RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Perspectives: Cessation of traditional pruning threatens communal dehesas of deciduous oaks in the Western Mediterranean
A1 Olano Mendoza, José Miguel
A1 Micó, Estefanía
A1 Durà Alemañ, Carlos Javier
A1 García Hidalgo, Miguel
A1 Sangüesa Barreda, Gabriel
K1 Ancient trees
K1 Conservation
K1 Pollarding
K1 Traditional use abandonment
K1 31 Ciencias Agrarias
AB Open woodlands (dehesas) conformed traditional agrosilvopastoral systems in the Western Mediterranean. Communal deciduous oak dehesas were essential to rural economies for centuries. They were managed through tree pruning and grazing, enabling the coexistence of pasture and tree cover. The singular nature of this ecosystem fosters the persistence of ancient trees and species associated with old growth forest, even within intensively managed ecosystems. However, unlike large private evergreen oak dehesas, smaller communal deciduous dehesas remain largely unprotected, despite being the major reservoir for old growth forest species: fungi, mosses, lichens, saproxylic invertebrates, and cavity-dwelling vertebrates. The abandonment of traditional management and pruning cessation has triggered scrub encroachment, biodiversity loss, and the structural decline of old trees. These woodland ecosystems could aid the recolonization of mature forests taxa in the expanding young forest surface. However, they are vanishing unnoticed due to their small size, isolation, and lack of formal recognition. Their preservation is urgent, yet hindered by insufficient data, lack of protection frameworks, and disappearing traditional knowledge. Communal deciduous oak dehesas exemplify how cultural landscapes can support old-growth biodiversity, aligning with EU restoration goals.
PB Elsevier
SN 0378-1127
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/78041
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/78041
LA eng
NO Forest Ecology and Management, 2025, vol. 593, p. 122914
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 26-sep-2025