<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>7</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ALADOS, C L</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ELAICH, A</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">PAPANASTASIS, V P</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">OZBEK, H</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Freitas, H</style></author></authors><secondary-authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Kepner, William G</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Rubio, Jose L</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mouat, David A</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Pedrazzini, Fausto</style></author></secondary-authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">MONITORING TOOLS TO ASSESS VEGETATION SUCCESSIONAL REGRESSION AND PREDICT CATASTROPHIC SHIFTS AND DESERTIFICATION IN MEDITERRANEAN RANGELAND ECOSYSTEMS</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Desertification in the Mediterranean Region a Security Issue</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">disturbance</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">grassland</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Grazing</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">matorral (voyant)</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mediterranean ecosystems</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Spatial pattern</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Vegetation</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Submitted</style></year></dates><publisher><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Springer Netherlands</style></publisher><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The relationship between grazing intensity and ecosystem performance is complex and can depend on the prevailing ecological conditions. Previous studies have revealed that, in traditional grazing ecosystems, grazing can reduce ecosystem diversity in poor soils, but increase diversity and productivity in rich ecosystems subject to moderate grazing pressure. We are interested in detecting long-term structural changes or drift in an ecosystem before it is too late to prevent irreversible degradation. We analyzed vegetation spatial patterns and complexities of four Mediterranean communities: Tihmadit Region (Middle Atlas, Morocco), Camiyayla (Namrum) Region (Taurus Mountain, Turkey), Sykia Region (south of the Sithonia Peninsula, Greece), and Cabo de Gata Nijar Natural Park, Spain. Grazing disturbance was most intense near shelter and water points, which lead to gradients in soil surface disruption, compaction, and changes in the composition and cover of perennial vegetation. Dense matorral was more resistant to species loss than were moderately dense and scattered matorral, and grassland. Information fractal dimension decreased as we moved from a dense matorral to a discontinuous matorral, and increased as we moved to a more scattered matorral and to a grassland, which resulted in two opposing processes (interaction declining with ecosystem development, and immigration increasing with degradation) in a common pattern, i.e., small patches homogeneously distributed in the landscape. Characteristic species of the natural vegetation declined in frequency and organization in response to higher grazing disturbance, while species of disturbed areas exhibited the opposite trend. Overall, the spatial organization of the characteristic plants of each community decreased with increasing vegetation degradation, with the intensity of the trend being related to the species’ sensitivity to grazing. Developmental instability analyses of key species were used to determine the sensitivity of dominant key species to grazing pressure. Palatable species, which are better adapted to being eaten, such as Periploca laevigata, Phillyrea latifolia and Genista pseudopilosa, were able to resist moderate grazing pressure, while species of disturbed, grazed sites did not change developmental instability in response to increasing grazing pressure, such as Thymus hyemalis, Teucrium lusitanicum and Cistus monspeliensis. The usefulness of these monitoring tools in preventing land degradation is discussed.</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Gimeno, Teresa E.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Pías, Beatriz</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Martínez-Fernández, Jesús</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Quiroga, David L.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Escudero, Adrián</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Valladares, Fernando</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The decreased competition in expanding versus mature juniper woodlands is counteracted by adverse climatic effects on growth</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">European Journal of Forest Research</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Juniperus thurifera</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Plant–plant interactions</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Radial growth</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Spatial pattern</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Woodland expansion</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Woodlandisation</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2011</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2011///</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10342-011-0569-2http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s10342-011-0569-2</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">131</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">977 - 987</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">World-wide deforestation is being reversed in Mediterranean continental areas, where abandonment of traditional practises favours the expansion of valuable habitats, like Juniperus thurifera woodlands. We hypothesised that pre-existing trees facilitate establishment in expanding woodlands, whereas in mature woodlands, competition leads to patch disaggregation. We compared the imprint of these processes on growth, demographic and spatial structure of expanding and mature J. thurifera woodlands. We selected plots where we geopositioned, aged and quantiﬁed the morphological characteristics of all trees. In the mature woodland, trees arranged in clumps and randomly in the expanding woodland. Competition negatively