Speaker
Description
Mediterranean farm-scapes are frequently portrayed as trade-offs between crop output and conservation, yet their fine-grained heterogeneity may already deliver the multifunctionality sought by Nature-based Solutions (NbS). We surveyed thirteen 1-ha plots along a land-use gradient in the Côa Valley that ranges from organically managed montado-like and riparian galleries to mechanised vineyards and almond monocultures, during three seasonal rounds (2023–24). Vascular plants, insects and birds were inventoried, and ecosystem service guilds (pollinators, predators, seed-dispersers) were mapped onto habitat classes defined by the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology.
Results reveal pronounced functional contrasts. Quercus-based silvo-pastoral plots averaged 312 plant species and retained 78 % of the Valley’s nitrogen-fixing legumes, whereas vineyards supported only 155 species but exhibited the highest density of spontaneous nectar sources (4.2 floral units m⁻²). In summer, almond orchards produced a six-fold surge in predatory ladybirds (1 368 ha⁻¹), yet Shannon evenness for the predator guild collapsed from 0.77 (spring) to 0.41, indicating dominance by a single coccinellid species. Insectivorous passerines tracked prey rather than habitat type, with mixed-crop mosaics supporting eight breeding pairs despite minimal tree cover. Beta-diversity patterns underscored the corridor role of semi-natural systems: Sørensen similarity for combined predator-pollinator assemblages was 0.68 within montado-like, 0.52 between montado-like and cropland, and 0.39 among vineyard terraces. NMDS of functional traits (stress = 0.11) placed organically managed montado-like at the ordination centroid, suggesting maximal multifunctionality.
Collectively, just four structurally complex plots (31 % of the study area) supplied 64 % of the Valley’s measured predation, pollination and seed-dispersal potential. Riparian buffers tripled floral resources in adjacent vines, while understorey grazing intensity explained 29 % of predator variance, completely outperforming broad ecosystem classifications. These findings demonstrate that retaining montado-like nuclei, widening riparian strips and integrating flowering cover crops can amplify ecosystem services without compromising yields, positioning agroecological mosaics as effective NbS for reconciling biodiversity conservation with intensive Mediterranean agriculture.