Karst environments and disturbance: evaluation of the effects of human activity on grassland and forest naturalness in d
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Karst environments and disturbance: evaluation of the effects of human activity on grassland and forest naturalness in dolines Dianne Joy Aguilon 1,2,3 & András Vojtkó 4 & Csaba Tölgyesi 1 & László Erdős 5 Gábor Lőrinczi 1 & Orsolya Juhász 1,6 & Kata Frei 1 & Zoltán Bátori 1
&
Péter János Kiss 1,2 &
Received: 11 February 2020 / Accepted: 7 May 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Karst depressions (dolines) have the potential to act as safe havens for a high diversity of valuable species. We showed that local anthropogenic disturbances play a significant role in determining the naturalness of dolines. We compared the number of specialist species, competitor species, generalist species and species of disturbed habitats between natural and disturbed dolines in two Hungarian karst areas, where different types of anthropogenic disturbances have been shaping the vegetation for centuries. We found that these disturbances have the potential to negatively influence the naturalness of dolines, reducing the number of valuable species, thus affecting the conservation value of dolines. To maintain the naturalness of vegetation in these doline habitats, the populations of ruderal competitors should be eliminated, and sustainable forest management should be adapted. However, there are still open questions about the effects of different disturbances on the naturalness in dolines that need to be answered to determine which conservation strategies will be particularly suitable for valuable species in a warming climate. Keywords Climate change . Logging . Refugia . Threatened species . Vegetation
Introduction Karst regions constitute about 20% of the earth’s total dry land surface (White et al. 1995). They are composed of mainly carbonate rocks that have undergone dissolution over time, resulting in unique landscape elements, including caves, disappearing streams and local depressions (dolines or
* Dianne Joy Aguilon [email protected] 1
Department of Ecology, University of Szeged, Közép fasor 52, H-6726 Szeged, Hungary
2
Doctoral School of Environmental Sciences, University of Szeged, Rerrich Béla tér 1, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary
3
Department of Forest Biological Sciences, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños, 4031 Laguna, Philippines
4
Department of Botany, Eszterházy Károly University of Applied Sciences, Eszterházy tér 1, H-3300 Eger, Hungary
5
Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Alkotmány út 2-4, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary
6
Doctoral School in Biology, Faculty of Science and Informatics, University of Szeged, Közép fasor 52, H-6726 Szeged, Hungary
sinkholes), to name just a few (Ford and Williams 2007). Nowadays, karst ecosystems are highly vulnerable and are undergoing degradation due to various anthropogenic activities such as deforestation, quarrying, mineral extraction, dumping of illegal waste to dolines and tourism in caves (Parise and Pascali 2003). These human-induced disturbances comprise environmental pressures lea
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