Diversidad de vertebrados terrestres en España - identificación de áreas para la conservación, mitigación de impactos y gestión del monte mediterráneoidentificación de áreas para la conservación, mitigación de impactos y gestión del monte mediterráneo

Zusammenfassung

Ecosystems degradation is causing a loss of biodiversity without precedent in the planet's history and, as a consequence, a reduction in the good and services that they provide. This doctoral thesis has the aim to provide a set of tools and information useful for conservation of terrestrial vertebrates diversity in Spain. Within it, research is carried out, at different working scales, on methods to determine diversity of these vertebrates and its application for the identification of conservation areas, mitigation of environmental impacts and Mediterranean woodland management. To identify the areas of high-value diversity of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals in continental Spain and Balearic Islands, five criteria has been used: species richness; species rarity; their degree of vulnerability; a new Combined Index of Biodiversity; and also the original Standardized Biodiversity Index (SBI). This SBI allows to establish a unique value of biodiversity for several taxa in each analytical unity of study area. With the maps of high-value diversity created, a gap analysis was carried out in the Protected Areas Network and it has been evaluated to see how large infrastructure projects planned at national level, affect the herpetofauna. As well, an example of systematic conservation planning has been done, to identify the required areas to guarantee the conservation of vertebrates in Castilla- La Mancha. Finally, a "natural experiment" is presented at regional scale to evaluate the effects that the silvicultural thinning of Mediterranean maquis called resalveo has over the bird community of Ciudad Real province. The results indicate that the Combined Index of Biodiversity and the rarity of species are the two criteria that best represent the biodiversity of terrestrial vertebrates in the study area. Although the species richness is commonly used, it is not the most efficient way to maximize the representation of biodiversity. The scarce congruence found in the areas of high-value diversity identified according to different criteria and taxa, causes difficulties to develop conservation strategies at broad scales. The comparison between areas of highvalue diversity with the Protected Areas Network shows that exist 30.8% of gaps of 50 x 50 km according SBI. In Castilla-La Mancha, the suggested areas to form part of the Natura 2000 Network, improves considerably the representation given by the protected areas although it doesn't include all the high-value diversity areas. The comparison between areas of high-value herpetofauna diversity with the planned infrastructures in the Iberian Peninsula shows a moderate coincidence (35.4% for amphibians and 31.2% for reptiles). Thinning of dense Mediterranean woodland increased the structural diversity of habitat and the local richness of bird species. The conservation and economical value of this forestry management is increased since it is also beneficial towards threatened bird species in Europe and gamebird species. The methods and conclusions in the thesis provide useful information for the improvement of conservation area networks, the mitigation of environmental impacts, the sustainable forestry management and the restoration of ecosystems.