly contributed to the local diversity increase. This pattern occurred in all forest types, although the taxonomic array of species varied.Synthesis and applications. The main drivers influencing the passive increase in tree species diversity suggest a primary role of diminishing forest exploitation in this recovery process, fine‐tuned by climatic changes. This ecological scenario has particularly favoured animal‐dispersed tree species with higher drought tolerance, which mostly led the diversity increase. A higher presence of such highly mobile and drought‐tolerant species can be crucial to increase functional diversity and, ultimately, increase forest resilience under future scenarios of greater aridity. In light of these results, management strategies should continue fostering the restoration of diversity in once intensively exploited forests while ensuring the maintenance of the already gained tree species diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions: Agricultural expansion is one of the dominant drivers of forest and biodiversity loss, and shifting cultivation is the most widely used form of agriculture in many tropical forest regions. Where forests have been cleared, they have the potential to recover once the land is abandoned. However, legacies of land use are often overlooked in successional studies, and a deeper understanding of this legacy effect is needed to define efficient restoration practices using natural or assisted regeneration. Here, we analysed how land‐use history affects soil properties and early succession on abandoned agricultural fields in two contrasting Mexican socio‐ecological systems. Location: Mexico, Oaxaca and Chiapas. Methods: We sampled soil and monitored vegetation for 2 years after agricultural abandonment, and interviewed landowners about their land‐use practices. Results: Land‐use practices were clearly influenced by landowners' social context (residence time, rural or urban origin), and topography and soil type also constrained or facilitated land‐use practices. Soil characteristics were strongly affected by three land‐use practices: mechanical tillage decreased soil N and K; frequent herbicide and pesticide use increased N and K; and for pasture systems, stocking density increased soil bulk density and decreased pH and N. High‐intensity land management practices, specifically use of machinery, had the highest impact on early forest succession. When machinery was not used, the frequency of land‐use practices, particularly weeding frequency, is the main factor influencing tree cover and sapling diversity. Conclusions: To facilitate post‐agricultural forest recovery, we recommend restoration efforts using natural regeneration in areas with low previous land‐use intensity and frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we compare the long‐term dynamics of fires in the southern taiga of Western Siberia with changes in the environment and ancient economies. Utilizing charcoal particles extracted from peat sediments, we assess charcoal accumulation rates to identify the neighborhood level of fires. Comparison of changes in vegetation, climate and land‐use history with fire dynamics reveals that wildfires were climate‐dependent but inconsequential during the first half of the Holocene (9.0–4.1k cal a bp) in the hunter‐gatherer period. Critical changes and a notable increase in fires were observed in the Late Holocene when pyrogenic events correlate poorly with changes in vegetation cover and climate. Nevertheless, after 4.1k cal a bp, a direct relationship between fire frequency and economic features emerged, primarily linked to the introduction of animal husbandry and metallurgy, along with an increase in the number of settlements. Subsequently, fire activity increased, remaining higher even during periods of cooling and increased humidity, and this appears to have been related more closely to the economic strategies and periods of depopulation. Thus, even in Siberia, where agriculture had not been practised until the last few centuries, the transition to a productive economy in the Bronze Age brought decisive changes in the dynamics of forest fires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herbaceous layers in second-growth forests are shaped by past land use. Disturbances such as agriculture may impact populations of mycoheterotrophs, non-photosynthetic mycorrhizal plants that obtain carbon from fungal networks by altering mycorrhizal communities or removing trees they derive carbon from. I tested the hypotheses that two mycoheterotrophic forest herbs increase in abundance during succession and become most common in older forests as plant communities reassemble through time. Distributions of Hypopitys monotropa and Monotropa uniflora were sampled in Athens County, Ohio, USA. I surveyed populations in a 40-site post-agricultural forest chronosequence with five upland and five valley sites in each of four age classes: 40–60, 61–80, 81–100, and >130 years since canopy closure. Aspect and elevation were measured to assess environmental influence. Both H. monotropa and M. uniflora were most common in older stands with EM tree-rich canopy composition and west- or south-facing aspects, indicating influence of historical, biotic, and edaphic factors. Hypopitys was exclusive to forests >80 years old, while M. uniflora was present in younger stands. Abundance of both species was also significantly predicted by Fagaceae basal area. Because EM trees were also most abundant in south- and west-facing uplands, environmental influence appears to be mediated through canopy composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Consideration of historical maps for ecological research requires a bidirectional understanding of human-nature relationships. We investigated shifting environmental values, as they emerge from historical maps of the American Southeast through the eighteenth century, with an interdisciplinary approach combining epistemologies from ecology, anthropology, and history. Objectives: Our objectives were to investigate the diversity of different land use annotations in map notations, contextualize these notations within existing knowledge of how power relations shape environmental attitudes and values, and interpret what their representations suggest about human attitudes toward the land. Methods: We selected 14 maps created between 1711 and 1773. We georeferenced the corpus in ArcGIS Pro. We identified emergent map themes with MAXQDA. We investigated the resulting patterns within and across the corpus in light of the context and purpose of the maps in R. Results: Maps reveal the values held by the colonizers towards various aspects of the land. Natural features are emphasized for their perceived value in direct use. Shifts in the balance between managed/built land and natural land indicate changes in the colonization agenda, going from depicting a well-equipped infrastructure for initial settlers, to emphasizing the potential for resource extraction. Conclusions: Our study shows how the perception of environmental values changes depending on time period, power structures, and agenda. An interdisciplinary approach, which considers the social aspects alongside the ecological ones, can provide a holistic understanding of these dynamics and help us better understand how humans perceive their presence and role in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The determination of autecological preferences based on long-term vegetation dynamics is hampered by the lack of realistic estimates for past occurrence and abundance patterns. Palaeoecological record has still rather character of points than spatially continuous maps. Objectives: To infer long-term autecological preferences of trees from reconstructed vegetation. Compare reconstructions based on pollen and charcoals. Methods: We employed to the regional training set of 58 sites the Extended Downscaling Approach (EDA) using nine topographic factors clustered in 8 habitat classes, data on pollen productivity