Extensive Livestock Grazing Research Articles

Charcoal morphotypes as indicators of fire fuel types and fire events along eight centuries in east‐central Mexico

ABSTRACTThe study of fire and charcoal production in tropical mesophytic ecosystems provides valuable insights into the ecological and climatic history of these systems. The diverse vegetation produces charcoal in various forms and sizes, which influences its dispersion and provides key information about fire dynamics. In this study, we used an approximately 850‐year sedimentary charcoal record extracted from Lake Atezca in east‐central Mexico to reconstruct the history of fire activity, including frequency and intensity. We present innovative information on charcoal morphotypes to interpret fire regimes, identify the types of vegetation burned and analyze human impact. The results reveal a shift in fire regimes during the Spanish Conquest, transitioning from local‐scale burning associated with intensive wood burning for indigenous agriculture to regional‐scale burning characterized by the burning of herbs and grasses linked to the expansion of extensive livestock grazing. This transition is reflected in the decrease of wood charcoal and the increase of smaller particles, as well as in the rise in titanium in the sediments, indicating greater landscape alteration. The evolution of fire regimes in Lake Atezca was driven primarily by human activities since pre‐Hispanic times, although climatic factors, such as severe droughts, may have also influenced fire activity.

Large, rugged and remote: The challenge of wolf–livestock coexistence on federal lands in the American West

AbstractThe expansion of grey wolves (Canis lupus) across the western United States, including on public lands used for extensive livestock grazing, requires tools and techniques for reducing wolf–livestock conflict and supporting coexistence. We examined approaches used on forested lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service, which we characterize as large, rugged and remote (LRR) landscapes. Research on the spatial aspects of where tools and techniques are deployed and their effectiveness across geographic settings is scant.We selected six national forests located in six western states where managers seek to mitigate ongoing wolf–livestock conflict and conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with stakeholders (n = 69) to discuss approaches to conflict mitigation and perceptions of the effectiveness of different tools and techniques.We developed a three‐part typology categorizing tools and techniques for conflict reduction: livestock husbandry, non‐lethal deterrents and targeted lethal removal of wolves. Across these categories, interviewees noted that many approaches are challenging to scale up to the geographic context of Forest Service grazing allotments and LRR landscapes.The techniques perceived by our informants to be most effective for mitigating conflict in LRR landscapes include: human presence (mobile range riders); flexibility in grazing management; husbandry practices to minimize livestock vulnerability; and targeted lethal removal of wolves (used in combination with non‐lethal techniques).Social, economic and political factors also influence the ability of producers to implement desired conflict mitigation tools in the national forest context. For example, the economic costs of implementation in LRR landscapes, and policies associated with grazing on federal lands, can limit mitigation options.Policy implications. Geography matters! Efforts to address wolf–livestock conflict are more likely to be effective if they are designed to fit the local geographic context. Effectiveness may also increase if mitigation efforts go beyond technical approaches, considering the social, economic and institutional context in which conflict is embedded.Read the freePlain Language Summaryfor this article on the Journal blog.

Shrub clearing and extensive livestock as a strategy for enhancing ecosystem services in degraded Mediterranean mid-mountain areas

Land abandonment in the Mediterranean mountains since the 20th century has led to a reduction of ecosystem services, due to revegetation and homogenization of the landscape. To counteract these effects, the regional administration of La Rioja in Spain initiated a Plan for Shrub Clearing (PSC) combined with extensive livestock grazing in 1986, which is still in action today. This study analyses the effects of pairing clearing with grazing in an experimental area of the Leza valley (Iberian System) on: (i) the landscape structure and structural diversity; (ii) the production of pasture; (iii) fire control; (iv) soil organic carbon sequestration (also considering soil environmental types); (v) surface water resources. The results show that: (i) a more fragmented landscape with greater diversity is created; (ii) grazing land is almost doubled in alkaline soils and four-fold in siliceous soils; (iii) fires are considerably reduced, with the mean surface fire spread falling from 34.1 ha/year from 1968 to 1985, to 1.2 ha/year between 1986 and 2022; (iv) regenerated post-clearance grazing soils sequester more organic carbon than that of shrublands, especially older clearings on alkaline soils (55.3 % more); (v) clearing increases hydrological connectivity and water resources. The conclusion is that managing the Mediterranean mid-mountains could be a very effective strategy to improve the supply of certain ecosystem services and improve the current socio-economic perspective of these marginal areas in a context of Global Change. The PSC also contributes to local development by increasing livestock numbers.

