Assessing the conservation status of Mediterranean temporary ponds using biodiversity: a new tool for practitioners
| Autor: | Paulo Sá-Sousa, Margarida Machado, R. Silva, L. G. Sousa, António Mira, Anabela Belo, Carla Pinto-Cruz, Mariana P. Fernandes, João Tiago Marques, Ana Lumbreras, D. Galioto, Margarida Cristo |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Bagella, Simonetta, Boix, Dani, Filigheddu, Rossella, Gascón, Stéphanie, Cogoni, Annalena |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Mediterranean climate geography geography.geographical_feature_category Ecology 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology Voles fungi Biodiversity Wetland Aquatic Science Biology Plants 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Amphibians Habitat Indicator species Threatened species parasitic diseases Bats Large branchiopods Conservation status Species richness |
| Zdroj: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC)-FCT-Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP) |
| Popis: | The assessment of the habitat condition is the first step of conservation actions and several tools are available to assess wetlands. However, only a few tools are adapted to the priority habitat Mediterranean temporary ponds. Thus, our objectives were (i) to identify biological indicators associated with the different conservation status of Mediterranean temporary ponds and (ii) to create an efficient evaluation tool for non-experts using indicators of conservation status. A total of 87 ponds were sampled in southwest Portugal to assess the presence of plants, large branchiopods, amphibians, threatened voles and bats. Ponds with favourable conservation status showed higher species richness of plants, large branchiopods and amphibians. We identified eighteen indicators for favourable ponds: 15 plants, one large branchiopod and two amphibian taxa. We propose a new tool to assess the conservation status of Mediterranean temporary ponds based on the presence of these indicators. This tool is an alternative to other common, but time-consuming, methods and can be readily used by trained practitioners. The replication and adaptation of this tool to other regions and habitats enables the collection of comparable data and the geographical scaling-up of the assessments. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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