estimates, fossil pollen, charcoal sequences from soil and archaeological contexts. Based on abundances and habitat preferences from the last 9 millennia, we calculated the autecological preferences of tree taxa, using multivariate statistics. Results: The significant spatiotemporal patterns between soil-charcoal and pollen-based EDA validated the reconstruction, the use of both records in the EDA, and the EDA model. One of the topographic indices—vertical distance to channel network—evidenced the following: the closest taxon to the groundwater is Picea; Abies, Betula, Pinus and Quercus have intermediate distances; Fagus grows far from the channel network and Corylus even further. Conclusions: The EDA model linked past forest composition to realistic topography. Such a spatially explicit reconstruction produced by our new algorithm allows inferring the relationship between past plant communities and environmental variables. The long-term preferences of tree species to habitat characteristics match their current autecological demands. This might be a breakthrough in quantitative plant paleoecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Once widely used across Europe, grazing of hay meadows is now a rare agricultural practice that is mainly applied in rural regions with maintained traditional agriculture. In this review, we examine the knowledge on grazing hay meadows in the Carpathian Mountains, including its historical distribution, implementation and timing, potential impacts on grassland productivity and biodiversity, and implications for grassland conservation and restoration. Location: The Carpathian Mountains (43.8–50.1°N, 16.9–27.1°E). Methods: We conducted a literature review including biological, ecological, agricultural, ethnological, and historical sources. Results and Conclusions: In each of the seven farming systems that existed in parallel in the Carpathian Mountains before agricultural intensification, grazing of hay meadows was applied regularly. Spring, autumn, and occasionally summer grazing, along with corralling and manuring of hay meadows, were integral parts of these systems, adapted to the seasonal movement of dairy farms across various agroecosystems. The data reviewed provide insight into the role of animals in hay meadow management, as well as how the breakdown of these historical farming systems is impacting local biodiversity, the economy, and the community. According to the literature sources, grazing hay meadows has numerous positive impacts on grassland biodiversity, including suppressing fast‐growing competitors, reducing the accumulation of litter, increasing the availability of germination gaps, dispersing seeds through zoochory, supporting ground‐nesting birds through later mowing, and promoting the regeneration of plants from seeds. From this perspective, the combination of mowing and grazing can be considered a promising tool in current grassland conservation and restoration efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic disturbance has led to widespread clearance and degradation of tropical forests, and tree planting has been promoted as an effective solution for recovery. However, trees have been overwhelmingly planted in monocultures or low-diversity mixes and this is expected to have profound, lasting impacts on forest structure, diversity, and functioning. In this study, we tested the extent to which historical vegetation transition types (VTTs) constrain forest recovery in a secondary tropical landscape in Hong Kong, South China. To do so, we overlaid vegetation types (forest, shrubland, pine plantation, grassland) identified in aerial photographs taken in 1956 and 1963 of a 20-ha plot situated in Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve, allowing us to define six historic VTTs, namely: FF (forest to forest), GP (grassland to plantation), GS (grassland to shrubland), SS (shrubland to shrubland), SF (shrubland to forest), and SP (shrubland to plantation). We compared present-day forest structure and species diversity among these VTTs, as determined from a census conducted in 2015, using incidence- and abundance-based rarefaction and extrapolation, and we assessed species’ association within VTTs using a torus translation test. Our results reveal that stem density and species diversity in naturally regenerated forests were more similar to those of old-growth forest, whereas species diversity in areas occupied by pine plantations was significantly lower as compared with naturally regenerated areas. Despite 60 years of recovery, pine plantations were characterised by a significantly greater proportion of negatively associated species, and late-seral species were still predominantly confined to old-growth patches. Present-day species distribution is chiefly explained by the combined effects of topography and VTT (17.1%), with VTT alone explaining 4.4%. Our study demonstrates that VTT has a significant long-term impact on forest regeneration and community assembly and, importantly, that monocultural plantations (forest plantation) can greatly impede forest recovery. Remnant old-growth forest patches merit priority protection, and active restoration, including thinning and enhancement planting, is necessary to facilitate forest succession.

Large expanses of tropical rainforest have been converted into agricultural landscapes cultivated by smallholder farmers. This is also the case in north‐eastern Madagascar; a region that retains significant proportions of forest cover despite slash‐and‐burn shifting hill rice cultivation and vanilla agroforestry expansion. The region is also a global hotspot for herpetofauna diversity, but how amphibians and reptiles are affected by land‐use change remains largely unknown. Using a space‐for‐time study design, we compared species diversity and community composition across seven prevalent land uses: unburned (old‐growth forest, forest fragment, and forest‐derived vanilla agroforest) and burned (fallow‐derived vanilla agroforest, woody fallow, and herbaceous fallow) land‐use types, and rice paddy. We conducted six comprehensive, time‐standardized searches across at least 10 replicates per land‐use type and applied genetic barcoding to confirm species identification. We documented an exceptional diversity of herpetofauna (119 species; 91% endemic). Observed plot‐level amphibian species richness was significantly higher in old‐growth forest than in all other land‐use types. Plot‐level reptile species richness was significantly higher in unburned land‐use types compared with burned land‐use types. For both amphibians and reptiles, the less‐disturbed land‐use types showed more uneven communities and the species composition in old‐growth forest differed significantly from all other land‐use types. Amphibians had higher forest dependency (38% of species occurred exclusively in old‐growth forest) than reptiles (26%). Our analyses thus revealed that the two groups respond differently to land‐use change: we found less pronounced losses of reptile species richness especially in unburned agricultural habitats, suggesting that reptiles are less susceptible to land‐use change than amphibians, possibly due to their ability to cope with hotter and drier microclimates. In conclusion, our findings emphasize existing conservation opportunities – especially for reptiles – in extensive agricultural landscapes while highlighting the precarious situation of amphibians in disappearing old‐growth forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the nineteenth century, common salt (NaCl) was liberally applied to Australian farmland as a manure to improve productivity and as a fungicide to prevent, or at least reduce, the impact of rust in wheat. In an age where salinity control is paramount for biodiversity and agricultural productivity alike, it is worth reflecting that during the nineteenth century salt was intentionally applied as a manure to improve soil productivity. This paper traces the origin and extent of this practice in Australia.