Natural distribution and phenotypic traits of Neltuma flexuosa var. depressa, a candidate taxon for the rehabilitation in the central arid region of Argentina

Dryland rehabilitation in the central arid region of Argentina is urgently needed to reverse the current high levels of degradation. Neltuma flexuosa var. depressa, adapted to arid environments, gives it the potential to be used in rehabilitation, for extensive livestock grazing and apiculture. When the soil seed bank is exhausted and natural regeneration is impossible, seed-based rehabilitation programmes constitute one of the more promising options. Thornless ecotype selection could improve pods utilization, so studies of the population distribution can be useful as a genetic resource for pre-breeding. Niche occupancy exhibits a large latitudinal extension (32–43°S), mainly in areas of salinity. All populations would have a transient soil seed bank, but seed dormancy release was lower in populations originating in more unpredictable environments, which distributes germination across years and acts as a bet-hedging strategy between seasons. We observed differences between the populations, with greater spinescence being associated with higher isothermality and lower annual precipitation (r > 80***) at the population's place of origin, showing local adaptation. We also found some thornless seedlings (1.67%) in a population with lower spinescence. However, the plastic response of thorns in seedlings, as well as later stages, should be evaluated in stressful environments.

On how the abandonment of traditional forest management practices could reduce saproxylic diversity in the Mediterranean Region

Forests of the Mediterranean Basin provide a wide range of provisioning and regulating services that are currently jeopardised by land-use change. Although many ecosystem services are mediated by insects, most of the studies that have focused on how to enhance diversity in traditionally managed forests are about plants and vertebrates. Quercus pyrenaica woodlands of the Western Iberian Peninsula constitute a scenario in which traditional human practices (i.e., extensive livestock grazing, pollarding, firewood, forest thinning, etc.), and their progressive abandonment, have generated differences in landscape that affect habitat and microhabitat structures. We used saproxylic beetles (deadwood-dependent species) as biological indicators because they are the most diverse taxa and provide important ecosystem services related to deadwood decomposition, forest pest control and pollination. We modelled the response of two taxonomic (species richness and abundance), one ecological (species diversity of order 1) and two functional (functional richness and redundancy) diversity metrics to the environmental variables that result from traditional management or its abandonment at habitat and microhabitat levels. We included 16 explanatory variables related to forest structure, tree microhabitats and abiotic factors, which were grouped into eight principal components. Linear regression was the best fitting model for data. The resulting models were used to perform diversity predictions in different scenarios. We found that abandonment of some traditional forest management activities in the Mediterranean Region reduced taxonomic saproxylic beetle diversity, which may be further aggravated by climate change. We suggest minimal management actions to improve taxonomic and ecological saproxylic beetle diversity related to habitat and tree management (i.e., maintenance of >20% scrub coverage, >20 m3/ha of deadwood on soil and >20 hollow trees/ha). However, actions that boost saproxylic biodiversity do not ensure the community’s higher functional resilience. We should also promote tree microhabitat diversity to reduce the vulnerability of saproxylic beetle functions to environmental changes.

Grazing by wild red deer can mitigate nutrient enrichment in protected semi-natural open habitats

Eutrophication through atmospheric nutrient deposition is threatening the biodiversity of semi-natural habitats characterized by low nutrient availability. Accordingly, local management measures aiming at open habitat conservation need to maintain habitat-specific nutrient conditions despite atmospheric inputs. Grazing by wild herbivores, such as red deer (Cervus elaphus), has been proposed as an alternative to mechanical or livestock-based measures for preserving open habitats. The role of red deer for nutrient dynamics in protected open habitat types, however, is yet unclear. Therefore, we collected data on vegetation productivity, forage removal, quantity of red deer dung and nutrient concentrations in vegetation and dung from permanent plots in heathlands and grasslands (eight plots à 225 m2 per habitat type) on a military training area inhabited by a large population of free-ranging red deer over one year. The annual nutrient export of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) by red deer grazing was higher than the nutrient import through red deer excreta, resulting in an average net nutrient removal of 14 and 30 kg N ha−1 a−1 and 1.1 and 3.3 kg P ha−1 a−1 in heathlands and grasslands, respectively. Even when considering approximate local atmospheric deposition values, net nutrient depletion due to red deer grazing seemed very likely, notably in grasslands. Demonstrating that grazing by wild red deer can mitigate the effects of atmospheric nutrient deposition in semi-natural open habitats similarly to extensive livestock grazing, our results support the idea that red deer are suitable grazing animals for open habitat conservation.

