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oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/1112052025-03-18T15:32:40Zcom_20.500.14352_14col_20.500.14352_15

00925njm 22002777a 4500 dc Quintana Nieto, José Ramón author Fernández Sanjulián, Javier author González Ubierna, Sergio author Casermeiro Martínez, Miguel Ángel author García Torija, Miriam author Alía, Teresa author Vázquez de la Cueva, Antonio author Molina Abril, José Antonio author 2024-10 Urban habitats represent new opportunities to study natural processes such as ecological succession. Our work focused for the first time on the changes in ecosystem services occurring in the ecological succession from annual to perennial grasslands in Mediterranean peri-urban greenspaces. Student’s t test was used to analyse the influence of the grassland type on plant and soil features, and showed that soil under perennial grassland had a significantly higher C content and arylamidase and arylsulfatase activity than annual grasslands. In contrast, annual grasslands showed a significantly higher plant-species richness, and their soils had higher bulk density and phenoloxidase and arylamidase activity compared to perennial grasslands. Neither the labile nor recalcitrant fractions of the organic matter showed any significant difference between communities. When all the soil factors were included together, Redundancy Analysis revealed a significant gradient in soil phenoloxidase activity and organic matter distinguishing perennial from annual grasslands. We conclude that when annual grasslands give way to perennial grasslands through natural succession in Mediterranean greenspaces, certain ecosystem services such as soil carbon storage and water regulation improve, while biodiversity maintenance declines. Thus, Mediterranean urban greenspaces where natural succession occurs should be handled in such a way as to preserve both type of habitats in order to improve a wider range of ecosystem services. Quintana JR, Fernández-Sanjulián J, González-Ubierna S, Casermeiro MÁ, Torija MG, Alía T, Vázquez De La Cueva A, Molina JA. Successional stages in Mediterranean grasslands differ in the quality of ecosystem services in urban greenspaces. Global Ecology and Conservation 2024;54:e03118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03118. 2351-9894 10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03118 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/111205 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03118 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989424003226 Successional stages in Mediterranean grasslands differ in the quality of ecosystem services in urban greenspaces