Premise of research. Land-use legacies in plant communities have been attributed to dispersal limitation and the environmental impacts of past disturbance. Less is known about the role of plant-plant interactions in shaping postagricultural forest community assembly. Parasitic plants are a useful model system for understanding the relative importance of host presence, site history, and environmental gradients to second-growth forest succession. I tested the hypothesis that land-use history shapes parasitic plant distributions by altering host availability. Methodology. Field sampling took place in deciduous forests in Athens County, Ohio. I surveyed populations of two tree parasites, Conopholis americana and Epifagus virginiana , in a factorial replicated chronosequence of 40 postagricultural stands that consisted of upland and valley sites sorted into four age classes: 40–60, 61–80, 81–100, and >130 yr since canopy closure. The flowering stems of the target species, abundance, and the basal area of the host trees were recorded. Pivotal results. The presence of both species and the abundance of C. americana were linked to large individual host trees. Conopholis americana was associated with uplands and older forests, and E. virginiana was limited to stands of more than 80 yr old. However, C. americana was most abundant in sites with remnant pasture trees. The relationships of parasitic plants with land-use history are therefore complex and reflect specific effects of past disturbances on host species. Conclusions. I conclude that parasitic plant distributions are shaped by host tree availability and quality. These results support symbiont limitation, mediated through forest age and edaphic gradients, as an assembly process influencing postagricultural community dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regrowing secondary forests dominate tropical regions today, and a mechanistic understanding of their recovery dynamics provides important insights for conservation. In particular, land‐use legacy effects on the fauna have rarely been investigated. One of the most ecologically dominant and functionally important animal groups in tropical forests are the ants. Here, we investigated the recovery of ant communities in a forest–agricultural habitat mosaic in the Ecuadorian Chocó region. We used a replicated chronosequence of previously used cacao plantations and pastures with 1–34 years of regeneration time to study the recovery dynamics of species communities and functional diversity across the two land‐use legacies. We compared two independent components of responses on these community properties: resistance, which is measured as the proportion of an initial property that remains following the disturbance; and resilience, which is the rate of recovery relative to its loss. We found that compositional and trait structure similarity to old‐growth forest communities increased with regeneration age, whereas ant species richness remained always at a high level along the chronosequence. Land‐use legacies influenced species composition, with former cacao plantations showing higher resemblance to old‐growth forests than former pastures along the chronosequence. While resistance was low for species composition and high for species richness and traits, all community properties had similarly high resilience. In essence, our results show that ant communities of the Chocó recovery rapidly, with former cacao reaching predicted old‐growth forest community levels after 21 years and pastures after 29 years. Recovery in this community was faster than reported from other ecosystems and was likely facilitated by the low‐intensity farming in agricultural sites and their proximity to old‐growth forest remnants. Our study indicates the great recovery potential for this otherwise highly threatened biodiversity hotspot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present-day soil physicochemical characteristics, land use/land cover (LULC), and field management practices are commonly recognised as the main drivers shaping archaeal/bacterial and fungal communities in vineyard soils. Few studies have investigated the legacy of past land uses on soil microbial biodiversity, yet anthropogenic disturbances have already been proven to affect soil characteristics over decades. In this study, we explore the possibility of long-lasting impacts of forest-to-vineyard conversion on present-day soil archaeal/bacterial and fungal communities after 15 years of vine cultivation. The selected study area is in a Burgundian vineyard (Pernand-Vergelesses, Burgundy, France), where it was possible to reconstruct the history of land cover and land use for the past 40 years. Soil samples were collected from five zones managed under similar pedo-climatic conditions but with different land-use histories (a 70-year-old vineyard, a 15-year-old vineyard converted from pine forest, a 15-year-old vineyard converted from mixed forest, a pine forest and a mixed forest). For each zone, basic physicochemical parameters (organic carbon, total nitrogen, copper, C:N ratio, and soil texture) were measured, and DNA was extracted to characterise the microbial biomass, and also the richness and taxonomic composition of archaeal/bacterial and fungal communities (16S and 18S). Our results show that changes in LULC lead to differential responses in soil microbial biomass, and in archaeal/bacterial and fungal richness and taxonomic composition. After 15 years of cultivation, the present-day microbial biomass and indigenous archaeal/bacterial communities of recent vineyard soils are shown to be partly inherited from past LULC, but no evidence was found of long-term impacts of past land use on fungal communities. Past land-use history should therefore be added to the well-established set of environmental drivers, providing valuable information to explain the spatial variability of soil microbiology, observed at intra-plot, plot, and landscape scales. Integrating the history of changes in LULC is therefore recommended to evaluate and adopt the best strategies to develop sustainable management practices.

One of the essential tasks of sustainable forest management is to maintain native biodiversity. Primary forest research is one of the ways to understand what this biodiversity is. Matherials and methods. The primary, as confirmed by their land-use history and structural peculiarities, mesic dark-conifer forests remain in Visim and Pechora–Ilych nature biosphere reserves (boreal and sub-boreal zones respectively, the Ural Mountains, Russian Federation). We compared the primary forests and post fire 100-year small-leaved deciduous forests by diversity of vascular flora and soil invertebrate macrofauna. Results and discussion. The diversity of some functional groups of species (low boreal herbs, earthworms) in post fire forests is lower than in primary forests, the research shows. These species largely depend on deadwood and other tree-related microhabitats common in the primary forests but not so in the 100-year post fire forests. Repeated fires at intervals of several decades, as is the case with the use of prescribed fires in forest management, will be expected to reduce the biodiversity quality of these specialist species. Additionally, we revealed that post fire forest flora is more synanthropic in the woodland of a small area (Visim reserve) than in the intact forest landscape (Pechora–Ilych reserve). It demonstrates that, within extensive woodlands, native forests are more resilient to sporadic stand-replacing disturbances than small woodlands. Conclusion. Strict conservation of intact forest landscapes is necessary as they serve as large buffer areas around the remaining primary forests to maintain native biodiversity.

By logging in the past, humans can determine current tree population structures, but fast stump decomposition makes difficult to falsify that for Amazonian Rainforests. We reconstructed land-use histories and surveyed trees ≥ 10 cm diameter at breast height on three 1-ha plots (K1, K2, and K6) in Kühbergl, South Tyrolean Alps as we did for four plots in Atacapi, Ecuador (plots A, B, C, and D). Storm Vaia (October 27 –November 1, 2018) stroke Kübergl providing dated evidence of mass tree-mortality on plot K6. We used K6 as control for comparing its pre- and post-storm population structures with the ones of four Amazonian, and three Alpine species where Vaia did not kill trees (Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests). When compared with K6’s Picea abies, the following species had size distributions similar to post-storm, but not to pre-storm situation. Amazonian: Piptocoma discolor, Vochysia bracelineae (plots B and D), Miconia decurrens (plots B and C), and Pseudobombax sp (plot C). Alpine: Larix decidua (plot K1) and Picea abies (plot K2). Storms do not occur in Atacapi, where logging is a common practice. That makes plausible that discrete events of compulsive logging during secondary succession made Amazonian population structures to look similar to K6’s P. abies. Logging is forbidden in Kühbergl, but storms are common there. Thus, the current population structures of Larix decidua (plot K1) and Picea abies (plot K2) should be legacies of storms before Vaia. Looking into tree populations’ history can impulse research for answering some basic questions of Ecology: what alters population structures, and which population structuring processes are more influential than others.

