Impacts of sheep versus cattle livestock systems on birds of Mediterranean grasslands

Mediterranean pastures are experiencing strong changes in management, involving shifts from sheep to cattle-based livestock systems. The impacts of such shifts on biodiversity are still poorly understood. Here, we sought to contrast the grazing regime, vegetation structure, bird species richness and abundance, between sheep and cattle grazed parcels, to understand the mechanisms through which management decisions impact farmland birds. During spring 2019, we characterized livestock management, bird populations and sward structure in 23 cattle and 27 sheep grazed parcels. We used a Structural Equation Model to infer the direct and indirect effects of sheep and cattle grazing on birds. Although no effects were found on overall species richness, there were species-specific responses to sheep and cattle grazed systems. Grazing pressure (variable integrating stocking rate and the number of days in the parcel) had negative impacts on the prevalence/abundance of Zitting Cisticola, Corn Bunting and Little Bustard, either directly or indirectly, through the effects of grazing pressure on vegetation height. Animal density and vegetation cover had direct positive effects in Galerida spp. and Common Quail, respectively. Zitting Cisticola and Little Bustard also showed a direct response to livestock type. Our study emphasizes the importance of grazing pressure as a driver of negative impacts for bird populations in Mediterranean grasslands. Since the ongoing transition from sheep to cattle-based systems involves increases in stocking rate, and therefore potentially higher grazing pressure, we propose a policy change to cap the maximum allowed grazing pressure. At the landscape scale, a mix of sheep and cattle grazed fields would be beneficial for maintaining bird diversityinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Plant species segregation in dune ecosystems emphasises competition and species sorting over facilitation

Background: Coastal dunes are dynamic ecosystems, with vegetation seen as a key element in the response to a continuously changing environment. Aims: We explored co-occurrence patterns of plant species within dune ecosystems along a regional climatic and a local sea–inland gradient. Methods: Five habitat types were surveyed along a sea–inland transect at seven sites along a climatic gradient in Portugal. A multistep framework, considering the relevant scales and gradients, provided standardised scores of species co-occurrence (based on presence/absence and abundance data) for the whole study area and along the climatic and sea–inland gradients. Results: Species diversity was primarily related to the local sea–inland gradient. Co-occurrence analyses indicated the prevalence of species segregation, suggesting competition and species sorting across sites. Within each site, segregation prevailed, but tendencies for species aggregation were observed in some habitat types. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating species co-occurrences considering all habitat types within the whole dune ecosystem, analysing presence/absence and abundance data against regional and local gradients. Results converge with refined theories of community assembly, constituting added values for assessing multiscalar co-occurrence patterns of plant communities, and thus improving reporting of the condition of dune habitats and biodiversity.</p

Adapting forest management to climate change in Europe: Linking perceptions to adaptive responses

Climate change will impact forests and may impair their ability to provide essential ecosystem services in the decades to come. Addressing this challenge requires adjustments to forest management strategies as of now, but it is still unclear to what extent this is already in progress. Using data from surveys of 1131 forest owners and managers from seven European countries, we assessed how they perceive their role in adapting forest management to climate change. The surveys focused on foresters' observations of climate change impacts, the degree to which climate change is a part of their operational and strategic management, and their ability to address related risks and opportunities. We found evidence of a strong continent-wide climate change awareness among respondents, with 73% foresters convinced that climate change will impact their forest. However, only about one-third (36%) reported having modified their management practices, though figures vary widely between countries, from 14% in Portugal to 57% in Slovakia. Among the constraints limiting their actions, lack of knowledge and information emerged as a major barrier towards forest adaptation. Differences between countries could be linked to their socio-economic and political contexts. Our results further suggest that severely damaging events, such as windstorms, fires and pest outbreaks, present relevant opportunities to engage people with climate change and encourage action. Further work needs to be done in strengthening the relationship between scientific research and practice, working out context dependent measures to foster adaptation to changing climate and disturbance regimes in forest management

Using life strategies to explore the vulnerability of ecosystem services to invasion by alien plants

Invasive plants can have different effects of ecosystem functioning and on the provision of ecosystem services, from strongly deleterious impacts to positive effects. The nature and intensity of such effects will depend on the service and ecosystem being considered, but also on features of life strategies of invaders that influence their invasiveness as well as their influence of key processes of receiving ecosystems. To address the combined effect of these various factors we developed a robust and efficient methodological framework that allows to identify areas of possible conflict between ecosystem services and alien invasive plants, considering interactions between landscape invasibility and species invasiveness. Our framework combines the statistical robustness of multi-model inference, efficient techniques to map ecosystem services, and life strategies as a functional link between invasion, functional changes and potential provision of services by invaded ecosystems. The framework was applied to a test region in Portugal, for which we could successfully predict the current patterns of plant invasion, of ecosystem service provision, and finally of probable conflict (expressing concern for negative impacts, and value for positive impacts on services) between alien species richness (total and per plant life strategy) and the potential provision of selected services. Potential conflicts were identified for all combinations of plant strategy and ecosystem service, with an emphasis for those concerning conflicts with carbon sequestration, water regulation and wood production. Lower levels of conflict were obtained between invasive plant strategies and the habitat for biodiversity supporting service. The added value of the proposed framework in the context of landscape management and planning is discussed in perspective of anticipation of conflicts, mitigation of negative impacts, and potentiation of positive effects of plant invasions on ecosystems and their services

