Landscape scales to evaluate conservation as a component of sustainable forest management: The case of Nothofagus pumilio forests in Tierra del Fuego.

MV LENCINAS; G MARTÍNEZ PASTUR; P PERI; CB ANDERSON; R SOLER ESTEBAN; JM CELLINI; M BARRERA; I GAMONDES MOYANO

Dunedin

Conferencia; VII Southern Connection Congress.; 2013

Southern Connection

At regional scale, large areas are preserved as natural reserves; at local scale, protection forests are left according to legal restrictions; and at stand scale, variable retention systems are used to improve conservation. This work evaluates the conservation effectiveness at different landscape scales, using Nothofagus pumilio forests (NPF) as a study case. There were used 535 vascular plant surveys (richness and cover) as conservation status indicator in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina), which were analysed using multivariate techniques. At regional scale, NPF plant diversity differed along landscape, where natural reserves are deficient for a regional conservation. At local scale, NPF differed from associated environments, where their preservation does not ensure full conservation. At stand level, aggregates better conserved plant communities than dispersed retention, retaining more structural micro-environmental components of the primary forests. Conservation programs to achieve sustainable NPF management must include different landscape scales, since differences were observed among scales.