The impact of land-use history on shade tree diversity in cocoa agroforestry plantations needs exploration to facilitate effective biodiversity conservation. Thus, we evaluated the effect of land-use history on the taxonomic and functional diversity of the tree shade community in cocoa agroforestry plantations in the Soconusco region of Chiapas, Southeastern Mexico. We selected seven cocoa agroforestry plantations: three with high-intensity management (initially open fields, sown shadow trees, agrochemical use) and four with low-intensity management (under the forest canopy, shadow trees from natural regeneration, no agrochemical use). We measured the diameter at breast height (dbh), height, taxonomic identity, human use, and functional traits (growth rate, successional/ecological status, dispersal syndrome and leaf phenology) of all shade trees with dbh ≥ 10 cm within five 200 m² circular plots per plantation. Additionally, we gathered the plantation's land-use history from interviews with local farmers. We calculated taxonomic and functional diversity indices for each management scheme and assessed the impact of land-use history on structure, taxonomic, and functional diversity. We observed lower taxonomic and functional diversity and higher species dominance in high-intensity agroforestry plantations as compared to low-intensity ones. High-intensity plantations consisted of dense tree communities with low taxonomic and functional diversity, dominated by fast-growing, economically valuable species such as cedar (Cedrela odorata). Tree richness and abundance were strongly influenced by land-use history, including canopy openness, pest control, and fertilizer type. Although cocoa agroforestry plantations in open sites maintain a low diversity of shade trees, they contribute to biodiversity recovery. Landowners' decisions to improve land productivity significantly impact the shade tree diversity of cocoa agroforestry plantations. To enhance the conservation value of these plantations and their ecosystem services, including soil enrichment, pollination, and pest control, promoting a high-diversity shade tree layer is crucial, ultimately benefiting agroforestry production. • Land use management influences the taxonomic/functional diversity of shade trees. • Intensive agroforestry management lowers taxonomic/functional diversity in shade trees. • High taxonomic/functional diversity increases the conservation value of agroforestry. • Increasing taxonomic/functional diversity may benefit agroforestry production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trees in agroforestry systems provide multiple ecological and economic functions. Smallholder vanilla agroforests include shade trees common across agroforestry systems, and small-statured support trees carrying the vanilla vine. Support trees have received little scientific attention so far. The objectives of our study were to assess the diversity, composition and geographic origin of support trees in vanilla agroforestry systems of north-eastern Madagascar. The region is a global biodiversity hotspot, has been undergoing a rapid land-use change and produces a large share of the globally traded vanilla spice. The studied vanilla agroforests differed in land-use history: established either directly inside forest (forest-derived) or on land previously used for slash-and-burn agriculture (fallow-derived). Among the support trees, we found 122 species of which 25% were endemic to Madagascar. The species richness per plot was four times higher in forest-derived than in fallow-derived vanilla agroforests. The species distribution was particularly uneven in fallow-derived vanilla agroforests with one species (Jatropha curcas) comprising 52% of all individuals. In forest-derived vanilla agroforests, 44% of all trees were native or endemic to Madagascar, whereas in fallow-derived vanilla agroforests only 11% were native or endemic. We conclude that there is a considerable diversity among support trees in Malagasy vanilla agroforestry. The support tree diversity is strongly affected by land-use history. Fallow-derived vanilla agroforests currently have a comparatively low species richness, yet they can play an important role in land rehabilitation, and more emphasis on growing native and endemic tree species would contribute to aligning production with conservation goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The relationship between native and non-native species richness is influenced by drivers including disturbance history and environmental character. Disturbance influences native-exotic richness relationships (NERRs) and results in positive or negative relationships, depending on its intensity. Land-use history can be used to understand how NERRs respond to disturbance and what mechanisms drive diversity. Objectives: We test the hypotheses that (1) native and nonnative plant species richness differ between land-use histories; (2) diversity is more strongly linked to environmental gradients in older forests than young stands, reflecting environmental sorting; (3) Native and non-native richness are positively correlated in older forests and negatively correlated in young forests. Methods: We surveyed forests at Powdermill Nature Reserve in Southwestern Pennsylvania. We selected four replicates each of 40 to 70 year old second-growth forests with histories of mining, agriculture, and logging, and 14 older second-growth sites (>100 years) without recent human disturbance and collected presence data in a modified Whittaker plot design that included 1000, 100, 10, and 1-m2 subplots. Results: Native and non-native richness were positively correlated in older forests, but uncorrelated in young stands. Proportions of non-native species were higher in mined and post-agricultural sites than in logged and old forests. Diversity-environment relationships were strongest in younger forests. Conclusions: Differences in native and non-native richness between histories were strong enough to shift the direction of richness relationships in young forests. We conclude that differing impacts of land use on native (positive) and non-native (neutral) richness drive contrasting NERRs in forests with different histories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock has been a backbone of people's livelihood as long as agriculture has existed in Scandinavia, c. 6,000 years. In the early Iron Age, c. 2,000 years ago, a land management system began to form, composed of infields (enclosed hay-meadows and crop fields) and outlying land used for livestock grazing. Despite many later innovations and societal changes affecting agricultural technology and practices, this way of organizing land use was a template for how landscapes were managed and structured until the modernization of agriculture and forestry during the last centuries. There are legacies of this historic land-use, mainly as “semi-natural grasslands” managed by livestock grazing (open or semi-open; long continuity of management; not much influenced by commercial fertilizers, plowing etc.). These semi-natural grasslands harbor an exceptional small-scale biodiversity, particularly plants and insects. Landscapes with semi-natural grasslands represent cultural heritage, and are appreciated for their beauty. The total area of semi-natural grasslands has declined considerably during the past 100 years, and the current trend suggest that further declines are expected. A large fraction of threatened biodiversity in Sweden thrives in these grasslands. Livestock grazing in semi-natural grasslands makes an important contribution to food production, and there is an increasing interest in consumption of products, mainly meat, from these grasslands. This implies that there is a positive feedback between food production, maintenance of biological diversity, and cultural heritage. This paper gives an overview of semi-natural grasslands, focusing on Sweden, from a historic, cultural and ecological perspective, and aims at discussing challenges and prospects for developing and maintaining positive associations between producing food, biodiversity, and cultural heritage, in the future.