Fire Eaters: Exploring Consumer Preferences for Labeling Extensive Livestock Products Providing Wildfire Prevention Services

Extensive livestock grazing has proved to be a valuable tool to reduce wildfire risk in Mediterranean landscapes. Meat from herds providing wildfire prevention services exhibit sustainability traits that can appeal to ethical consumers and find a suitable niche in local markets. This study assesses the preferences of a consumer sample in the province of Girona (north-eastern Spain) for different lamb meat labeling options from herds providing wildfire prevention services. The aim is to disentangle consumer profiles, providing evidence for improved product labeling. This may increase the added value and the viability of small farms providing this service. Employing a latent class modeling approach, we explore how meat consumption patterns and socioeconomic features may contribute to explain preferences for different meat labeling options. Our results have identified three consumer profiles: traditional rural consumers relying on trust with producers, younger consumers more akin to new labeling schemes, and urban consumers that support local butchers as a trusted information source. Different labeling mechanisms may work in a complementary way to arrive to different audiences of potential consumers. Geographical indication labels can serve as a good departure point, complemented with information cues on environmental factors related to wildfire protection.

Functional profiles of soil microbial communities in the alpine and temperate grasslands of China

AbstractGrassland ecosystems in cold regions are typical of short growing seasons and limited primary productivity, rendering soil microorganisms as major ecosystem engineers in governing biogeochemical cycling. Climate warming and extensive livestock grazing have dramatically influenced soil microbial diversity and function in grassland worldwide, but it remains elusive how functional microbial communities exist and respond to global changes. Here, we present a review to highlight similarities and differences in soil functional microbial communities between alpine grasslands in the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau and temperate grasslands in the Inner Mongolian Plateau, both of which are major plateaus in China, but differ substantially in geography. We show that many specialized functional groups thrive under harsh conditions, exhibiting a high functional diversity. Their community compositions mirror the heterogeneity and complexity of grassland soils. Moreover, functional microbial responses to environmental changes have been extremely variable, with few consistent patterns across both plateaus. Because we identify a lack of technical standardization that prevents in‐depth comparative studies for functional microbial communities, we conclude the review by outlining several research gaps that need to be filled in future studies.

Apex scavengers from different European populations converge at threatened savannah landscapes

Over millennia, human intervention has transformed European habitats mainly through extensive livestock grazing. “Dehesas/Montados” are an Iberian savannah-like ecosystem dominated by oak-trees, bushes and grass species that are subject to agricultural and extensive livestock uses. They are a good example of how large-scale, low intensive transformations can maintain high biodiversity levels as well as socio-economic and cultural values. However, the role that these human-modified habitats can play for individuals or species living beyond their borders is unknown. Here, using a dataset of 106 adult GPS-tagged Eurasian griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) monitored over seven years, we show how individuals breeding in western European populations from Northern, Central, and Southern Spain, and Southern France made long-range forays (LRFs) of up to 800 km to converge in the threatened Iberian “dehesas” to forage. There, extensive livestock and wild ungulates provide large amounts of carcasses, which are available to scavengers from traditional exploitations and rewilding processes. Our results highlight that maintaining Iberian “dehesas” is critical not only for local biodiversity but also for long-term conservation and the ecosystem services provided by avian scavengers across the continent.

