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<p>Native forests are essential for biodiversity conservation but their area is decreasing all around the world. In the northern Iberian Peninsula, over the past centuries the expansion of fast-growing exotic species for timber industry has increased rapidly. Such land use changes could have a negative impact on plant species composition due to changes in forest management, soil characteristics or landscape. Specifically, in the Basque Country, the predominant <i>Pinus radiata</i> plantations are now being replaced by eucalypt plantations. The main objective of this study was to analyse the impact of forest management on the composition of plant species in forest systems and to identify the drivers that influence species composition. The landscape, stand and soil characteristics and species composition of the three forest systems (native forests, pine plantations and eucalypt plantations) were compared using ANOVA, the Kruskal-Wallis test and a bootstrap method. Multivariate statistics were used to analyse the stand and species distribution, and to identify the influencing factors. The results indicated that eucalypt plantations exhibited a significantly lower vegetation cover in the upper layers (17.69 ±.34%; 53.61 ± 1.04%), number of species (15.45 ± 0.86 species), and pH value (4.13 ± 0.08), than pine plantations (32.19 ± 4.53%; 58.58 ± 2.77%; 19.75 ± 1.29 species; 4.76 ± 0.11, respectively) and native forest (47.42 ± 3.67%; 82.67 ± 3.96%; 26.8 ± 1.55 species; 5.32 ± 0.15, respectively). Moreover, species composition was significantly different among the three forest systems, being forest specialist species mainly observed in native forests and generalist species in forest plantations. Furthermore, soil pH, presence of water in the surrounding landscape, distance to watercourses, aspect and forest system were identified as influencing factors in plant species composition. Therefore, native forests represent the optimal choice for the conservation of native plant species in forest systems, while eucalypt plantations are not an appropriate option for this purpose; thus, it is necessary to find alternatives to exotic plantations, such as native species plantations.</p>

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Impact of exotic forest plantations on native plant species

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年7月30日

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  • Unai Sertutxa,
  • Unai Ortega-Barrueta,
  • Ibone Ametzaga-Arregi,
  • Lorena Peña

摘要

Native forests are essential for biodiversity conservation but their area is decreasing all around the world. In the northern Iberian Peninsula, over the past centuries the expansion of fast-growing exotic species for timber industry has increased rapidly. Such land use changes could have a negative impact on plant species composition due to changes in forest management, soil characteristics or landscape. Specifically, in the Basque Country, the predominant Pinus radiata plantations are now being replaced by eucalypt plantations. The main objective of this study was to analyse the impact of forest management on the composition of plant species in forest systems and to identify the drivers that influence species composition. The landscape, stand and soil characteristics and species composition of the three forest systems (native forests, pine plantations and eucalypt plantations) were compared using ANOVA, the Kruskal-Wallis test and a bootstrap method. Multivariate statistics were used to analyse the stand and species distribution, and to identify the influencing factors. The results indicated that eucalypt plantations exhibited a significantly lower vegetation cover in the upper layers (17.69 ±.34%; 53.61 ± 1.04%), number of species (15.45 ± 0.86 species), and pH value (4.13 ± 0.08), than pine plantations (32.19 ± 4.53%; 58.58 ± 2.77%; 19.75 ± 1.29 species; 4.76 ± 0.11, respectively) and native forest (47.42 ± 3.67%; 82.67 ± 3.96%; 26.8 ± 1.55 species; 5.32 ± 0.15, respectively). Moreover, species composition was significantly different among the three forest systems, being forest specialist species mainly observed in native forests and generalist species in forest plantations. Furthermore, soil pH, presence of water in the surrounding landscape, distance to watercourses, aspect and forest system were identified as influencing factors in plant species composition. Therefore, native forests represent the optimal choice for the conservation of native plant species in forest systems, while eucalypt plantations are not an appropriate option for this purpose; thus, it is necessary to find alternatives to exotic plantations, such as native species plantations.