Analizando la diversidad vegetal en dos áreas de contrastado efecto de Herbívoros invasores en la isla de Tenerife.

This study shows the importance of botanical refugee against invasive herbivores. In this work, we analysed the differences in plant diversity and composition in order to demonstrate the effect of invasive herbivores on the flora and the seed bank. Fourteen plots were delimited, four of them in an herbivore exclusion zone. In each plot, a floristic inventory was carried out, estimating cover and those abiotic variables that could affect vegetation dynamics. At the same time, soil samples were collected to carry out the seed bank study, with the aim of examining the regeneration potential of each plot. This study demonstrates the great impact that herbivores have on the studied area, both in terms of plant composition and diversity. The results obtained show that invasive herbivores are completely capable of modifying plant communities, with losses of more than double the number of endemic species, leading to the absence ofthe endemic flora in the seed bank. It also demonstrates the temporality of the richness in inaccessible areas, which should be fenced at their base to avoid the loss of regeneration of the flora they harbour.