IFEVA   02662
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES FISIOLOGICAS Y ECOLOGICAS VINCULADAS A LA AGRICULTURA
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Passive restoration in arid lands: implications for functional connectivity on small mobile organisms
Autor/es:
SPIRITO FLORENCIA; TABENI, SOLANA
Reunión:
Congreso; IV Congreso Iberoamericano y del Caribe de Restauración Ecológica; 2015
Resumen:
The structure of habitat resulting after a restorative action determines the flow of resources and connectivity, ensuring over time the restoration of key functions for ecosystem maintenance. This aspect is rarely addressed from the perception of mobile organisms, such as small mammals. These are key to ensure the re-establishment of functions to connect different or similar types of resource patches. We explored how a management action - passive restoration in the Monte Desert of Argentina - influenced the development of vegetation structure and the movement pattern of native wildlife compared to grazing land use. We evaluated animal movement by fitting radio-collar transmitters to adults of Graomys griseoflavus. We tracked animals every two hours for ten consecutive days. We sampled vegetation using line intercept with two 5-m transects in a cross configuration centered in locations of G. griseoflavus. Under restoration we found higher structural connectivity, expressed by larger vegetation patch size and smaller inter-spaces of bare ground. Animal movement was characterized by a combination of longer step-length (25.43 ± 3.71) and greater median area used (3099.69 m2) under restoration compared to grazing areas (step length: 9.91±3.17; median area used: 992.45 m2). During their movement in the restored condition, small mammals selected patches with high cover of forage species and avoided open spaces. We suggest that this movement pattern results in higher functional connectivity under long-term recovery. We describe the benefits of considering the wildlife perception of structural changes in increasing our holistic understanding of restored landscapes.