A classification scheme of states and transitions for subantarctic ñire forest

HUERTAS HERRERA, ALEJANDRO; PERI, PABLO; SOLER, ROSINA; TORO MANRÍQUEZ, MÓNICA; LENCINAS, MARÍA VANESSA; ANDERSON, CHRISTOPHER; PIZARRO, J.C; CELLINI, J.M. ; ROSAS, M.Y; BENÍTEZ, J.; LORENZO, CRISTIAN; LÓPEZ, M.E; SOLA, F; MARTÍNEZ PASTUR, G

Temuco

Congreso; First IUFRO Landscape Ecology Latin-American Congress and Second IALE Latin-American Congress; 2016

International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). International Association of Landscape Ecology (IALE). Universidad de la Frontera, Chile. Universidad Católica de Temuco, Chile

State-transition models (S&TM) provide a powerful decision-analytic tool because they describe ecosystemdynamics in the context of landscape ecology, but also elucidate unwanted (sometimes irreversible) transition changes between states due to natural and human disturbances. The interest in this tool has increased in productive systems (e.g., forestry, silvopastoril) because it allows the identification of thresholds and therefore helps managers to decide the feasibility of implementing specific strategies. Nevertheless, in practice, it is not easy to structure the best S&TM because the many scenarios that can be defined at different spatial scales. The aim of this work is to provide consensus for the application of S&TM in Tierra del Fuego?s ñire(Nothofagusantarctica) forestsat landscape level. We used disturbance intensity values (low, medium and high) of several drivers of forest change (DFC) to build a comprehensive classification diagram of possible scenarios. This diagram groups sets of S&TM that include ñireforests´ natural development phases (regeneration, initial and final optimal growth, and break down). Then, to define priority S&TM and DFC, we conducted discussions with stakeholders related to native forest management in southern Patagonia (scientists, decision makers, government, producers, technicians), and validated the proposal through participatory workshops and fieldwork to verifydifferent situations (states). As a result,five main drivers of changewere recognized by consensus: harvesting, livestock, fire, pathogens and wind-throw. This process also defined 10 states (e.g., open grassland with permanent weeds), 8 irreversible transitions and more than 20 possible combinations between developmental phases and DFC. Implementation of S&TM as an instrument for landscape planning would allow delineating the relationships between drivers of environmental change and native forest management. Furthermore, our work aims to establish this new paradigm as a way to produce a unified classification of forest units (or types)to address and guide future field studies in the world?s southernmost forests.