Effects of anthropogenic fragmentation on primary productivity and soil carbon storage in temperate mountain grasslands

Habitat fragmentation is one of the most severe anthropogenic pressures exerted on ecosystem’s biodiversity. Empirical studies to date focused with an overriding interest on the effects of habitat loss or habitat fragmentation per se on species richness patterns detrimental to biogeochemical processes. To account for changes in ecosystem fluxes, we investigated how anthropogenic fragmentation affects primary productivity and carbon storage in temperate mountain grasslands. A field study was conducted to assess the influence of grassland isolation on soil carbon stocks, N availability, species biomass, and plant functional groups distribution. We tested the hypothesis that increased isolation of grassland, within the land cover, decreases soil carbon stocks, and available N nutrient as well as aboveground biomass. Soil carbon concentration decreased with isolation but increased near the forest edge. We found significant differences in aboveground biomass distribution and relative contribution of plant functional groups between isolation conditions. The magnitude of edge effect on carbon stocks, N availability, and primary productivity intensified with increasing isolation as a consequence of the additive influence of edges. Our study reveals that the potential creation of artificially isolated patches diminished primary productivity, N availability, and C stocks. However, in highly managed landscapes, grazing pressure is an additional factor that changes biomass and nutrients patterns. We emphasize that spatial configuration of the landscape has a major role in modulating ecological flows and ecosystem service supply, in addition to changes in species richness.