Traditional orchard abandonment in different landscape contextseffects on beneficial arthropod communities in olive and almond orchards and conservation implications

Abstract

From a conservation perspective, abandoned orchards increase landscapeheterogeneity and provide complementary habitats for some arthropod groups (e.g.,spiders). However, this positive effect is limited to simple landscapes, where semi-naturalhabitats are scarce. In these landscapes, abandoned orchards are habitats of conservationvalue and they should be managed to ensure that they reach late successional stages. Incomplex landscapes, on the other hand, priority should be given to the conservation oftraditional orchards. Furthermore, conservation measures designed in Mediterraneancountries should take into account the high community turnover throughout the seasons,especially considering future climate scenarios. Landscape simplification through theloss of semi-natural habitats has negative consequences for arthropod biodiversity, evenin traditional agricultural landscapes with small fields and high crop diversity. Our resultssuggest that maintaining both a high cover of semi-natural habitats and traditionallymanaged orchards in the landscape could have synergistic effects for arthropodconservation (Chapters 1-4)