When dynamism is the baseline: long-term ecology of a Mediterranean seasonal wetland in the Doñana National Park (Southwestern Europe)

• Published in: Biodiversity and conservation Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 501 - 522
• Main Authors: Manzano, Saúl, Carrión, José S., García-Murillo, Pablo, López-Merino, Lourdes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 15.02.2019; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Afforestation; Analysis; Aquatic ecosystems; Biodiversity; Biological diversity conservation; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Coastal zone; Conservation; Conservation Biology/Ecology; Core loss; Detection; Dunes; Dynamics; Ecology; Ecosystems; Environmental changes; Environmental restoration; Geomorphology; Heterogeneity; Immobilization; Land use; Landscape; Life Sciences; Magnetic permeability; Magnetic susceptibility; National parks; National parks and reserves; Nature conservation; Original Paper; Palaeoecology; Palynology; Pine trees; Preservation; Proliferation; Protection and preservation; Real estate development; Restoration; Trends; Vegetation; Wetlands; Iberian Peninsula; Palaeoecology; Palynology; Wetland conservation; Baseline; Holocene; 3170 habitat; Land-use change; Priority habitat
• ISSN: 0960-3115; 1572-9710
• DOI: 10.1007/s10531-018-1674-z

Mediterranean seasonal wetlands are amongst the world’s most endangered ecosystems. Although seasonal wetlands’ conservation is a European continental-scale priority, their long-term ecological dynamics are not well known, hampering the detection of baseline conditions. However, a long-term ecological viewpoint could aid in the detection of spatiotemporal factors controlling wetland development. We have applied a multi-proxy palaeoecological approach (palynological, microcharcoal, magnetic susceptibility, loss on ignition and diversity estimates analyses) on a 360-cm core retrieved from the El Sopetón (ElSo), a temporary wetland nested between dunes in the paradigmatic Doñana coastal area. The palaeoecological analyses reveal ~ 300–500-year-long wetland phases linked to dune immobilisation during humid periods. During the first wetland phase (AD ~ 40–315), upland and wetland vegetation diversity dynamics follow opposite trends owing to the different effect that dune proliferation had on them. Fixed dune landscapes provided upland spatial diversification, while they promoted a longer hydro-period in ElSo, simplifying wetland vegetation. During the second wetland phase (AD ~ 1550–2012), land-use change drove environmental dynamics. The mid-eighteenth-century pine afforestation to fix moving dunes marked an environmental tipping point, with the ElSo wetland transitioning from seasonal to permanent. This translated into a rising trend in upland diversity and a decreasing trend in the wetland one. Despite the recent pine afforestation, the palaeoecological findings evidence the autochthonous character of Pinus pinea , as well as the naturalness of the wetland species Hydrocharis morsus - ranae and Ricciocarpos natans . The geomorphological dynamism of the diverse Doñana coastal setting is the baseline for the area, modulating wetland-upland water connectivity and, ultimately, controlling biodiversity trends. The preservation of Doñana natural dynamism and landscape heterogeneity should be considered for the management, conservation and restoration of its seasonal wetlands.