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Centuries of exploiting resources on Macaronesian islands left a significant footprint on their landscapes, even in areas where human activity would seem to be virtually absent. To clarify such interference, this paper explored how the impact of land use determined some attributes of current laurel forest landscape. Focused on communities dominated...
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... Currently only a small fraction of the former laurel forest area remains, namely just over 10% on the island of Tenerife (Ar evalo and Fern andez-Palacios, 1998). These remnants of the laurel forest have been under protection since 1987 (Boletín Oficial de Canarias, 1987) in order to preserve endemic species and natural forest dynamics and to maintain their ecosystem services and recreational and aesthetic values (Arozena et al., 2019). However, adaptive management and restoration of the Canarian laurel forests requires answering fundamental questions related to longevity, growth dynamics and response to anthropogenic and natural disturbances of their tree species, which are still systematically unexplored. ...
... The observation of trees growing near or above the century can be linked to human activities that for some reason aimed to preserve some trees as a source of wood or shelter for livestock. For example, the coexistence of large mature M. faya and E. arborea trees has been interpreted as a traditional management type that promoted optimal livestock use consisting of an open woodland with large scattered trees on a grazing undergrowth (Arozena et al., 2019). Otherwise, young trees of species typical of the mature laurel forest were present in some stands in Anaga, such as the cases of H. excelsa, A. barbujana and O. foetens . ...
... Current species richness in laurel forests is likely caused by a combined history of natural disturbances and past land-use changes, creating spatio-temporal heterogeneity and promoting the coexistence of species with different life-history traits. Pioneer and early shade-intolerant species established in open areas are mixed with shade-tolerant species considered to establish later in the succession process (Arozena et al., 2019;Ganivet et al., 2019;Parada-Díaz et al., 2021). Since disturbances are spatially and temporally discontinuous, this heterogeneity creates a spectrum of conditions that may be suitable for the establishment of species with different reproductive strategies (Fukui and Araki, 2014;Liao et al., 2016). ...
Laurel forests are quite relevant for biodiversity conservation and are among the island ecosystems most severely damaged by human activities. In the past, Canary laurel forests have been greatly altered by logging, livestock and agriculture. The remains of laurel forests are currently protected in the Canary Islands (Spain). However, we miss basic information needed for their restoration and adaptive management, such as tree longevity, growth potential and responsiveness to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Using dendrochronological methods, we studied how forest dynamic is related to land-use change and windstorms in two well-preserved laurel forests on Tenerife Island. Wood cores were collected from over 80 trees per stand at three stands per forest. We used ring-width series to estimate tree ages and calculate annual basal area increments (BAI), cumulative diameter increases, and changes indicative of released and suppressed growth. Twelve tree species were found in all stands, with Laurus novocanariensis, Ilex canariensis and Morella faya being the most common species. Although some individuals were over 100 years old, 61.8%–88.9% of the trees per stand established between 1940 and 1970, coinciding with a post-war period of land abandonment, rural exodus and the onset of a tourism economy. Some trees have shown growth rates larger than 1 cm diameter per year and most species have had increasing BAI trends over the past decades. Strong growth releases occurred after windstorms at both sites, but the effects of windstorms were site-dependent, with the 1958 storm affecting mainly the eastern tip of the island (Anaga massif) and the 1991 storm the western tip (Teno massif). Given the great ability of laurel forest trees to establish after land use cessation and to increase growth after local disturbances such as windstorms, passive restoration may be sufficient to regenerate this habitat in currently degraded areas.
... Aunque no se puede rechazar la influencia de las perturbaciones naturales, como las erupciones volcánicas o la dinámica geomorfológica, en los rasgos de las comunidades vegetales de las islas, en realidad su estructura, composición florística y organización espacial exhiben una fuerte huella del uso humano (Arozena y Panareda, 2013;Arozena et al., 2019). Aun siendo posible identificar distintos grados de conservación y degradación, es evidente el cambio profundo de las características de la vegetación natural de las islas, muy determinadas por la duración, intensidad y tipo de uso del suelo. ...