Land-use history is the template upon which contemporary plant and tree populations establish and interact with one another and exerts a legacy on the structure and dynamics of species assemblages and ecosystems.Weuse the first census (2010-2014) of a 35-ha forest-dynamics plot at the Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts to describe the composition and structure of the woody plants in this plot, assess their spatial associations within and among the dominant species using univariate and bivariate spatial point-pattern analysis, and examine the interactions between land-use history and ecological processes. The plot includes 108,632 live stems-1 cm in diameter (2,215 individuals/ha) and 7,595 standing dead stems ≥ 5 cm in diameter. Live tree basal area averaged 42.25 m²/ha, of which 84% was represented by Tsuga canadensis (14.0 m²/ ha), Quercus rubra (northern red oak; 9.6 m²/ ha), Acer rubrum (7.2 m²/ ha) and Pinus strobus (eastern white pine; 4.4 m2/ ha). These same four species also comprised 78% of the live aboveground biomass, which averaged 245.2 Mg/ ha. Across all species and size classes, the forest contains a preponderance (> 80,000) of small stems (<10-cm diameter) that exhibit a reverse-J size distribution. Significant spatial clustering of abundant overstory species was observed at all spatial scales examined. Spatial distributions of A. rubrum and Q. rubra showed negative intraspecific correlations in diameters up to at least a 150-m spatial lag, likely indicative of crowding effects in dense forest patches following intensive past land use. Bivariate marked point-pattern analysis, showed that T. canadensis and Q. rubra diameters were negatively associated with one another, indicating resource competition for light. Distribution and abundance of the common overstory species are predicted best by soil type, tree neighborhood effects, and two aspects of land-use history: when fields were abandoned in the late 19th century and the succeeding forest types recorded in 1908. In contrast, a history of intensive logging prior to 1950 and a damaging hurricane in 1938 appear to have had little effect on the distribution and abundance of present-day tree species. Our findings suggest that current day composition and structure are still being influenced by anthropogenic disturbances that occurred over a century ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the nineteenth century, common salt (NaCl) was liberally applied to Australian farmland as a manure to improve productivity and as a fungicide to prevent, or at least reduce, the impact of rust in wheat. In an age where salinity control is paramount for biodiversity and agricultural productivity alike, it is worth reflecting that during the nineteenth century salt was intentionally applied as a manure to improve soil productivity. This paper traces the origin and extent of this practice in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land‐use change is considered the greatest threat to nature, having caused worldwide declines in the abundance, diversity, and health of species and ecosystems. Despite increasing research on this global change driver, there are still challenges to forming an effective synthesis. The estimated impact of land‐use change on biodiversity can depend on location, research methods, and taxonomic focus, with recent global meta‐analyses reaching disparate conclusions. Here, we critically appraise this research body and our ability to reach a reliable consensus. We employ named entity recognition to analyze more than 4000 abstracts, alongside full reading of 100 randomly selected papers. We highlight the broad range of study designs and methodologies used; the most common being local space‐for‐time comparisons that classify land use in situ. Species metrics including abundance, distribution, and diversity were measured more frequently than complex responses such as demography, vital rates, and behavior. We identified taxonomic biases, with vertebrates well represented while detritivores were largely missing. Omitting this group may hinder our understanding of how land‐use change affects ecosystem feedback. Research was heavily biased toward temperate forested biomes in North America and Europe, with warmer regions being acutely underrepresented despite offering potential insights into the future effects of land‐use change under novel climates. Various land‐use histories were covered, although more research in understudied regions including Africa and the Middle East is required to capture regional differences in the form of current and historical land‐use practices. Failure to address these challenges will impede our global understanding of land‐use change impacts on biodiversity, limit the reliability of future projections and have repercussions for the conservation of threatened species. Beyond identifying literature biases, we highlight the research priorities and data gaps that need urgent attention and offer perspectives on how to move forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kungur forest-steppe is the northernmost outpost of European forest-steppe, located in the western pre-Urals within the boreal climatic zone. The co-existence of boreal, nemoral and steppe species with relicts and endemics results in a high plant diversity, making it an important biodiversity hotspot. Under current climate change and strong agricultural impacts, the Kungur forest-steppe is rapidly degrading. In order to develop sustainable management strategies, we studied the vegetation history over the last 3500 years in the natural reserve area Spasskaya Gora. Palynological data indicate that the territory of Spasskaya Gora was largely covered by hemiboreal forests with high proportion of elm during the late Holocene. An opening of the vegetation strongly correlates with erosion, both indicating anthropogenic activities such as lumbering, agriculture, grazing and hay making. The modern Pinus and Betula dominated forests combined with large areas dominated by grasses and herbs appear in the last 300 years and caused by human activity. The data support the 'anthropogenic' hypothesis of the Kungur forest-steppe development, suggesting that Pleistocene steppe was replaced by hemiboreal forests during the Holocene. Steppe elements survived on exposed rocks. The recent forest-steppe landscapes dominated by pioneer birch and poplar were formed due to anthropogenic deforestation. With respect to nature conservation, our data demonstrate that prohibition of any anthropogenic activities at Spasskaya Gora will lead to loss of diversity of steppe assemblages over the mid-term. We emphasize that conservation of the high plant diversity of the Kungur forest-steppe must include disturbance factors in the form of selective lumbering, prescribed burning, moderate grazing or traditional mowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land-use history is the template upon which contemporary plant and tree populations establish and interact with one another and exerts a legacy on the structure and dynamics of species assemblages and ecosystems. We use the first census (2010–2014) of a 35-ha forest-dynamics plot at the Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts to describe the composition and structure of the woody plants in this plot, assess their spatial associations within and among the dominant species using univariate and bivariate spatial point-pattern analysis, and examine the interactions between land-use history and ecological processes. The plot includes 108,632 live stems ≥ 1 cm in diameter (2,215 individuals/ha) and 7,595 standing dead stems ≥ 5 cm in diameter. Live tree basal area averaged 42.25 m2/ha, of which 84% was represented by Tsuga canadensis (14.0 m2/ ha), Quercus rubra (northern red oak; 9.6 m2/ ha), Acer rubrum (7.2 m2/ ha) and Pinus strobus (eastern white pine; 4.4 m2/ ha). These same four species also comprised 78% of the live aboveground biomass, which averaged 245.2 Mg/ ha. Across all species and size classes, the forest contains a preponderance (> 80,000) of small stems (

