Abstract
Rural roadsides (RRS) are key elements for conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. Their restoration and management require simple protocols to assess (diagnose) their conservation status and ecological functionality. We elaborated a conservation value index (CVI) of RRS by constructing a decision tree based on the experts’ opinion. The index, which can range between 4 and 30, evaluates the conservation status and ecological functionality of RRS according to 11 attributes related to vegetation structure. The CVI was applied to 30 RRS in southeastern Buenos Aires (Argentina). Values ranged from 4 to 29, being the cropped RRS those with the lowest value. The RRS with the highest CVI (>21) were those characterized by higher richness of native, entomophily and cultural value species, higher coverage of native species and perennial grasses, lower coverage of weeds and invasive species, and presence of at least a vulnerable and/or phytotelmata species. This index represents a first contribution applicable to the diagnosis of the conservation status of RRS through the identification of key attributes of vegetation structure suggested by experts. In addition, the index provides relatively synthetic information about the status of RRS, which in spite of their multiple ecological functions are seldom taken into account for their conservation within territorial planning. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.17.27.3.0.541
Highlights
El índice provee información relativamente sintética sobre el estado de los bordes de caminos rurales (BCR), los que, pese a sus múltiples funciones ecológicas, rara vez son tenidos en cuenta para su conservación dentro de la planificación territorial
The index, which can range between 4 and 30, evaluates the conservation status and ecological functionality of Rural roadsides (RRS) according to 11 a ributes related to vegetation structure
The conservation value index (CVI) was applied to 30 RRS in southeastern Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Summary
De polen para numerosos polinizadores (Sáez 2014); d) la provisión de refugio y alimento a los predadores y parásitos de las plagas de los cultivos (Torretta and Poggio 2013); e) el mantenimiento del carbono edáfico (DAcunto et al 2014); y f) la filtración de nutrientes y contaminantes desde lotes agrícolas adyacentes (Forman et al 2003; Tiemeyer et al 2006). En los que las decisiones de conservación o restauración de los ecosistemas naturales presentan cierta urgencia, la consulta a expertos es una estrategia rápida y eficiente para contar con información de calidad sobre un tema específico (Sutherland 2006; Kuhnert et al 2010; Martin et al 2012; Barral and Maceira 2012). Con el objetivo principal de conservar la biodiversidad en los paisajes rurales y de diagnosticar el estado de conservación de los BCR, se realizó una encuesta a expertos sobre los atributos de la estructura y el funcionamiento de la vegetación de los BCR que, a su criterio, permitiría elaborar un índice de valor de conservación (IVC). Finalmente, se aplicó el IVC a un caso de estudio correspondiente a los BCR del sudeste bonaerense
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