Design and Field Test of a Low-cost Device for Real-time Livestock Tracking Using GPS/LoRa Communication

Highlights Monitoring movement is crucial to improve livestock management. GPS livestock tracking method using LoRa with an effective medium access control mechanism. Adaptive data collection with near real-time monitoring. GPS data were collected for improving home-range management. Low implementation costs with increasing lifespan of the devices. Abstract. Extensive livestock grazing systems are in line with agroecological principles. However, these systems are particularly complex to manage. Developing accurate and reliable monitoring of livestock movements and activities is a promising tool to improve the global performances of these systems. Various livestock management systems have been developed over the past decades, culminating in sophisticated systems in intensive controlled environments that allow the real-time monitoring of movements, behaviors, health and production parameters for livestock individuals/herds (e.g. dairy cattle). However, extensive and semi-extensive systems for which the animals are ranging freely outdoors at least part of the time, are presenting specific challenges for combined tracking data acquisition and communication. In this article, we present a GPS livestock tracking method using LoRa communication with a new medium access control mechanism. The node lifespan and performance of the system were evaluated in real on-farm conditions in three different locations in Thailand and Vietnam. The results showed that our system performed adequately well in terms of position accuracy and timeliness. The accuracy of GPS data collected are compatible with their usage for improved rangeland management, monitoring livestock movements and impacts on the environment, and for back-tracking epidemiological movements and contacts of individuals/herds to control diseases outbreaks. The communication system via LoRa allowed to some extent real-time location of livestock herds by farmers due to instant position updates to the Internet, although the performance depended largely on the relief of the landscape surrounding the rangeland used. Finally, reducing costs and increasing the lifespan of the devices remain critical objectives to foster the adoption of such system by farmers and by certification groups to provide field-based evidence for the traceability and quality control of livestock and animal products raised under healthy and environmental-friendly productions systems. Our current design, if produced in a large quantity of at least 100 units, would cost approximately $65 USD per unit, with an average lifetime of 20 days. Keywords: Cattle, GPS, LoRa, Tracking system.

Effects of farm type on food production, landscape openness, grassland biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emissions in mixed agricultural-forestry regions

ContextThe global demand for food is expected to continue increasing for decades, which may drive both agricultural expansion and intensification. The associated environmental impacts are potentially considerable but will depend on how the agricultural sector develops. Currently, there are contrasting regional developments in agriculture; expansion and/or intensification in some regions and abandonment in others, as well as changes in the type of farming. However, the environmental consequences of changes in farm type are not well understood. ObjectiveWe have evaluated the impacts of farm type on food production and three key environmental variables—landscape openness, grassland biodiversity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—in three marginal agricultural regions in Sweden. MethodsWe do this by first dividing the population of farms in each region into types, based on their land-use and livestock holdings using an innovative clustering method. Thereafter we analysed changes in production activities for farm types over time and evaluated the environmental and food-production impacts, where landscape openness is quantified using a novel indicator. Results and conclusionOur results show that there is not one single farm type that would simultaneously maximize food production, grassland biodiversity, and landscape openness, whilst minimizing GHG emissions. However, there exists considerable potential to manage the trade-offs between food production and these environmental variables. For example, by reducing land use for dairying and instead increasing both cropping for food production and extensive livestock grazing to maintain landscape openness and biodiversity-rich semi-natural pastures, it would keep food production at similar levels. SignificanceOur farm typology allows us to assess the multifunctionality of farming, by relating contrasting production activities to multiple ecosystem services, grassland biodiversity and GHG emissions for informing policy towards more sustainable agriculture. We have demonstrated this with examples under Swedish conditions, but it should to a large extent also be applicable for other countries.

Multi-proxy study of the Pialeloup Bog (SE Massif Central, France) reveals long-term human environmental changes affecting peat ecosystems during the Holocene

In order to reconstruct local environmental changes affecting wetlands in middle mountain ranges, this study presents a multi-proxy analysis of the Pialeloup peat record on the Béage Plateau (South-Eastern Massif Central, France). It combines macrofossil, beetle, palynological, and geochemical data. The results are compared with other palaeoecological studies and archaeological data from the Massif Central, Jura Mountains and Alpine regions to discuss the links between local environmental changes and socio-economical dynamics at larger scales. Based on this approach, early environmental changes were highlighted between 6500 and 4800 BC, most certainly due to animal trampling on the Pialeloup bog. These events seem synchronous with human presence from the Late Mesolithic to Early Neolithic. It suggested that wild animals and human/livestock might have frequented the Béage Plateau wetlands. Then, long-term landscape management was documented for the last 3000 years. Local palaeoecological insights (synanthropic plants, beech-forest clearings, increasing erosion) and archaeological evidence for human settlements (pottery, millstones, and anthropogenic soils) were revealed to start during the Iron Age (400–200 BC). From the Late Iron Age to the Early Medieval period (150 BC–AD 725), human activities combined livestock pasture and local cereal cultivation (such as rye, Secale cereale, as a winter crop). This long-term management produced an open landscape where only small beech/fir woods persisted (Fagus sylvatica/Abies alba). This step was essential for the further development of extensive livestock grazing since the Medieval period in this region.

