Fenu Giuseppe, Melis Arianna, Pinna Maria Silvia, Loi Maria Cecilia, Calderisi Giulia, Cogoni Donatella
Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, Via Sant'Ignazio da Laconi, 13, 09123 Cagliari, Italy.
Plants (Basel). 2022 Jun 17;11(12):1597. doi: 10.3390/plants11121597.
(SWEs), despite their pivotal ecological role due to their participation in hydrogeological processes and their richness in biodiversity, seem to be often overlooked by the scientific community. In this study, the vascular plant diversity in some representative SWEs, that host a peculiar assemblage of plant and animal species, was investigated in relation to the disturbance effects of a wild horse population. A total of 50 plots, equally distributed in small and large SWEs, were surveyed and a level of disturbance was attributed to each plot. We found greater species richness in small and undisturbed SWEs, which suggests the negative impact of horse grazing on the richness of plant species in this type of habitat. Significant differences in plant assemblage were found according to the disturbance level, whereas, contrary to what was observed for species richness, no differences were detected based on their size. The diversity indices, used to evaluate the richness and diversity in these areas, recorded the highest values for small and undisturbed areas. This result highlights that the disturbance of the horse grazing plays a pivotal role in affecting the diversity and richness of species in the SWEs. These findings suggest that SWE systems should be analyzed considering these areas as unique in order to allow the conservation of the plant richness and biodiversity of the SWE systems in conjunction with the protection of horses.
季节性湿地（SWEs）尽管因其参与水文地质过程以及丰富的生物多样性而具有关键的生态作用，但似乎经常被科学界忽视。在本研究中，对一些具有独特动植物物种组合的代表性季节性湿地中的维管束植物多样性，就野马种群的干扰影响进行了调查。总共在小型和大型季节性湿地中均匀分布了50个样地进行调查，并为每个样地确定了一个干扰水平。我们发现小型且未受干扰的季节性湿地物种丰富度更高，这表明马匹放牧对这类栖息地的植物物种丰富度有负面影响。根据干扰水平发现植物群落存在显著差异，然而，与物种丰富度的情况相反，未根据其大小检测到差异。用于评估这些区域丰富度和多样性的多样性指数，记录到小型且未受干扰区域的值最高。这一结果突出表明，马匹放牧的干扰在影响季节性湿地物种多样性和丰富度方面起着关键作用。这些发现表明，应将季节性湿地系统视为独特区域进行分析，以便在保护马匹的同时，保护季节性湿地系统的植物丰富度和生物多样性。
