Restoration of overgrazed areas in the semi-arid Chaco (Argentina): studying germination requirements to grow nurse plants

DALMASSO ANTONIO; BASKIN CAROL; TÁLAMO ANDRÉS; MARTÍNEZ-GÁLVEZ FERNANDA; ALAUIE EMILIANO; CROCE JOHANNA

Conferencia; VII World Conference on Ecological Restoration. V Congreso Iberoamericano y del Caribe de Restauración Ecológica; 2017

Among the dry forests of Latin America, the Chaco has the largest extent of continuous forests People in the Chaco live by using traditional livestock management in ?puestos? (groups of houses, farmyards and arti cial water sources) Overgrazing causes vegetation loss and soil compaction generating areas without vegetation cover Reintroducing thorny or non-palatable plants is useful as a starting point to create fertility islands, these potential nurse plants protect plants from grazing and improve natural regeneration However, there is no information about the dormancy-breaking and germination requirements of Chaco plants In order to raise new nurse plants for restoration programs in the Chaco, we studied the germination requirements of ve woody species: Castela coccinea, Celtis ehrenbergiana, Anisocapparis speciosa, Sarcotoxicum salicifolium, and Capparicordis twediana Germination of each species was tested at 25°C in light (12hr light/12hr darkness) and in continuous darkness (Petri dishes cov- ered with aluminum foil) A seed germinated if it had a 2 mm radicle, and a species was dormant if their germination percentage is lower than 80 We found that seeds of A speciosa are not dormant, and those of C cocinea are not dormant in darkness Seeds of C ehrenbergiana, S salicifolium and C tweediana are dormant; therefore, to increase their germination percentages, we are performing a seed strati cation treatment The best candidates to introduce into the puestos are A speciosa and C cocinea (both can be easily propagated) This information is useful to grow potential nurse plants to restore the overgrazed areas in the semi-arid Chaco