CADIC   02618
CENTRO AUSTRAL DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Landscape ecological approaches applied to forest management in South Patagonia.
Autor/es:
R SOLER ESTEBAN; G MARTÍNEZ PASTUR; MV LENCINAS
Lugar:
Portland
Reunión:
Simposio; US-IALE Symposium; 2011
Institución organizadora:
US IALE
Resumen:
Productive human activities (e.g., harvesting and livestock) produce environmental changes, increasing the heterogeneity at the landscape level. This modifies biological and ecological processes. To attain a sustainable forest management it was requires knowledge of key aspects of these processes. Our work aims to understand the changes that occur at the landscape due to logging and cattle grazing in Nothofagus forests at southern Patagonia. During the last 3 years we studied flowering and seeding patterns, natural regeneration and understory dynamics, in primary forests, harvested and silvopastoral stands of Nothofagus antarctica (ñire) and N. pumilio (lenga). Since 2008 we used traps to collect flowers and seeds, monitor regeneration permanent plots and understory transects. Also, we made indirect estimation of landscape uses by native (Lama guanicoe) and domestic herbivores (cattle and sheep) through the study of diet composition. Flowering and seeding was influenced by management and years, but also by their landscape distribution. Recruitment was influenced by seed availability, but also for the management and the micro-environments inside the stand. Only the unmanaged stands showed exclusive native species in the understory, and silvicultural practices increased coverage and richness of exotic species (potential competition with seedlings of Nothofagus). However, some practices (e.g., aggregate retention) remain part of the heterogeneity of unmanaged stands, including the diversity of understory plant species. Finally, native and domestic herbivorous alternate the uses of different environments. Native species preferred N. pumilio forests, except in winter, where domestic species had major predominance. These ecological studies improve forest management aimed to conservation.