affected growth, was greater in the mature woodland and led to disaggregation of juvenile clumps. Differences in growth between the mature and the expanding woodland disappeared in climatically unfavourable years, suggesting that adverse climate constrains growth more in expanding than in mature woodlands. We suggest that change in the dispersal agents and a decrease of facilitation underlay differences in spatial patters between the expanding and the mature woodland. Observed effective recruitment in less than 30 years into the expanding woodland evidenced that propagule arrival and sapling survival do not constrain woodland expansion. Furthermore, growth of juveniles established in these new areas is favoured by reduced intraspeciﬁc competition. However, we expect growth in expanding woodlands to be negatively impacted by climate change. We conclude that under current global change scenario, conservation of J. thurifera woodlands is favoured by changes in land use, but greater frequency and severity of drier than usual episodes could hamper natural reforestation.</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">4</style></issue></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Frondoni, Raffaella</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mollo, Barbara</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Capotorti, Giulia</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">A landscape analysis of land cover change in the Municipality of Rome (Italy): Spatio-temporal characteristics and ecological implications of land cover transitions from 1954 to 2001</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Landscape and Urban Planning</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">change trajectory analysis</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Spatial pattern</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Urbanisation</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2011</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2011///</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S016920461000304X</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">100</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">117 - 128</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">This paper presents a landscape analysis of land cover change in the Municipality of Rome from 1954 to 2001. The overall objective of the analysis is to characterise the temporal and spatial pattern of change and to explore its potential ecological impact. We used three original land cover layers and a set of landscape metrics to describe variations in composition and pattern of land cover types. We then built change trajectories for patches derived from the spatial intersection of land cover data. These trajectories were ecologically assessed using expert judgement and indicators of naturalness such as deviation from potential natural vegetation. The results revealed that approximately 62% of the study area maintained the same land cover type from 1954 to 2001 as a result of composition continuity at the patch level. Urbanisation was by far the most important change process and the main cause of fragmentation of agricultural land and loss of coastal habitats, which imply possible negative effects for biodiversity and ecological processes. However, the star-shaped pattern of urbanisation favoured natural vegetation dynamics, marked persistence of woodlands, and signiﬁcant stability of agricultural land in peripheral areas, with positive effects in terms of ecological connectivity and vegetation recovery potential. Despite the general nature of land cover data, the spatially explicit ecological assessment of transitions provides a reference layer that can effectively address territorial policies towards urban sustainability and that helps stratiﬁcation for areas requiring direct investigation of impacts</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1-2</style></issue><notes><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The following values have no corresponding Zotero field:&lt;br/&gt;publisher: Elsevier B.V.</style></notes></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">La Mantia, T</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Rühl, J</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Pasta, S</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Campisi, D G</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Terrazzino, G</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Structural analysis of woody species in Mediterranean old fields</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Abandonment</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">landscape conservation</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Secondary succession</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sicily</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Spatial pattern</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2008</style></year></dates><publisher><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Taylor &amp; Francis</style></publisher><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">142</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">462-471</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Abstract The study analyses the changes in vegetation structure and composition within a sere of secondary succession at Pantelleria Island (Sicilian Channel, Italy). It aims to show that not only phytosociological data but also structural parameters, like woody species? height and spatial distribution indices are useful to describe and interpret renaturation processes. Woody species structure was recorded on abandoned terraces, both on north-facing and on south-facing slopes. Relevés were made in fallows representing five different stages of succession. The pace of succession, measured through the analysis of woody species cover, basal area, height distribution and spatial indices, resulted quite rapid: already after 50 years of abandonment terraces are covered by dense maquis communities. Our study also revealed that different plant species or groups prevail during colonisation dynamics, mostly depending on exposition, a factor which strongly influences also the speed of colonisation by woody species. In this case study, human activity seems to be unnecessary to accelerate the process of renaturation, except in some unfavourable contexts. Species turnover rate, biodiversity value, and structural evolution along progressive succession must be taken into account in nature management and conservation policies of terraced landscapes, which are nowadays one of the most endangered landscape types throughout the Mediterranean area.