Habitat as the primary factor

Influencing the vegetation

Of Israel

Plant Ecology conferenceTel-Hay, Feb 2016

Nir HerrForest depatmentNorthern region

KKl-JNF

• Is the recent vegetation truly the

• Or, the human disturbances contributed to a vegetation

The key questions:

Natural vegetation

"Semi natural"

• How much the recent natural vegetation represents the habitat

conditions?

• How much the human disturbances (agriculture, fire, grazing) are long

term?

• What else causes the change in vegetation?

• What are the factors that create different vegetation types and

biodiversity?

goals• Understanding the causes for the locations of the vegetation types

• Finding systematic order in the distribution of the vegetation types

• Understanding the effects of the natural habitat Vs. human

influences on vegetation

תנאי בית הגידול

Israel vegetation

cutt

ing

Gra

zin

g

Habitat conditions

• Revealing vegetation

landscape pattern in

Israel

Human influences Natural and Man-made fires

Local fires improve landscape variety

Heavy rain after fire (on un-vegetated soil)might cause erosionThis might increase disturbance severity

Are fires a long term disturbance?How long this patchiness will remain?Are there disturbances patches that will never recover?

Human influences Grazing

Example: In medium to heavy grazing regime the the Phillyrea is depressedBut mature Quercuscalliprinos could withstand the pressure and prosper

Heavy grazing could also depressQ. calliprinos

Goats and Phillyrea latifolia in Har Ahim

In YodfatIn Ahihud

Human influencesForest use and abuse: clear-cuts, uphill agriculture

In Horshan hills

In Alonim- Shefar’am hills

In Alon Hagalil

Zikhron Yaacov

Bat Shlomo orchards

Fields are connected to big areas instead the natural vegetation

Settlementshad eshtablished

Settlements and infrastructure are excluded from the ecosystem. Will disturbances persist after human use abandonment? Even Centuries later?

Qu

erc

us

ith

abu

ren

sis

Olive

Sarc

op

ote

riu

msp

inis

um

3500-

525-

1675-

775+

1750+

BC

AD

Canaanite period

Early Israerli

Israeli period

Persian period

Helenistic period

Roman period

ברונזה מאוחרת

Byzantine period

Arabian period

Crusades

Mamluk period

Ottoman period

British mandateState of Israel

Stormy, cold, and rainy

Hot and dryCold and rainy

Hot and dry

Cold and rainy

Hot and dry

Cold and rainy

Hot and dry

Cold and rainy (include the little ice age)

Hot and dry

Human history Climate conditions

Long and short term human and climate influence on vegation

Pollen after Baruch, 1994Climate after Issar, 2001 and others

Pollen abundance in cores

Pis

taci

a

Regrowing and succesion

Regrowing in various situationsGrowing rates and competitionBy Koniak and Noy-Meir (2009); Bar-Massada et al, 2006

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

year

%C

ov

er

herb

dwarf

med

high

tree

Post tree felling (without burning and grazing)

Post tree felling, cattle grazing, and fire every 20 years

Post tree felling,moderate cattle and goats grazing

The area comes to steady-state with slow continue of tree growing

P. Lentiscus and Ramnus

Moreover, without disturbance

Maquis can recover in 25 years

Rabinovitz-Vin, 1986; Broyde et al, 1996; Herr, 2008

How long does it take to overcome tree felling, fires and grazing?

5

4

3

2

1

m

Degradation and regrowing of maquis and its contents

Regrowing (and succession)How long is the fire influence

1

25

4

3

2

1

m

5

4

3

2

1

m

5

4

3

2

1'מ

Regrowing (and succession)

Degradation and regrowing of maquis and its contents

How long is the fire influence

3

5

4

3

2

1

m

4

5

Arbutus andrachne

Phillyrea latifoliaPistacia palestina

Regrowing (and succession)

Quercuscalliprinos

regrow from the

root neck

But also from the buds, like

Q. ithaburensis

After fire

Regrowing (and succession)

