Abstract
Goat grazing management is a powerful ecological force structuring plant communities which effects are highly different depending on factors such as climatic conditions, grazing intensity, type of plant community, etc. Pastures in the Canary Islands have important heritage, socioeconomic and landscape values because they are the remains of traditional livestock management and a key element of local economy. An experimental study of goat grazing exclusion has been carried out in an area of La Gomera Island to determine the main effects of grazing abandonment on species richness and species composition. The species composition of La Gomera pastures is more sensitive to grazing than to climatic variability, though effects in the species richness in relation to grazing were not detected. Because the pasture origin in this area involved artificial, removing of non useful plants in order to provide land for agriculture more than 300 years ago, and using it for pastures around 80 years ago, the sustainable use has maintained this rich plant community. Grazing abandonment can have a negative effect on the pastures’ diversity, as grazing has been a strong force in the maintenance of certain species. Public promotion of this primary activity is suggested to allow the continuation with minimal effects on the vegetation composition. This will help to conserve the high diversity of this area and the promotion of natural values as well as traditional and sustainable human activities.
Highlights
Goat grazing management has been a traditional sustainable land use in many areas of the planet (Milchunas et al, 1988; Crawley, 1997) requiring correct grazing management to maintain the species composition and the high diversity values of the plant communities of grazing lands (Baldock et al, 1994; Olff and Ritchie, 1998)
Grazing effects on species richness and species composition are contradictory in many studies (Olff and Ritchie, 1998) and there are studies concluding that herbivores can enhance, have weak effects or even have a negative impact on plant diversity and richness (Osem et al, 2002; De-Bello et al, 2007) as well as different effects on soil nutrients (McIntosh et al, 1997; Bakker et al, 2004; Peco et al, 2006; Fernández-Lugo et al, 2009)
Previous studies of grazing effects on plant species composition and species richness have traditionally been inconsistent and conflicting in their results, lacking a general model that predicts the response of grazing intensity or abandonment (Olff and Ritchie, 1998; Peco et al, 2006)
Summary
Goat grazing management has been a traditional sustainable land use in many areas of the planet (Milchunas et al, 1988; Crawley, 1997) requiring correct grazing management to maintain the species composition and the high diversity values of the plant communities of grazing lands (Baldock et al, 1994; Olff and Ritchie, 1998). In spite of this traditional and sustainable use, the effects cause remarkable and significant variation in species composition (Casado et al, 2004; Arévalo et al, 2007). They are very rich plant communities, something that can be attributed to their history, management and dynamics (Arévalo et al, 2007) These ecosystems are grazed by goats, which are the most common grazer animal in the archipelago (Bermejo, 2003). This process is not concluded yet (Bermejo, 2003) and the abandonment of this traditional activity becomes more evident every day
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