Current landscape attributes and landscape stability in breeding grounds explain genetic differentiation in a long‐distance migratory bird

AbstractNumerous studies have highlighted a major role of isolation by both geographic distance and current landscape resistance in controlling bird population genetic differentiation. However, the importance of past landscape features or landscape temporal stability in shaping population genetic structure remains undervalued, particularly in birds. We assessed the role of isolation by landscape resistance – derived from current landscape attributes and measures of landscape stability –, in comparison to geographic isolation, as drivers of genetic differentiation of the Iberian bluethroat (Luscinia svecica azuricollis), a migratory bird whose populations breed in fragmented and dynamic landscapes affected by land use change. First, we characterized bluethroat genetic structure using microsatellite genotypes and evaluated genetic distances. Then, we built species distribution models using as a predictor a time series (two decades) of values of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index as proxies of recent past landscape stability and current landscape features to ultimately generate landscape resistance values through different functions. Finally, we used maximum‐likelihood population effects models to evaluate the relationships between genetic distances and both geographic and landscape resistance distances. We found a genetic structure of four clusters in the Iberian bluethroats populations, as well as a high level of genetic differentiation. Genetic structure was better associated with landscape resistance, rather than with geographic distance. The highest values of habitat suitability corresponded to areas where vegetation remained mostly stable during the two decades prior to bird surveys, with low annual precipitation and spring temperature, being the relationship between gene flow and presence of intervenient habitat among populations linear or quasi‐linear. Our results suggest that conservation policies and land management practices that promote the maintenance of semi‐open pasture‐shrub mosaics (e.g. through extensive livestock grazing) can strongly benefit Iberian bluethroat populations, improving gene flow and population connectivity.

Microbial Water Quality Conditions Associated with Livestock Grazing, Recreation, and Rural Residences in Mixed-Use Landscapes

Contamination of surface waters with microbial pollutants from fecal sources is a significant human health issue. Identification of relative fecal inputs from the mosaic of potential sources common in rural watersheds is essential to effectively develop and deploy mitigation strategies. We conducted a cross-sectional longitudinal survey of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) concentrations associated with extensive livestock grazing, recreation, and rural residences in three rural, mountainous watersheds in California, USA during critical summer flow conditions. Overall, we found that 86% to 87% of 77 stream sample sites across the study area were below contemporary Escherichia coli-based microbial water quality standards. FIB concentrations were lowest at recreation sites, followed closely by extensive livestock grazing sites. Elevated concentrations and exceedance of water quality standards were highest at sites associated with rural residences, and at intermittently flowing stream sites. Compared to national and state recommended E. coli-based water quality standards, antiquated rural regional policies based on fecal coliform concentrations overestimated potential fecal contamination by as much as four orders of magnitude in this landscape, hindering the identification of the most likely fecal sources and thus the efficient targeting of mitigation practices to address them.

Livestock grazing abandonment reduces soil microbial activity and carbon storage in a Mediterranean Dehesa

Extensive livestock grazing is a major determinant of local biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in many regio1ns of the world. In sub-humid Mediterranean areas with long history of extensive grazing, abandonment of grazing has been linked to changes in the composition and structure of vegetation communities and decreases in soil multifunctionality, with potential cascading consequences for ecosystem services such as soil fertility and potential for soil carbon storage. Herein, we assessed the effects of livestock grazing abandonment on soil fertility and the ability of soil microbial communities to process organic matter (enzymatic activity and decomposition rate using the Tea Bag Index) in twenty-four study sites in a Quercus ilex dehesa from Central Spain. Sites were distributed across four levels of grazing (none, very low, low and moderate) and two levels of resource availability in terms of water and nutrients (upper slope and lower slope zones). Grazing abandonment and upper slope zones were associated with a lower accumulation of organic matter and availability of nutrients such as phosphorus and potassium in the soil. Grazing abandonment also had a negative effect on microbial enzyme activity, which was directly related to litter decomposition and the ability of microbial communities to stabilize soil carbon. Microbial effects were particularly marked in the lower zones, indicating the modulating role of topography on the consequences of land use changes. Environmental management policies should consider the positive ecological effects of traditional grazing in regions with long evolutionary history of grazing by domestic livestock, and how the abandonment of these practices could negatively affect soil ecosystem functions and the provision of soil-related ecosystem services.

