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Effects of the two planting systems on soil fungal diversityIn this study, 561,254 sequences were generated from 15 samples obtained from 5 treatments. Base sequences with a length of 201–300 bp accounted for 97.82% of all sequences (Table S1a,b). Rarefaction curves at a similarity level of 97% indicated that the number of sequences extracted from most samples tended to plateau above 10,000. The number of sequences extracted in the test exceeded 30,000, suggesting that the sequencing data were close to saturation, sequencing depth was reasonable, and the results reflected true sample conditions (Fig. 1). The coverage of all samples was above 99.84%. The range of reads in each sample was between 34,390 and 43,510. The range of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) in each sample was between 145 and 318 (Table 1).Figure 1α-Diversity comparison. Rarefaction curves for OTUs were calculated using Mothur (v1.27.0) with reads normalized to more than 30,000 for each sample using a distance of 0.03 OTU.Full size imageTable 1 Comparison of α-diversity indices in TPP and VEE soil samples.Full size tableThe analysis of alpha diversity showed that with increasing planting time, soil fungal OTUs, the Chao index, and the ACE index in TPP-treated plots increased and then decreased with time. In the VEE-IPBP-treated plots, these 3 indexes increased with time and were 56.94%, 33.81%, and 32.50% higher than those in the TPP-treated plots, respectively, after 6 years of implementation (p  More

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Sampling, preparation and treatment of modern reference materialA total of 53 modern wood samples were analyzed. The modern reference samples were collected in 2014 during the annual archaeological field mission, from 36 individuals (Table S1). For some trees, two wood samples of different diameters were collected in order to take into account anatomical variability within individual.The collected individuals showed different conditions of growth described in the introduction section and detailed in the Table 1. With the agreement of the Tifigit inhabitants and local authorities, wood sampling was achieved but samples were not collected from trunks, to avoid injuring trees of major symbolic, ecological and economic importance. Only section samples with perfect axial symmetry were retained to avoid any impact of biomechanical constraints (formation of reaction wood) on wood characters.Once collected, the samples were air-dried during a month at the laboratory. The samples were separately wrapped in tin foil and buried in the sand and then charred without oxygen, at 450 °C for 15 to 20 min depending on the size of the sample. As a result, samples were enriched in carbon (content  > 90%)20,26, reached their maximal shrinkage27, and thus are considered to become morphologically comparable to charcoal produced in medieval fires27,28,29,30,31. The minimum and the maximum diameter of wood samples were measured (mm) using a digital measuring calliper before and after carbonization. The diameter used in the following analyses is the mean of the two measurements carried out before carbonization.Archaeological materialTwenty archaeological charcoal fragments of Argan tree identified during a previous analysis session13 were included in this study (Table S2). All the Argan charcoal fragments were collected in the medieval archaeological deposits of Îgîlîz13. They come from various contexts, for the most part from living units, and belong to the period of highest human activity at the site, between the late 11th and early thirteenth centuries.Quantitative eco-anatomical analysis of wood applied to the Argan treeThe approach consists in measuring constitutive elements of wood and aims to understand variations according to intrinsic (inferred by the branch diameter mainly age of tree18, linked to the existence of growth rings that are often difficult to distinguish) and environmental parameters affecting the cambial activity and thus, rate of growth and wood development20,28,29,30. This high resolution analysis of wood structure, particularly of conductive elements, allows addressing numerous questions that have been successfully solved in the case of the olive tree and the grapevine, such as phenology, ecology, climate, impact of human activities and agricultural practices20,24,25,31,32,33.Argania spinosa wood is diffuse-porous with a dendritic and diagonal arrangement of vessel elements in transversal section34. The axial parenchyma bands are in tangential alignment and composed of multicellular strands. In radial alignment, woody rays are 1–3 cells wide and of heterocellular composition (Fig. 6).Figure 6Wood anatomical features of the Argan tree (in blue) and measured anatomical characters (in red).Full size imageTo apply a quantitative eco-anatomy approach to the Argan tree, both modern charred samples and archaeological charcoal are broken manually in transverse anatomical section. The following wood constitutive elements and anatomical characters related to sap conduction and reserve storage are observed and measured under a reflected-light microscope connected with an image analysis system (DFC300 FX Leica camera and LAS Leica software) (Fig. 