Abstract
Rangeland management in former tropical rainforest areas may affect ecosystem services. We hypothesized that management practices like burning and overgrazing reduce supporting (soil quality) and consequently also provisioning (forage productivity and quality) and regulating (nutrient cycling) ecosystem services. We established 31 exclosures in two landscape categories (alluvial soils, low-hills), documented management practices, and assessed 18 soil quality indicators, litter decomposition as a proxy for nutrient cycling, and forage quantity and quality during one year in grasslands of the Lacandon region, southeast Mexico. Path analysis was used to explore direct and indirect effects of livestock management practices on soil-based ecosystem services. Landscape position had direct effects on management practices, and direct and indirect effects on soil properties. Altitude (a proxy for the soil catena, ranging from alluvial soils along the Lacantún river to Cambisols and Acrisols in the low-hills) was the variable showing most significant negative relations with soil quality and forage production. Decomposition rate was site-specific and had no relation with landscape position and management. Our study suggests that position on the landscape, which relates to nutrient and water availability, had stronger effects than management practices on forage productivity and quality and drives farmers management practices.
Highlights
Agricultural expansion, both for cropland and rangeland, is one of the major drivers of deforestation in the tropics [1,2]
A total of five plots were located on alluvial soils and 26 plots were located on low hills
We found a negative relation between altitude and the ratio Gram+: Gram- bacteria (Figure 3), with the highest values of that ratio observed in the floodplains
Summary
Agricultural expansion, both for cropland and rangeland, is one of the major drivers of deforestation in the tropics [1,2]. Extensive cattle production occupies more than 27% of rural landscapes across. Latin America, and continues to expand [3]. The establishment and maintenance of rangelands has large consequences for local and regional biodiversity. Given that biodiversity plays a critical role in ecosystem functioning, large impacts on ecosystem services can be expected to occur after transformation from forest to grasslands. Ecosystem services have been categorized in four classes, viz., regulating, supporting, cultural, and provisioning services [4,5,6]. Supporting and regulating services are those services crucial for the sustained supply of provisioning services, the products
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