Archeological investigations in one of the most species-rich French Mediterranean dry grasslands (La Crau, Southern France) revealed a dense network of ancient sheep corrals dating from Roman to modern times. By analyzing soil chemistry and vegetation across abandonment dates spanning two millennia, we bring to light a persisting signature of Roman, eighteenth century and modern corrals on present-day ecosystems. Community composition and species-richness reflect time after abandonment of sheep stables and are linked to long-term persistence of eutrophication from historical sheep concentrations. Our data highlight changes in vegetation that persist two millennia after human impacts ceased. Small-scale pastoral legacies from Roman times continue to have significant impacts on present-day herbaceous plant communities. Our findings point to a need for greater consideration of persisting eutrophication in dry grasslands and of the conservation value of these long-term legacies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agroforestry can contribute to an increase in tree cover in historically forested tropical landscapes with associated gains in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, but only if established on open land instead of underneath a forest canopy. However, declines in yields with increasing shade are common across agroforestry crops, driving shade-tree removal in forest-derived agroforests and hindering tree regrowth in open-land-derived agroforests. To understand trajectories of change in tree cover in forest- and open-land-derived agroforests, and the impacts of tree cover on vanilla yields, we studied 209 vanilla agroforests along an 88-year chronosequence in Madagascar. Additionally, we used remotely sensed canopy cover data to investigate tree cover change in the agricultural landscape. We found yields to vary widely but independently of canopy cover and land-use history (forest- vs. open-land-derived), averaging at 154.6 kg ha−1 year−1 (SD = 186.9). Furthermore, we found that forest- and open-land-derived vanilla agroforests gained canopy cover over time, but that only open-land-derived agroforests gained canopy height. Canopy cover increased also at the landscape scale: areas in the agricultural landscape with medium initial canopy cover gained 6.4% canopy cover over 10 years, but canopy cover decreased in areas with high initial canopy cover. These opposing trends suggest tree cover rehabilitation across areas covered by vanilla agroforests, whereas remnant forest fragments in the agricultural landscape were transformed or degraded. Our results indicate that yield-neutral tree rehabilitation through open-land-derived agroforestry could, if coupled with effective forest protection, provide benefits for both ecosystem functions and agricultural production in a smallholder-dominated agricultural landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the drivers of aboveground biomass (AGB) variation in present-day tropical forests can contribute to management strategies that help mitigate against CO2-driven climate change and provide other services related to high AGB. Higher tree diversity can lead to higher woody productivity and carbon storage, but how diversity interacts with land-use history is less certain. We assessed variation in AGB across forests with different land-use histories and surrounding landscapes in southeastern Brazil and how AGB relates to tree diversity per se, while controlling for important factors such as mean functional trait values, stem density and soil fertility. Our findings indicate that aboveground biomass of forests is dependent on land-use history and the landscape matrix in which they occur (urban or non-urban). We found that tree diversity, measured as the average evolutionary divergence among close relatives, shows a strong positive relationship to AGB, but only in old-growth, non-urban forests. This suggests that higher niche complementarity leads to higher AGB in certain ecological contexts. Forests in an urban matrix, and those that regenerated from cropland (in an urban or non-urban matrix), showed weak or insignificant relationships between AGB and diversity, and forests that regenerated from completely denuded landscapes, including soil removal, actually showed a negative relationship between diversity and AGB. Meanwhile, across all forest classes, the abundance-weighted mean wood density of tree species present showed a consistent positive correlation with AGB, indicating the ubiquity of mass-ratio effects on AGB. Overall, our study suggests that strategies for conservation and restoration should account for past land-use and the matrix where forests are inserted, as the distribution of carbon stocks and biodiversity may need to be considered separately.

In tropical landscapes dominated by oil palm monocultures, scattered trees can contribute to biodiversity, regulate diverse ecosystem functions and deliver goods and services. However, basic quantitative information about such trees is often lacking. The objectives of our study were to identify the landscape-wide density and distribution patterns of scattered trees in an oil-palm-dominated area of Sumatra (Indonesia), and to estimate their size. The study area with the total of 1120 ha was situated in Jambi province in the lowlands of Sumatra. In 2016, the year of our assessment, 83% of the area was covered by oil palm monocultures including industrial and smallholder plantations; other land-use types included rubber plantations and secondary forests. An earlier land-use classification suggests that oil palm cultivation began before 1990 on 41% of the area. The study area was mapped in 2016 using a fixed-wing drone equipped with red-green-blue and near-infrared cameras. We counted all visible trees in the aerial image. In the entire study region, we detected 10.1 scattered trees/ha. In areas where oil palm plantations were established before 1990, the tree density was 67% lower than in the area where oil palm was introduced later. The median tree crown diameter was 4.5 m, which corresponds to an estimated diameter at breast height of 12 cm; thus, most trees were small-statured. The trees were spatially clustered and often aligned along roads and rivers. In conclusion, we found a considerable number of scattered, mostly small-statured trees. This suggests that most trees were young and disappeared before reaching larger dimensions. To ensure the survival of trees and further provision of related ecosystem services, scattered trees in the oil palm landscape need to be conserved and/or restored.

