Karst environments and disturbance: evaluation of the effects of human activity on grassland and forest naturalness in dolines

Abstract

Karst depressions (dolines) have the potential to act as safe havens for a high diversity of valuable species. We showed that local anthropogenic disturbances play a significant role in determining the naturalness of dolines. We compared the number of specialist species, competitor species, generalist species and species of disturbed habitats between natural and disturbed dolines in two Hungarian karst areas, where different types of anthropogenic disturbances have been shaping the vegetation for centuries. We found that these disturbances have the potential to negatively influence the naturalness of dolines, reducing the number of valuable species, thus affecting the conservation value of dolines. To maintain the naturalness of vegetation in these doline habitats, the populations of ruderal competitors should be eliminated, and sustainable forest management should be adapted. However, there are still open questions about the effects of different disturbances on the naturalness in dolines that need to be answered to determine which conservation strategies will be particularly suitable for valuable species in a warming climate.