</style></abstract><notes><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">doi: 10.1080/11263500802410793</style></notes><research-notes><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">doi: 10.1080/11263500802410793</style></research-notes></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Malo, J E</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jimenez, B</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Suarez, F</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Herbivore dunging and endozoochorous seed deposition in a Mediterranean dehesa</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">JOURNAL OF RANGE MANAGEMENT</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">dispersal</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">dung</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">endozoochory</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">herbivores</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mediterranean pastures</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Spatial pattern</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2000</style></year></dates><publisher><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">SOC RANGE MANAGEMENT</style></publisher><pub-location><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">445 UNION BLVD, STE 230, LAKEWOOD, CO 80228-1259 USA</style></pub-location><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">53</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">322-328</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Spatial patterns of herbivore defecation within grazing systems are important as they directly affect pasture growth and composition. These effects are partially linked to seed dispersal in dung, a little studied process. This paper focuses on: (1) quantification of dung and seeds deposited by herbivores in a Mediterranean grazing system, and (ii) analysis of the spatial variability of dung and seeds deposited within and among plant communities. We carried out year-long monthly quantifications of the depositions of rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), fallow deer (Dama dama), red deer (Cervus elaphus), and cow (Bos taurus) dung to 32 plots distributed in Quercus rotundifolia Lam. and Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl woodlands, mixed scrub, and Cistus ladanifer L. scrub. We also quantified the germinable seed content of dung. The results revealed differences (p &lt; 0.05) in dung deposition, varying (i) among the 4 species, (ii) within species (except for the red deer) among plant communities, and (iii) within plant communities. An average of 735 seeds/m(2) were returned to the soil via dung, with the highest numbers in open woodlands (870-1,888 seeds/m(2)) and the lowest numbers in scrubs (83-315 seeds/m(2)). Cows dispersed the most seeds (68%), followed by red deer (20%), rabbits (7%), and fallow deer (5%). Spatial variability in deposition led to accumulations of up to several thousand seeds at points covered by the dung. The effect of seed input to the seed bank and on vegetation may be low at large and medium-sized spatial scales, but it can be very important at small scales and for colonization processes.</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Malo, J. E.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jimenez, B.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Suarez, F.</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Herbivore dunging and endozoochorous seed deposition in a Mediterranean dehesa</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">JOURNAL OF RANGE MANAGEMENT</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">dispersal</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">dung</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">endozoochory</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">herbivores</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mediterranean pastures</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Spatial pattern</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2000</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2000///</style></date></pub-dates></dates><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">53</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">322 - 328</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Spatial patterns of herbivore defecation within grazing systems are important as they directly affect pasture growth and composition. These effects are partially linked to seed dispersal in dung, a little studied process. This paper focuses on: (1) quantification of dung and seeds deposited by herbivores in a Mediterranean grazing system, and (ii) analysis of the spatial variability of dung and seeds deposited within and among plant communities. We carried out year-long monthly quantifications of the depositions of rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), fallow deer (Dama dama), red deer (Cervus elaphus), and cow (Bos taurus) dung to 32 plots distributed in Quercus rotundifolia Lam. and Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl woodlands, mixed scrub, and Cistus ladanifer L. scrub. We also quantified the germinable seed content of dung. The results revealed differences (p &lt; 0.05) in dung deposition, varying (i) among the 4 species, (ii) within species (except for the red deer) among plant communities, and (iii) within plant communities. An average of 735 seeds/m(2) were returned to the soil via dung, with the highest numbers in open woodlands (870-1,888 seeds/m(2)) and the lowest numbers in scrubs (83-315 seeds/m(2)). Cows dispersed the most seeds (68%), followed by red deer (20%), rabbits (7%), and fallow deer (5%). Spatial variability in deposition led to accumulations of up to several thousand seeds at points covered by the dung. The effect of seed input to the seed bank and on vegetation may be low at large and medium-sized spatial scales, but it can be very important at small scales and for colonization processes.</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">3</style></issue><notes><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The following values have no corresponding Zotero field:&lt;br/&gt;pub-location: 445 UNION BLVD, STE 230, LAKEWOOD, CO 80228-1259 USA&lt;br/&gt;publisher: SOC RANGE MANAGEMENT</style></notes></record></records></xml>