RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Assessing vulnerability of reptile hotspots through temporal trends of global change factors in the Iberian Peninsula
A1 Tarjuelo Mostajo, Rocío
A1 Aragón, Pedro
K1 Biodiversity conservation
K1 Climate change
K1 Land-use chang
K1 Primary productivity
K1 Protected areas
K1 Species richness
K1 24 Ciencias de la Vida
K1 3106 Ciencia Forestal
K1 25 Ciencias de la Tierra y del Espacio
AB Habitat degradation and climate change are major threats to the long-term persistence of reptile populations. However, their roles on primary productivity instability remain unclear at certain scales. Besides, the design of protected areas has often overlooked reptiles or assumed that their ecological requirements are represented under the umbrella of more charismatic species. Here, we assess the vulnerability of areas of high diversity of reptiles in the Iberian Peninsula to global change using data from satellite imagery. We focused on primary productivity, climate and land-use change because they are indicators of environmental variability that might impair ecosystem functioning and alter wildlife communities. We used linear regressions to detect monotonic temporal trends in primary productivity (through the enhanced vegetation index, EVI) and climate (mean temperature and accumulated precipitation) at two spatial resolutions (10-km2 UTM squares and CORINE land-cover polygon level) over the period 2000–2020. We also determine how the strength of land-use and climate change affected the intensity of change in primary productivity at both spatial scales with multivariate linear regressions. We identified 339 hotspots (10-km2 UTM squares) and monotonic increments of temperature, EVI or both occurred in 43 %, 16 % and 22 % of them, respectively. Positive trends of the EVI were related to increasing temperatures and changes in shrubland and forest cover. Within the hotspots with monotonic increments in EVI and temperature, EVI increments occurred in 60 % of the CORINE polygons that did not change their land-cover type, with stronger increases in tree crops. Finally, the Natura 2000 network provides only moderate protection to reptile hotspots, being most of the vegetation types relatively underrepresented. The proportion of forest and shrubland protected by the Natura 2000 network was higher in hotspots where EVI changed. Our procedures are relevant to prioritize hotspots requiring ground monitoring that allows economic and time savings.
PB Elsevier
SN 0048-9697
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/58520
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/58520
LA eng
NO Science of The Total Environment, 2023, vol. 871, 161917
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 11-jul-2024