Diseño de sistemas forestales multifuncionales en Patagonia Norte

GARIBALDI, LUCAS A.; AGÜERO, JUAN IGNACIO; GOLDENBERG, MATÍAS G.; MARCOS EZEQUIEL NACIF; PAULA ZERMOGLIO; MARIANO AMOROSO; ALEJANDRO APARICIO; NATALIA FERNÁNDEZ; FACUNDO FIORONI; MICAELA GAMBINO; SANTIAGO NAÓN; FACUNDO ODDI; MARIO PASTORINO; JAVIER PUNTIERI

Bariloche

Congreso; Reunión Argentina de Ecología; 2023

Asociación Argentina de Ecología

Multifunctional landscapes provide a sustainable source of high-quality food, while also preserving other nature's contributions to people (NCPs) that are vital for a good quality of life. Although this concept has been extensively discussed in the context of herbaceous plants and agricultural systems, its application to native forest management remains unclear. In Argentine northern Patagonia, native forests are often perceived to have a low productive value, leading to their deforestation for livestock ranching, urbanization or eventual intensive crops, among the main activities. In this study, we evaluate the impacts of canopy opening intensity (OI) on nine NCPs, including habitat creation and maintenance, pollination, formation and protection of soils, regulation of hazards and extreme events, prevention of biological invasions, provision of energy, food, and materials, and maintenance of options. We propose a perspective article that summarizes the results of ten years of research in permanent experimental plots in three sites of contrasting productivity, integrates these results with other related studies, and discusses viewpoints and future directions. Overall, we found that the prevention of biological invasions was maximized with null OI, but the provision of energy was maximized at the highest level of OI. The remaining seven NCPs were maximized at intermediate levels of OI. For these seven NCPs, the optimal level of OI increased with site productivity. In particular, in highly productive sites, 50% OI allows for a good balance between material provisioning (biomass, timber, native fruits) and regulating NCPs. Our results show that some biomass extraction is necessary to enhance most NCPs, which suggests that best management schemes would be those that balance material provisioning and biodiversity conservation. We propose future directions for the design of multifunctional forest systems based on low density cultivation of native forestry species within the natural forest matrix that may provide higher levels of NCPs over time than the regular, currently used cattle breeding system. As livestock breeding has been the productive system associated with the colonization of many forest ecosystems in the new world, our discussion should be relevant elsewhere.