Year: 2026
Type: paratext
Abstract: COVER PHOTO: As with other species of great trophic importance that often go unnoticed, the Iberian wild pear (Pyrus bourgaeana) plays a key role in Mediterranean woodlands by providing critical resources for wildlife during periods of food scarcity. Its distribution and regeneration, however, are nonetheless strongly shaped by fine-scale environmental conditions and long-term human land use. In managed landscapes of southern Spain, this light-demanding tree shows clear associations with microtopography and habitat heterogeneity, preferentially occupying higher elevations and sunnier slopes. Using spatial analyses across dehesa and abandoned olive groves, Arenas-Castro and Jordano-Barbudo (Ecosphere, Volume 17, Issue 1, Article e70506; doi: 10.1002/ecs2.70506) reveal contrasting population structures driven by historical land conversion, seed dispersal, and current grazing pressure. While abandonment of olive groves allows partial recovery through clustered regeneration, intensive grazing in dehesas severely limits recruitment and threatens local persistence. These results highlight how past and present human activities interact with environmental gradients to shape the viability of Mediterranean woody species and inform targeted conservation strategies. Photo credit: Salvador Arenas-Castro.
Source: Ecosphere
DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70528
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,430
OpenAlex ID: W7127136874
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