6): (1) vessel density (DVS—number of vessels / mm2), (2) vessel surface area (SVS, µm2), (3) ray density (DRA—number of rays / mm2), (4) axial parenchyma density (DPA, number of bands / mm2), (5) Density of wood fenestrated zones bordered on one side by the radial alignment of axial parenchyma cells and on the other side, tangentially, by rays (DWF—number of fenestrated zones / mm2).These anatomical features were measured several times (see ‘Statistical analyses’ section) following radial lines from the cambium inwards the sample and crossing a small number of growth rings (i.e. functional rings from a sap conduction point of view). Moreover, the hydraulic conductivity or vascular conductivity (CD) was assessed using the following formula: CD = (SVS/π)2/DVS (after32,35,36,37). Finally, the ratio ‘Conductive surface / total wood area’ (SC) was calculated.Statistical analysesIn order to determine the number of measurements required for an optimal assessment of anatomical features, a rarefaction method was carried out from the analysis of test wood samples. For each one, repeated measurements of anatomical characters (Surface vessel area (SVS), Density of vessels (DVS), Ray density (DRA), Axial parenchyma density (DPA) and Density of wood fenestrated zones (DWF)) were performed following the aforementioned method and the cumulative mean value was then calculated for each character20,29. For each test sample and anatomical character, the number of measurements of a character required for an optimal assessment was quantified as the minimum number of measurements required to stabilize the mean value (rarefaction curve or cumulative mean curve).Furthermore, different measurement sessions were carried out with the aim of testing possible errors and reproducibility of measurements taken by one or various observers, respectively. The data sets produced were tested using the PCA performed to evaluate the Argan anatomical variability. The ARG8-2 sample was used as test sample. In addition to the initial measurements. The ARG8-2 sample was analyzed 4 times: twice by one operator (ARG8-2 (1-OP1) and ARG8-2 (2-OP1)) and twice by another (ARG8-2 (3-OP2) and ARG8-2 (3-OP2)) at different times. The additional data were incorporated into the PCA as additional individuals for comparison with initial anatomical features of ARG8-2.After showing that measurement errors have no impact on the validity of results and the measurements are reproducible, quantitative eco-anatomical data were processed using a principal component analysis (PCA) in order to evaluate anatomical plasticity in the reference modern material, to appreciate relationships between characters and wood sample caliber and to confront archaeological data to the reference model. PCA was applied on 53 reference modern samples and 7 quantitative variables (anatomical characters) to: (1) validate the hypothesis that there is a significant relationship between the size of the branch and anatomy, as previously demonstrated by analyses of wood development and structure18,20,38 and dendrochronology39; (2) identify the anatomical characters most affected by the age of the branch and, in that case, model the ‘anatomical characters—caliber of the branch’ relationship; (3) develop predictive model that might estimate the minimum branch caliber from eco-anatomical data of archaeological charcoal.Finally, data from analysis of the 20 archaeological charcoal fragments were included in PCA as additional statistical samples. They do not contribute to the development of the reference model, but are compared to the modern reference samples in order to infer the ecological conditions under which Argan trees grew during the Middle Ages. More

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Study area and parcel selectionThe study was conducted in Castro Verde Special Protection Area (SPA), located in southern Portugal (Fig. 1). The climate is Mediterranean, with hot summers (30–35 °C on average in July) and mild winters (averaging 5–8 °C in January), and over 75% of annual rainfall (500–600 mm) concentrated in October–March. The landscape is flat or gently undulating (100–300 m), mainly dominated by open areas used for rainfed pastures (ca. 60%) and annual crops (ca. 25%), and to a less extent by open woodlands (ca. 7%)15.Figure 1(a) Location of the study area within the Castro Verde Special Protected Area (SPA), southern Portugal. (b) Distribution of the 27 sheep (dark grey polygons) and 23 cattle (light grey polygons) grazing parcels and (c) Sampling scheme applied to each parcel surveyed. Bird counts were done at the centroid of the parcel (white dot) whereas vegetation sampling was performed at the indicated 10 points (black dots). The area covered with pastures and annual crops (derived from CORINE land cover 2018—https://land.copernicus.eu/pan-european/corine-land-cover/clc2018) is shown in yellow. The map was done using the version 3.10.0 of QGIS—https://qgis.org/en/site/index.html.Full size imageSince 1995, part of the study area has benefited from a CAP agri-environment aiming to protect the traditional farming system16. This scheme provides financial support to farmers for agricultural practices considered favourable to conservation, including the traditional rotation of cereals