INVESTIGADORES
CARRERA analia Lorena
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Effects of micro environmental conditions on grass and shrub seedling emergence in denuded areas of the arid Patagonian Monte, Argentina
Autor/es:
BOSCO T; BERTILLER, MB; CARRERA, AL
Lugar:
Madison
Reunión:
Conferencia; 5th World Conference on Ecological Restoration; 2013
Institución organizadora:
Society for Ecological Restoration (SER)
Resumen:
Our objective was to analyze the primary controls of seedling emergence of perennial grasses (Nassella tenuis and Poa ligularis) and evergreen shrubs (Larrea divaricata, Schinus johnstonii and Ariplex lampa) in denuded areas of arid ecosystems. We constructed microcosms (30 x 40 cm side, 28 cm depth) with intact soil extracted from denuded areas (> 2 m diameter) in six representative sites of the arid Patagonian Monte. We sow between 8 and 24 seeds of each species per microcosms and after sowing microcosms were subjected to the effects of levels of UV radiation (near-ambient and attenuated UV radiation), soil moisture (15-25% and 5-15% volumetric content), and litter cover and quality (without litter, low quality litter from disturbed and high quality litter from conserved plant patches. We evaluated the effects of these factors on seedling emergence of the target species during 3 month. Seedling emergence of perennial grasses had the highest values under conditions of high soil moisture and soil covered by high quality litter (p<0.001) and was not affected by levels of UV radiation. Emergence of shrub seedlings was lower (p<0.001) than that of perennial grasses and was not affected by studied factors, except that of A. lampa that was positively affected by near-ambient UV radiation under conditions of high soil moisture and low litter quality. We concluded that soil moisture and litter cover and quality were primary controls of seedling emergence of perennial grass in degraded arid areas. However these factors did not affect seedling emergence in shrubs.