Benchmarking plant diversity of Palaearctic grasslands and other open habitats

Abstract Aims: Understanding fine-grain diversity patterns across large spatial extents is fundamental for macroecological research and biodiversity conservation. Using the GrassPlot database, we provide benchmarks of fine-grain richness values of Palaearctic open habitats for vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and complete vegetation (i.e., the sum of the former three groups). Location: Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Methods: We used 126,524 plots of eight standard grain sizes from the GrassPlot database: 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 m² and calculated the mean richness and standard deviations, as well as maximum, minimum, median, and first and third quartiles for each combination of grain size, taxonomic group, biome, region, vegetation type and phytosociological class. Results: Patterns of plant diversity in vegetation types and biomes differ across grain sizes and taxonomic groups. Overall, secondary (mostly semi-natural) grasslands and natural grasslands are the richest vegetation type. The open-access file ”GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks” and the web tool “GrassPlot Diversity Explorer” are now available online (https://edgg.org/databases/GrasslandDiversityExplorer) and provide more insights into species richness patterns in the Palaearctic open habitats. Conclusions: The GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks provide high-quality data on species richness in open habitat types across the Palaearctic. These benchmark data can be used in vegetation ecology, macroecology, biodiversity conservation and data quality checking. While the amount of data in the underlying GrassPlot database and their spatial coverage are smaller than in other extensive vegetation-plot databases, species recordings in GrassPlot are on average more complete, making it a valuable complementary data source in macroecology

Measurement of the branching fraction of the decay Bs0→KS0KS0B_s^0\to K_S^0 K_S^0

International audienceA measurement of the branching fraction of the decay Bs0→KS0KS0 is performed using proton–proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5  fb-1 collected by the LHCb experiment between 2011 and 2016. The branching fraction is determined to be B(Bs0→KS0KS0)=[8.3±1.6(stat)±0.9(syst)±0.8(norm)±0.3(fs/fd)]×10-6, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third and fourth are due to uncertainties on the branching fraction of the normalization mode B0→ϕKS0 and the ratio of hadronization fractions fs/fd. This is the most precise measurement of this branching fraction to date. Furthermore, a measurement of the branching fraction of the decay B0→KS0KS0 is performed relative to that of the Bs0→KS0KS0 channel, and is found to be B(B0→KS0KS0)B(Bs0→KS0KS0)=[7.5±3.1(stat)±0.5(syst)±0.3(fs/fd)]×10-2

Test of lepton universality with Λb0→pK−ℓ+ℓ− {\Lambda}_b^0\to {pK}^{-}{\mathrm{\ell}}^{+}{\mathrm{\ell}}^{-} decays

International audienceThe ratio of branching fractions of the decays ${\Lambda}_b^0$ → pK$^{−}$e$^{+}$e$^{−}$ and ${\Lambda}_b^0$ → pK$^{−}$μ$^{+}$μ$^{−}$,${R}_{pK}^{-1}$, is measured for the first time using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb$^{−1}$ recorded with the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV. In the dilepton mass-squared range 0.1 < q$^{2}$< 6.0 GeV$^{2}$/c$^{4}$ and the pK$^{−}$ mass range m(pK$^{−}$) < 2600 MeV/c$^{2}$, the ratio of branching fractions is measured to be ${R}_{pK}^{-1}={1.17}_{-0.16}^{+0.18}\pm 0.07$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. This is the first test of lepton universality with b baryons and the first observation of the decay ${\Lambda}_b^0$ → pK$^{−}$e$^{+}$e$^{−}$.[graphic not available: see fulltext

Measurement of the Λb0→J/ψΛ\Lambda^0_b\rightarrow J/\psi\Lambda angular distribution and the Λb0\Lambda^0_b polarisation in pppp collisions

International audienceThis paper presents an analysis of the ${\Lambda}_b^0$→ J/ψΛ angular distribution and the transverse production polarisation of ${\Lambda}_b^0$ baryons in proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV. The measurements are performed using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb$^{−1}$, collected with the LHCb experiment. The polarisation is determined in a fiducial region of ${\Lambda}_b^0$ transverse momentum and pseudorapidity of 1 < p$_{T}$< 20 GeV/c and 2 < η < 5, respectively. The data are consistent with ${\Lambda}_b^0$ baryons being produced unpolarised in this region. The parity-violating asymmetry parameter of the Λ → pπ$^{−}$ decay is also determined from the data and its value is found to be consistent with a recent measurement by the BES III collaboration.[graphic not available: see fulltext