Mediterranean cork oak wooded grasslands: synergies and trade-offs between plant diversity, pasture production and soil carbon Giovanna Seddaiu . Simonetta Bagella . Antonio Pulina . Chiara Cappai . Lorenzo Salis . Ivo Rossetti . Roberto Lai . Pier Paolo Roggero Received: 9 April 2017 / Accepted: 27 March 2018 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Mediterranean wooded grasslands that emerge from silvopastoral activities are multifunc- tional systems that result in high biodiversity and offer ecosystem services such as forage production and soil carbon sequestration. During 3 years, ten grazed wooded grassland fields were studied in the Ber- chidda–Monti long-term observatory, located in NE Sardinia, Italy, with the aim of exploring the synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity and selected ecosystem services. Positions below and outside the canopy of three cork oak trees in each field were randomly selected to compare seasonal pasture pro- duction, pasture utilization rate by animals, botanical composition, biodiversity indicators (Shannon index and plant species richness) and soil organic carbon. In autumn, dry matter production of pasture was similar in the two positions; in two winters out of three it was greater below the trees than outside, and in spring it was greater outside than below the trees. While plant species richness and Shannon index were not signif- icantly influenced by the position, the overall wooded grassland plant species richness was 31% higher than that outside of the tree crown. The soil organic carbon content in the 0–40-cm soil layer was also higher below the trees. Our findings highlight that if the main purpose of the wooded grasslands is to provide forage for grazing animals rather than conserving and/or enhancing plant diversity and soil fertility, the pres- ence of trees constrains the overall forage productiv- ity, although the greater forage availability in winter under the trees can contribute to improve the seasonal distribution of forage production. Keywords Biodiversity indicators Á Ecosystem services Á Habitat heterogeneity Á Pastoral value Á Scattered trees Introduction Grassland ecosystems are traditionally perceived as forage suppliers (Nieto-Romero et al. 2014) but their relevance for the provisioning of ecosystem services to society (MEA 2005) is increasingly receiving the attention of international organizations (e.g. FAO G. Seddaiu Á A. Pulina (&) Á R. Lai Á P. P. Roggero Dipartimento di Agraria, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39, 07100 Sassari, Italy e-mail: anpulina@uniss.it G. Seddaiu Á S. Bagella Á A. Pulina Á C. Cappai Á I. Rossetti Á R. Lai Á P. P. Roggero Nucleo Ricerca Desertificazione, University of Sassari, Viale Italia 39, 07100 Sassari, Italy S. Bagella Á I. Rossetti Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, University of Sassari, Via Piandanna 4, 07100 Sassari, Italy L. Salis Servizio Ricerca per la Zootecnia, AGRIS Sardegna, loc. Bonassai, 07100 Sassari, Italy 123 Agroforest Syst https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-018-0225-7