Aim: North‐eastern Madagascar is a hotspot of plant diversity, but vanilla and rice farming are driving land‐use change, including slash‐and‐burn management. It still remains unknown how land‐use change and land‐use history affect richness and composition of endemic, native and exotic herbaceous plant species. Location: North‐eastern Madagascar. Methods: We assessed herbaceous plants along a land‐use intensification gradient ranging from unburned land‐use types (i.e. old‐growth forest, forest fragment and forest‐derived vanilla agroforest) to burned land‐use types (i.e. fallow‐derived vanilla agroforest, woody fallow and herbaceous fallow) and rice paddy. We compared land‐use types and analysed the effects of land‐use history, canopy closure and landscape forest cover on species richness. Additionally, we analysed species compositional changes across land‐use types. Results: Across 80 plots, we found 355 plant species (180 native non‐endemics, 57 exotics, 60 endemics and 58 species of unknown origin). Native and exotic species richness increased with increasing land‐use intensity, whereas endemics decreased. Unburned land‐use types had higher endemic species richness (4.28 ± 0.37 [mean ± SE]) than burned ones (2.4 ± 0.21). Exotic and native species richness, but not endemics, decreased with increasing canopy closure. Increasing landscape forest cover reduced exotic, but not native or endemic richness. Species composition of old‐growth forests was unique compared to all other land uses and forest‐derived, not fallow‐derived vanilla agroforests, had a similar endemic species composition to forest fragments. Main conclusions: Our results indicate that old‐growth forests and forest fragments are indispensable for maintaining endemic herbaceous plants. We further show that the land‐use history of agroforests should be considered in conservation policy. In forest‐derived vanilla agroforests, management incentives are needed to halt loss of canopy closure, thereby maintaining or even enhancing endemics. In conclusion, considering species origin (endemic, native and exotic) and composition is essential for the identification of suitable management practices to avoid irreversible species loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land‐use change is the main driver of deforestation and land degradation resulting in the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in north‐eastern Madagascar. Vanilla, the region's main cash crop, is grown in agroforestry systems and may provide an opportunity for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.We used dummy caterpillars to assess predation rates and predator communities along a land‐use gradient including unburned old‐growth and forest fragments, herbaceous and woody fallows after shifting cultivation with fire usage, as well as rice paddies. The studied vanilla agroforests were either forest‐derived or fallow‐derived. Besides land‐use type, we considered the effects of land‐use history (unburned/burned), plot‐level parameters and the landscape composition to conclude on management recommendations.Old‐growth forest and forest fragments exhibited highest predation rates, which decreased with land‐use intensity. Overall, predation was higher in unburned land‐use types than in more open, previously burned habitats and rice paddies. High stem and vegetation densities were positively related to predation rates, but decreased with land‐use intensity. High forest cover in the surrounding landscape led to higher predation rates, while local structural parameters remained more important.The predator community was arthropod‐dominated across all land‐use types with ants responsible for between 33% and 69% of all predation events. Overall predator composition in old‐growth and forest fragments differed from all other land‐use types. Predation by Gryllacrididae (Orthoptera) was lower in all land‐use types, including forest‐derived vanilla, than in old‐growth forest and forest fragments, where they were important contributors to total predation. Vertebrate predation was low throughout.Synthesis and applications. Forested habitats feature higher predation rates and different predator compositions than other land‐use systems. Maintaining or restoring tree‐ and understorey‐rich vanilla agroforestry represents a viable tool in landscape conservation programmes as it has the potential to contribute to the conservation of predation as an important ecosystem function in both forest‐ and fallow‐derived agroforests. However, vanilla agroforestry has limited value in conserving forest‐specialized predator communities. While the establishment of tree‐rich agroforests on former fallow land is favourable for conservation ecosystem functioning, further forest transformation should be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Question: In human‐modified tropical landscapes, agroforestry is considered a promising land use to reconcile biodiversity conservation with production goals. The role of agroforests regarding conservation may be strongly influenced by land‐use history; however, few studies have explicitly investigated this. We therefore tested the importance of land‐use history for habitat structure and tree diversity in vanilla agroforests situated in a human‐modified tropical landscape. Location: Smallholder mosaic landscape of northeastern Madagascar. Methods: We studied tree stand structure, diversity and composition in vanilla agroforests of contrasting land‐use history, old‐growth forests, forest fragments and woody fallows after slash‐and‐burn agriculture, which all contribute to the smallholder mosaic landscape of northeastern Madagascar. The vanilla agroforests were either derived directly from forest or otherwise from woody fallows after slash‐and‐burn agriculture. Results: Land‐use history strongly influenced tree species diversity and composition in vanilla agroforests and also affected stand structure. Forest‐derived agroforests maintained high levels of tree species diversity and differed in community composition from fallow‐derived agroforests, which had relatively low levels of tree diversity. Additionally, forest‐derived vanilla agroforests harboured a significantly higher percentage of endemic species than fallow‐derived agroforests, and forest‐derived agroforests also shared many species with old‐growth forests and forest fragments. Fallow‐derived vanilla agroforests harboured a lower percentage of endemic species than woody fallows. Conclusion: Considering the land‐use history of agroforests is important to unfold their full potential as elements in a multifunctional human‐modified landscape. Forest‐derived agroforests are an alternative to forest conversion through slash‐and‐burn agriculture and have the potential to sustain high levels of species diversity and important habitat structures. In contrast, fallow‐derived agroforests regain stand structure on degraded historically forested land and thereby have the potential to increase canopy cover and connectivity at the landscape scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seminatural grasslands are ecosystems rich in biodiversity. However, their decline has been reported worldwide, and identification of grasslands with high conservation priority is urgently required. Recently, an increasing number of studies have reported that past vegetation history affects current biological communities. To evaluate whether the temporal continuity of grasslands promotes biodiversity, and thus can be an indicator of conservation priority, we studied vascular plant communities in old (160–1000s years) and new (52–70 years after deforestation) grasslands, as well as in forests, of Sugadaira Highland in central Japan. The number of plant species was highest in old grasslands, followed by new grasslands and forests. This pattern was much clearer in the number of grassland‐dependent native and grassland‐dependent endangered species, indicating the role of old grasslands as refugia for those species. The species composition differed between old and new grasslands. New grasslands had species compositions in between those of old grasslands and forests, suggesting that the plant community in new grasslands retains the influence of past forestation for more than 52 years after deforestation. Eleven indicator species were detected in old grasslands, but none in new grasslands, suggesting the uniqueness of the plant community in old grasslands. We conclude that the temporal continuity of grasslands increases plant diversity and can be an indicator of grasslands with high conservation priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land‐use change is the most important driver of biodiversity loss worldwide and particularly so in the tropics, where natural habitats are transformed into large‐scale monocultures or heterogeneous landscape