In Har Ahim

There is a stage that the upper branch became higher than the cow or goat head and can growing up

Young trees of Q. ithaburensis continue grow

slowly under grazing

In Alona region

Phillirea

Q. calliprinos

In continues grazing

צ

13

0

2

65

4Section No. 2

Section no. 2

Stratigraphic layers (20 m each)

westDalia river

023

1

5

4

6

180

170

160

150

140

130

120

110

100

90

80

70

Horshan Mt. and its surroundingsVegetation types and geological sections

Bat Shlomo

יערות נטועים

1944

מחצבת שפיה

-200

-150

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

Section no. 1Landscape mosaic and systematic order of vegetation

The geologic layers are perpendicular to the topography. So, there is gradually changing along the section, and it causes gradually changing of the vegetation types

Hei

ght

abo

ve s

ea le

vel

Pachiness and systematic order of vegetation

Maquis and bata near Lebanon border (Bar’am-Dovev region)

The maquis cover matches the geological formations, also north of the border. Once the grazing pressure will be removed – the maquis will rise

Dovev

Bar’am

DovevMaquis

Bata

Q. Calliprinos maquis

0

-1.0-

- 2.0 -

- 3.0 -

- 4.0 -

- 5.0 -

Q. Ithaburensispark forest

Depth

Bata and herbaceous

Q. Calliprinosmaquis

On karsticdolomit of Judea grup

in the mauntain

ridge

On eocene chalk and limestone

Habitats of oaks forest and maquis

chalklimestone

Habitats - The primary reson vegetation formations succeeds in its places

Q. Calliprinos on chalk. It roots penetrated joints in the rock

Q. Calliprinos on carsticpocket in dolomite in the main ridge

HABITATS

Q. Ithaburensis on soil pockets in chalk coverd by Nari

In Alon Hagalil

In Timrat slope

Near Shefer

Limestone (Timrat formation)

שיחי קידה ואשחר

אזוב וגעדה

כתלה וזקנן

קיפודן ועירית

שברקוקיפודן

י"אשחר א

אזוב ווכלנית

אלון התבור

נארי. 1רנדזינה ושיחים

אזוב וכתלה

נארי. 3ורנדזינה

חומה

רנדזינה . 2חומה

משטחי. 4נארי

טרה רוסה. 5עמוקה

אבן גיר. 6וטרה רוסה

נארי על. 7קרטון חוארי

קרטון חוארי. 8shrubsורנדזינה בהירה

י"אשחר אקידה שעירה

Dwarf shrub

כתלה חריפהאזוב מצוי

Perennial herbaceous

זקנןקיפודןעירית גדולה

שעיר

כלנית מצויה

מקרא

ע לס

המ

ם מי

ת עתנו

עק

רק

הל

אבי

בוק

הנ

Hard rock and too little soil pockets dose not alow growing of treesThe herbaceous grows in the drier habitat

Habitats of trees, shrubs, dwarf shrubs and herbaceous

And when the conditions are not suitable for trees…

Sarcopoterium rules in the dry border belt

The roots in alluvium above eocene chalk

And about Sarcopotrium spinosomIs it part of the meditrenan ecosystem

or just penetrate as stage of the succesion

And in the center of the mediteranean region in same water regime

In LahavimIn Rahat

Har Ahim

Quercus acron sawing in Sarcopoterium area. Sprout grew in few places but did not survive

מיעוטם

. שורדים

sarcopoterium rules as bata on Senon chalk in Ein Zeitim,750 mm of pecipitation without meaningful grazing

Succession occur just in specific habitats

• HABITAT is the primary factor influencing species and vegetation types

• Fire, Grazing, Tree felling and Succession promote short term patchiness

• Ecosystems resilience allow rehabilitation of human disturbances. About

1,000 years for a long lasting disturbance and around few decades for a

short period disturbance.

• Climate changes along the history effect vegetation, as much as human

disturbances

• Israel’s vegetation is in a dynamic steady state based on the HABITATS

spread

Summary and conclusions