Original article Laurel forest recovery during 20 years in an abandoned firebreak in Tenerife, Canary Islands Jose ´ Ramo ´n Are ´valo a, *, Marı´a Dolores Peraza a , Carlos A ´ lvarez a , Alfredo Bermu ´ dez a , Juan Domingo Delgado b , Antonio Gallardo c , Jose ´ Marı´a Ferna ´ ndez-Palacios a a Departamento de Ecologı´a, Facultad de Biologı´a, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna 38206, Tenerife, Spain b Departamento de Fı´sica Ba ´sica, Facultad de Fı´sica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, 38206, Spain c Departamento de Ecologı´a, Universidad Pablo Olavide, Sevilla, Spain article info Article history: Received 4 July 2006 Accepted 29 June 2007 Published online 16 August 2007 Keywords: Biovolume Canary Islands DCA Densities Disturbance Forest succession abstract This study assessed the recovery of the structure and species composition of a laurel forest in an abandoned firebreak in the Rural Park of Anaga, Tenerife (Canary Islands). We statis- tically compared values of species richness, density and biovolume between 23 plots in the firebreak and six control plots in natural forest near the firebreak. We evaluated changes in species composition with detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) based on densities and biovolume. Biovolume is increasing significantly along the successional gradient (from 1990 to 2004) but remains less than the values in control plots. Stem densities were signif- icantly lower in control plots than in 2004 plots. Species richness was significantly higher in control plots than in 2004 plots (although there were no differences in values obtained between the first sampling period 6 years after abandonment, and the second sampling 20 years after abandonment). Changes in species richness are significant, but all species present in control plots are also found in the firebreak plots. DCA based on biovolume sig- nificantly discriminated control plots from firebreak plots in 1990 (for axis I). Results sug- gest recovery to a laurel forest is occurring, although more time will be required to reach control plot density and biovolume values. The low intensity of disturbance and a well- conserved forest adjacent to the firebreak favour the recovery of species inside the fire- break. We advise eliminating suckers from all small trees (leaving the bigger stems) to accelerate succession to a vegetation structure similar to that found surrounding the firebreak. ª 2007 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Today, habitat loss, primarily due to deforestation and land use changes, is considered one of the most important threats to species diversity in the world (Gurevitch and Padilla, 2004). The construction of roads and trails can result in habitat loss. Roads and trails can also act as corridors or habitat for species not found in the undisturbed forest matrix (Forman et al., 2002; Forman and Alexander, 1998; Spellerberg, 1998). Despite some ecological similarities, forest firebreaks are clearly * Corresponding author. Fax: þ34 922 318 311. E-mail address: jarevalo@ull.es (J. Ramo ´n Are ´ valo). available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actoec 1146-609X/$ – see front matter ª 2007 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.actao.2007.06.005 acta oecologica 33 (2008) 1–9