and fallows, the maintenance of low stocking rates (usually related with sheep grazing systems), and sowing of crops benefiting grassland birds16. However, in recent years the traditional farming system has been declining, with many farmers converting to specialized livestock systems, mainly, cattle grazing systems, with an increase of stocking rates7,15.Parcel selection started by identifying grasslands grazed by either sheep or cattle, based on parcel-level statistical information from 2010 provided by the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture7. To minimize potentially confounding effects of adjacent land uses (edge effects) and other non-crop elements within parcels on bird assemblages, we excluded parcels less than 100 m from shrubland or forested areas, with shrub and tree cover  > 5% and with a minimum size of 10 ha. In January 2019 we visited 100 pre-selected parcels which were grazed by either sheep or cattle in 2010 in order to confirm the parcel land use in the agricultural year of 2018/2019, aiming to sample a balanced proportion of 50 sheep and cattle grazed parcels. Additional livestock information for the agricultural year of 2018/2019 was obtained during systematic visits to targeted parcels (see “Grazing Regime” section from Methods). We ended up with 23 cattle parcels and 27 sheep parcels (Fig. 1).Bird and vegetation dataBreeding birds were sampled twice in each parcel during 7–16 April and 1–15 May 2019 respectively, always by the same observer (R.F.R). This was done to take into account species-specific breeding phenology in the area (early and late breeders)17 and minimize bias due to other factors (like weather or disturbance). Sampling was conducted using standardized 10 min point counts18 carried out at the central point of the parcel (Fig. 1). As the open terrain allowed for high visibility, a large detection radius was used, and all birds detected within 100 m of the central point were identified and counted. This radius is roughly similar to the one previously used for characterizing bird populations in the region19. All counts were carried out in the first four hours after sunrise and in the last two hours before sunset, with none in heavy or persistent rain, or in strong wind conditions. To estimate bird species richness and occurrences in each parcel, we pooled the data from the two counts. Species-level analyses focused on the six most common species, which occurred in  > 30% of the parcels (see Supplementary Table S1). In addition to presence/absence, we also estimated population densities, using the count which yielded the highest estimate of density for each species (assuming this is the best indicator of population density, given the potential phenology and detectability biases above mentioned). Bird densities were based on the number of males simultaneously detected and expressed as breeding pairs/10 ha or males/10 ha (in the case of Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax and Common Quail Coturnix coturnix). Categorization to the genus level was made for the Crested and Thekla larks (Galerida cristata and G. theklae) due to difficulties in correctly identifying all individuals of these two very similar species in the field.Vegetation height and cover were measured once in each parcel, between April 22 and May 6. Vegetation height was estimated in a set of ten 3 m radius plots defined inside the 100 m buffer (Fig. 1). In each plot, ten measurements of vegetation height were taken at random locations, for a total of 100 measurements per parcel. Vegetation height was measured using a 50 cm ruler and was defined as the highest point of vegetation projection within 3 cm of the ruler20. All values were estimated to the nearest half centimeter. When no vegetation was present (bare soil, soil litter, rocks or animal dung) the height was set to zero (0) but these measurements were not considered to estimate the mean height of the sward. Vegetation cover was measured inside a 50 × 50 cm quadrat placed at each of the ten grid points, by visual estimation to the nearest 5% of the percentage of the quadrat area covered by vegetation21 (Fig. 1). Vegetation height and cover measurements were averaged within each parcel.Grazing regimeThe number and type of livestock in each parcel as well as the extent of the grazing period since the start of the year (2019) were gathered from interviews (Supplementary Information S1) to land managers during 1–15 May 2019. This information was further validated, and corrected in a few cases, through field checks during regular visits (made at two-week intervals) to the parcels (see “Bird and vegetation data” section from Methods). Three grazing regime indicators were estimated for the whole period (January–May 2019): livestock type (either sheep or cattle), animal density, and grazing pressure. The animal density in each parcel was calculated as the average density (animals per hectare) of any species (regardless of being sheep or cattle) that grazed the parcel during the 5-months period. Stocking Rate translated animal density into livestock unit (LU) per hectare (LU/ha), between January and May, according to the following criteria: one adult bovine = 1 LU; bovine aged  More

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