Biodiversity and ecological long-term plots in Southern Patagonia to support sustainable land management: The case of PEBANPA network.

PL PERI; MV LENCINAS; J BOUSSON; R LASAGNO; R SOLER ESTEBAN; HA BAHAMONDE; G MARTÍNEZ PASTUR

JOURNAL FOR NATURE CONSERVATION

ELSEVIER GMBH

Año: 2016 vol. 34 p. 51 - 64

1617-1381

Historically, interactions and trends between ecosystem services (ES) and land use practices in southern Patagonia (Argentina) have been largely undocumented and poorly understood. Since 2002, 1,350 permanent and semi-permanent plots within the PEBANPA (Parcelas de Ecología y Biodiversidad de Ambientes Naturales en Patagonia Austral) network have enabled researchers to monitor and produce studies describing trends and interactions among ES, biodiversity and land use practices. Long-term monitoring of biodiversity, rangeland health, silvopastoral systems, soil physicochemical characteristics, and soil carbon stocks will help scientists and decision makers better understand conditions and relationships between ecosystems and land management. The PEBANPA network can serve as a tool for decision makers and stakeholders to adopt sustainable land management practices. This long-term monitoring network has identified particular stresses in different natural ecosystems and detected warnings of environmental changes in Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Native forests and the Patagonian steppe (grasslands and shrubs) support livestock grazing, silvopastoral systems and timber harvesting activities throughout the region. Livestock and forestry production have caused changes in the original floristic patterns with several areas experiencing desertification. Compared with the most ideal rangeland health index score of 130, areas including central plateau (value of the index??=2), mata negra (Mulguraea tridens (Lag.) N. O?Leary & P. Peralta 2009) thicket (12) and shrub steppe Golfo San Jorge (16) scored the lowest, possessing the most severely impacted rangelands of the region and stressing the significant need to adopt sustainable management practices. Utilizing plots within the PEBANPA network, scientists were able to conclude that medium grazing intensities yield the most positive impacts for biodiversity and soil physicochemical characteristics. Studies regarding levels of seedling and sapling regeneration post-harvest of timber further supported the importance of long-term monitoring due to the strongest evidence of interactions occurring 20 to 30 years after harvest.