Restoration ability of seasonal exclosures under different woodland degradation stages in semiarid Chaco rangelands of Argentina
| Autor: | Miguel Marcelo Brassiolo, Rodolfo A. Golluscio, Santiago Miguel Cotroneo, Elizabeth Jacobo |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
REHABILITATION geography Biomass (ecology) geography.geographical_feature_category 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Ecology Woodland Understory 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Shrubland XEROPHILOUS FOREST Agronomy CIENCIAS AGRÍCOLAS Agronomía reproducción y protección de plantas Grazing Litter Environmental science Rangeland Agricultura Silvicultura y Pesca EL NIÑO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION (ENSO) Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Earth-Surface Processes |
| Popis: | Exclosures are widely used for rangeland restoration in semiarid woodlands. However, grass recovery could be hampered if degradation exceeded certain thresholds. In this study we assessed four years effects of seasonally grazed exclosures –vs. open rangelands– on understory cover (grasses, low shrubs and litter) and peak standing biomass in three increasing degradation stages –mature forests, secondary forests and shrublands– in semiarid Chaco woodlands. We found that grass cover and biomass increased tenfold in four years in mature and secondary forests but remained virtually null in shrublands. In rested forests, the grass cover increments remained relatively constant regardless the annual rainfall amount, both in the driest year 2013 (531 mm) and the wettest year 2015 (924 mm). Only in an extraordinarily wet year (2015) did grass biomass increased in rested shrublands. In that wet year, low shrubs cover –higher at higher overstory degradation– decreased in all woodlands. Our results suggest that shrublands may constitute a new steady state unable to recover by grazing exclusion itself, but probably by its combination with wet periods. Fil: Cotroneo, S.M.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Animal; Argentina Fil: Jacobo, E.J.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Animal; Argentina Fil: Brassiolo, M.M.. Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero; Argentina Fil: Golluscio, Rodolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Animal; Argentina |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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