Gestión activa frente a matorralización: buscando el equilibrio entre conservación y explotación en montaña

Las montañas europeas, especialmente las mediterráneas, experimentan un importante proceso de revegetación desde mediados del siglo XX, con el avance de matorrales y bosques de sucesión. Ello implica unos efectos negativos (degradación de pastos, acumulación de biomasa, con el incremento del riesgo de incendios, pérdida o banalización de paisajes culturales…) y positivos (mayor naturalización del paisaje, recuperación de la vida silvestre, mayor fijación de CO2, disminución de la erosión del suelo…). De ahí, que se planteen dos alternativas: dejar que el proceso de revegetación continúe o intervenir en el territorio para disminuir los efectos negativos de la revegetación.En este trabajo se discute, a partir de la literatura, sobre las principales intervenciones en el territorio: ganadería extensiva en combinación con quemas prescritas y desbroce de matorrales. Se señala que las quemas prescritas resultan insuficientes para controlar la expansión de matorrales, favoreciendo en algunos casos (Echinospartum horridum) su rejuvenecimiento, además de degradar la comunidad de pastos e incrementar la erosión del suelo. El desbroce de matorrales, por el contrario, muestra efectos positivos: disminución de incendios, aumento de los censos ganaderos e incremento en los índices de heterogeneidad y fragmentación del paisaje.

Holocene paleoecological changes and agro-pastoral impact on the La Narce du Béage mire (Massif Central, France)

A paleoecological study (macrofossils, pollen, cryptogam spores, non-pollen palynomorphs) was performed to investigate environmental changes recorded on the peat deposits of the La Narce du Béage mire (Massif Central, France). We reconstructed the development of a limnogenous mire ecosystem during the Holocene, consequently to the infilling of a small Late Glacial lake. Successions from aquatic flora ( Isoëtes, Nitella opaca/ syncarpa, Botryococcus, Alisma plantago-aquatica, Potamogeton, Sparganium) to mire plant species ( Alnus glutinosa, Betula nana, Betula pubescens, Cyperaceae, Ericaceae, Sphagnum) underlined a gradual eutrophication and acidification during the lowering of the water table. We demonstrated a clear link between these local hydro-ecological changes and the early Holocene climatic warming. Also dealing with archeology, we provided key issues for the identification of human-induced environmental changes. Three phases of ecological disturbances with clearings of the mixed-oak forest and agro-pastoral activities were evidenced at 7700–7300, 6800–6420, and 5500–4250 cal. BP. Our results confirmed early Neolithic (Cardial influences), middle Neolithic (Chassean), and late Neolithic (Ferrières group) frequentations of the Béage Plateau, probably included in large-scale socio-cultural changes (SE France, NW Mediterranean Basin). Later, forest clearings (beech and fir), cultivation, and pastoralism were outlined since the Iron Age (after 2300 cal. BP, that is, 350 BC). Increasing human pressure was especially recorded during the last 1700 years, with rye ( Secale cereale) cultivation and extensive livestock grazing around and on the mire, which is nowadays a protected ‘Natura 2000’ area.

Avian Biodiversity of Newly Established Bunjosa Game Reserve, District Poonch, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan: Implications for Conservation

Bunjosa game reserve lies in district Poonch of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. This game reserve is newly established so, avian fauna of this area was unexplored yet, so the present study was undertaken to determine the avian biodiversity, residential status and ecological threats. The findings of the bird’s surveys undertaken from October 2015 to November 2016. A total of n 3137 birds belonging to 108 species, 25 families and 11 orders were identified with highest numbers in summer (n1148) and lowest in winter (n415). The seasonal Shannon Wiener diversity index was highest in summer (4.3), followed by autumn (3.99), winter (3.64) and spring (3.58), likewise the family wise diversity index was maximum for family Corvidae (0.26) and minimum for Remizidae, Phasianidae and Alcedinidae (0.006) respectively. The research findings revealed that habitat fragmentation and clearance through extensive deforestation, forest fires, livestock grazing, and collection of fire woods are recorded as the major threats to the avifauna. Development of conservation and management plan will be helpful in protecting the avian biodiversity and ecosystem of the game reserve.

