Within the Mediterranean basin thousands of islets show exceptionally high levels of plant diversity, playing a key role in this important global biodiversity hotspot. In this study, long‐term changes in the flora of Bergeggi, a small islet in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, were empirically assessed. Species were assigned to two abundance classes (rare and not rare species) for the years 1907, 1970, and 2020; and to three classes of abundance changes over the period 1907‐2020. Regional abundance of declining/extinct species and changes in species abundance were correlated with their morphological and life history traits (life form, perenniality, height, dispersal agent, pollination mode), niche and biogeographic characteristics (habitat specialization, level of endemism, biogeographic origin) and taxonomic group. Floristic change was characterized both in terms of absolute numbers of extinct and existing species and through a measure of relative change in range size. Knowledge of changes in land use and ecological correlates of floristic change made it possible to infer the causes of species change and to identify which traits are associated with species vulnerability. The long‐term biological changes documented in the species assemblage of the Bergeggi islet flora are consistent with the predicted consequences of climate and land‐use changes that have occurred on the islet during the past century.
Changes in the Flora on Bergeggi islet (NW Italy) across 100 years
BRIOZZO I.;DAGNINO D.;CASAZZA G.;GUERRINA M.;MINUTO L.
2023-01-01
Abstract
Within the Mediterranean basin thousands of islets show exceptionally high levels of plant diversity, playing a key role in this important global biodiversity hotspot. In this study, long‐term changes in the flora of Bergeggi, a small islet in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, were empirically assessed. Species were assigned to two abundance classes (rare and not rare species) for the years 1907, 1970, and 2020; and to three classes of abundance changes over the period 1907‐2020. Regional abundance of declining/extinct species and changes in species abundance were correlated with their morphological and life history traits (life form, perenniality, height, dispersal agent, pollination mode), niche and biogeographic characteristics (habitat specialization, level of endemism, biogeographic origin) and taxonomic group. Floristic change was characterized both in terms of absolute numbers of extinct and existing species and through a measure of relative change in range size. Knowledge of changes in land use and ecological correlates of floristic change made it possible to infer the causes of species change and to identify which traits are associated with species vulnerability. The long‐term biological changes documented in the species assemblage of the Bergeggi islet flora are consistent with the predicted consequences of climate and land‐use changes that have occurred on the islet during the past century.
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