How Bovine Livestock Affects Seed Rain in Subtropical Climate Forest

Maureen De Moraes Stefanello,Betina Camargo,Jéssica Puhl Croda,Matheus Degrandi Gazzola,Ana Paula Moreira Rovedder,Roselene Marostega Felker,Djoney Procknow,Rodrigo Pinto Da Silva,Aline Peccatti,Jhonitan Matiello,Bruna Balestrin Piaia

doi:10.5539/jas.v11n10p240

Maureen De Moraes Stefanello, Betina Camargo + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5539/jas.v11n10p240

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Abstract

Seed rainfall may be one of the mechanisms most impacted by livestock production in forest remnants. The trampling and cattle grazing alter dynamics, structure and floristic composition of the forest. The present work characterized the seed rainin forest remnants and the possible impacts of the presence and the management regime with different cattle stocks in the Pampa biome, southern region of Brazil. We compared three areas in Seasonal Forest remnants with a management history of 43 years: cattle exclusion area (A1); area with a cattle stock of 0.5 ua ha-1 (A2); and area with cattle stock of 1.0 ua ha-1 (A3). The seed rain was collected quarterly in 16 collectors (1 &times; 1 m&sup2;) per area for 24 months. The seeds were counted and identified according to external morphological characteristics, habit and dispersion syndrome. Shannon diversity index, submitted to the Hutcheson test, Pielou evenness, expected diversity and floristic similarity were determined. The results indicated that the impacts caused by livestock to seed rain were more significant in A3 where a quantitative reduction in the number of seeds was observed, probably due to the low number of plant individuals that make up the community.

Highlights

The horizontal distribution of a particular species of the forest community depends on its colonization success, determined by the establishment and dispersion of its propagules (Chazdon, 2014)
20,661 propagules were sampled from January to December 2015, distributed in 126 morphospecies, considering the three study areas (A1, Area 2 (A2) and Area 3 (A3)) (Figure 2)
Cordia trichotoma, Ficus luschnathiana and Apuleia leiocarpa accounted for 38.12% of the total collected seeds

Summary

Introduction

The horizontal distribution of a particular species of the forest community depends on its colonization success, determined by the establishment and dispersion of its propagules (Chazdon, 2014). In this way, the relationships that plant individuals establish with the environment and with anthropic interventions can compromise the colonization and establishment of species (Hutchings, 1989; Begon et al, 2006). Cattle may compromise the conservation of forest remnants by consuming flowers and seeds (Eaton et al, 2016). Trampling can compact the soil and hamper the establishment of natural regeneration (Pillar & Quadros, 1997; Sampaio & Guarino, 2007)

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