Soil conditions and sheltering techniques improve active restoration of degraded Nothofagus pumilio forest in Southern Patagonia

Nothofagus pumilio forests in the Southern Patagonia region of Chile are highly degraded because of clearing for human settlements, extensive livestock grazing, and more recently, the impact of coal mining operations. Most of these legacy areas have remained as extensive meadows of non-native grasses and legumes with limited Nothofagus pumilio forest recovery due to dry soil moisture conditions and exposure to high wind and solar radiation. Therefore, active reforestation is needed to reclaim Nothofagus pumilio forests from abandoned grassland or disturbances caused by surface mine operation. In this study, a surface coal mine operation and an abandoned meadow established in the 1950 s needed to be restored back to N. pumilio forest on Riesco Island, in Southern Chilean Patagonia. We compared the establishment success of Nothofagus pumilio seedlings on replicated blocks under two conditions (experimental treatments): (i) four blocks of meadow previously disturbed by livestock grazing, (MS), and (ii) four blocks where a deep layer of the soil profile was removed, mixed, and then replaced simulating recommendations used for reclaiming surface coal mines (RS). To improve Nothofagus pumilio establishment and protection at each block under both soil conditions, seedlings were planted both unprotected and protected from wind and solar radiation using four different types of shelters: shade cloth, irregular log piles, white polypropylene shelters, and woody branches. Soil physical and chemical properties, seedling survival and growth, leaf water potential, and stomatal conductance were measured. Results at the end of the first and fourth growing seasons showed better conditions for seedling growth in the RS treatment. Mean survival rates began to be different following the second growing season with values of 84.7 ± 2.9% in RS and 60.2 ± 3.2% survival in MS treatments, respectively. At the end of the study, the difference between the treatments was even geater with values of 75.4 ± 5.5% and 32.2 ± 7.1%. Soil removal and replacement significantly changed soil physical properties, but values were still adequate for vegetation development. The use of shelters significantly influenced four-year survival rates of seedlings planted on the disturbed MS treatment with 60 ± 8.2% survival in plastic shelters and less than 25.5 ± 6.5% for all other shelters. The effects of the shelters were less clear in the RS treatment. Our study showed that Nothofagus pumilio restoration on abandoned grassland and reclaimed mine sites in Patagonia is a feasible option when soil conditions and planting techniques improve soil water availability, and when seedling are protected against excessive solar radiation and wind.

Exploring Current and Future Situation of Mediterranean Silvopastoral Systems: Case Study in Southern Spain

Extensive range-based livestock production has suffered a sharp decrease in Mediterranean Spain in recent decades due to two opposing trends in land use: progressive abandonment of practices in marginal rural areas and land use intensification in more productive areas. In this study, we explored the visions of key stakeholders on the current and future situation of silvopastoral systems in the Sierra Morena mountain range of southern Spain, where extensive livestock grazing is declining because of competition with other more profitable activities, such as intensive olive groves and game hunting. We performed a discourse analysis using Q methodology and evaluated the existing relationships of information exchange and conflict among local institutions such as farmer’s associations, the provincial council, and conservation organizations using social network analysis. Semistructured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders representing local formal and nonformal institutions involved in extensive livestock production. Results showed three distinct discourses among stakeholders related to profitability, conservation, and modernization. There was a strong consensus on the management strategies that should be promoted to support extensive livestock production and preserve the associated silvopastoral systems. Social networks revealed high cohesion and communication exchange and a low level of conflict among stakeholders, with few exceptions. The low influence of livestock producers on policy decision making largely hinders the development of participatory management schemes. Nevertheless, similarities among the visions and opinions of different institutions suggest that new possibilities might emerge for silvopastoral systems through the collaboration among the different socioeconomic sectors present in the area.