mosaics of largely unknown conservation value. Using birds as an indicator taxon, we evaluated the conservation value of a landscape mosaic in northeastern Madagascar, a biodiversity hotspot and the center of global vanilla production. We assessed bird species richness and composition by conducting point counts across seven prevalent land‐use types (forest‐ and fallow‐derived vanilla agroforests, woody and herbaceous fallow that are part of a shifting cultivation system, rice paddy, forest fragment and contiguous old‐growth forest). We find that old‐growth forest had the highest species richness, driven by a high share of endemics. Species richness and community composition in forest‐derived vanilla agroforest were similar to forest fragment, whereas fallow‐derived vanilla agroforest was most comparable to woody fallow. The open land‐use types herbaceous fallow and rice paddy had fewest species. Across forest fragments, vanilla agroforests, and woody fallows, endemic bird species richness was positively correlated to landscape‐scale forest cover. We conclude that both fallow‐ and forest‐derived vanilla agroforests play an important but contrasting role for bird conservation: Fallow‐derived agroforests are less valuable but take fallow land out of the shifting cultivation cycle, possibly preventing further degradation. Conversely, forest‐derived agroforests contribute to forest degradation but may avoid total loss of tree cover from forest fragments. Considering the land‐use history of agroforests may thus be a promising avenue for future research beyond the case of vanilla. Abstract in Malagasay is available with online material [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. To reveal anthropogenic processes that were directly influencing formation of contemporary forest vegetation in forestry of the Zvenigorod Biologocal Station (ZBS, Moscow region), it is necessary to analyze the 19th century documents. Question of the research is to determine which kinds of land-use are reliably documented, and the general objective is to describe anthropogenic impact on formation of contemporary forests systematically. Materials and methods. Documents were searched in the Central State Archive of Moscow (CSAM). Additional information was extracted from published (1870–1899) reports of Forestry Department (Ministry of State Property). The data of forest inventory (1985–1986) were used to demonstrate the former land-use effects in structure of contemporary forests vegetation. Results. For the first half of the 19th century archive documents were found those reflect numerous commercial cuts and annual mowing in forests. In the second half of the 19th century, sizes of clear-cuttings and number of seed trees, leaved behind cuts, were set by state rules of cuts published in 1870; in the same rules, also plowing (and even grain agriculture for several years) on clear-cuttings was recommended to improve tree seed germination. The effects of such land-use ways were detected in spatial structure and tree-layer species composition of the contemporary forests. Documents on fire history or purposeful tree planting have not been found yet. Conclusion. It is documented that contemporary forests of the Zvenigorod Biological Station have been formed under impact of cuts and regular mowing. The reported experience of document search and the review of published state forestry standards can be useful for planning further studies on land-use history concerned with other European Russian regions under similar landscape and historical conditions.

Abstract Seed survival is a key process for plant populations; variation in the activity and abundance of animals that consume seeds can lead to dramatic shifts in seed fate. Because granivores may respond to contemporary disturbance as well as to enduring changes in habitats caused by past disturbances, understanding seed fate requires studies capable of evaluating how past and present disturbances modify granivore communities, foraging activity, and ultimately, seed predation. Historic agricultural land use and contemporary canopy harvesting are widespread disturbances that could generate large‐scale patterns of seed fate by modifying environmental characteristics that determine granivore identity and behavior. To evaluate whether land‐use history and canopy harvesting affect seed–animal interactions, we conducted an experiment distributed across 80,000 ha of longleaf pine woodlands that coupled large‐scale canopy harvesting at seven 4‐ha sites containing both post‐agricultural land use and nonagricultural land use in South Carolina, United States. We deployed a total of 28,000 nail‐tagged seeds and recovered the tags to quantify seed fate. Past agricultural land use and contemporary canopy harvesting interacted to affect the rate of seed predation. Seed predation rates in harvested sites depended on land‐use history: Seed predation was 30% lower in post‐agricultural plots than in nonagricultural plots. This interaction was driven by the differential effect of land‐use history and canopy harvesting on rodent activity. Camera traps revealed that Sigmodon hispidus only foraged in harvested plots and was most active in nonagricultural plots. In harvested plots, seed removal increased with S. hispidus activity. In unharvested plots, seed removal increased with Sciurus niger activity, but S. niger was not affected by land‐use history. In finding that land‐use history and canopy harvesting determine the outcomes of seed–animal interactions, we show that understanding patterns of seed predation is contingent upon the interplay of disturbances in both the distant past and recent past. These results suggest that patterns of past land use and present land use may help reconcile the considerable variation in seed fate observed in ecological communities.

A core task in biodiversity conservation is to protect and restore populations of endangered species. The analysis of causes of decline based on data sampled in declining populations in sub-optimal habitats risks overlooking necessary environmental factors because they are no longer present at the sites. It may therefore be necessary to search for conditions that were present before the species began to decline. We used an historical ecology approach to identify critical ecological needs for the endangered butterfly Clouded Apollo, Parnassius mnemosyne, in Sweden in relation to historical and current land use. The most suitable habitat structure and management was transformed into a plan for restoration and management, applied at two P. mnemosyne sites. The populations of P. mnemosyne and its host-plant, Corydalis solida, were monitored annually 2004–2014. Based on previous knowledge about P. mnemosyne, the Swedish plan for conservation of the species recommends regular clearings of shrubs and trees in order to maintain a mosaic tree-grassland habitat, and a limited of removal of ground biomass. Our analysis suggested an alternative management approach, late and rather intense grazing. The populations of P. mnemosyne and its host plant increased in response to this management regime and the butterfly started dispersing to new sites. We suggest a structured method for combining ecological and historical knowledge, which can reveal habitat conditions difficult to detect in the field today, but that are of crucial importance for successful species conservation.

Agroforestry is widely promoted as a potential solution to address multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Zero Hunger, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, and Life on Land. Nonetheless, agroforests in the tropics often result from direct forest conversions, displacing rapidly vanishing and highly biodiverse forests with large carbon stocks, causing undesirable trade‐offs. Scientists thus debate whether the promotion of agroforestry in tropical landscapes is a sensible policy. So far, this debate typically fails to consider land‐use history, that is, whether an agroforest is derived from forest or from open land. Indeed, 57% of papers which we systematically reviewed did not describe the land‐use history of focal agroforestry systems. We further find that forest‐derived agroforestry supports higher biodiversity than open‐land‐derived agroforestry but essentially represents a degradation of forest, whereas open‐land‐derived agroforestry rehabilitates formerly forested open land. Based on a conceptual framework, we recommend to (a) promote agroforestry on suitable open land, (b) maintain tree cover in existing forest‐derived agroforests, and (c) conserve remaining forests. Land‐use history should be incorporated into land‐use policy to avoid incentivizing forest degradation and to harness the potential of agroforestry for ecosystem services and biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]