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Silva TR, Rodrigues SB, Bringel JBDA, Sampaio AB, Sano EE, Vieira DLM. Factors affecting savanna and forest regeneration in pastures across the cerrado. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2023; 330:117185. [PMID: 36603271 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.117185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Revised: 12/26/2022] [Accepted: 12/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The Cerrado region comprises the world's most biodiverse savanna and the largest cultivated pastures for cattle in Brazil. Forty percent of these pastures are unproductive or degraded, with bare soil and native vegetation increasingly replacing exotic forage grasses. This study sought to investigate the regeneration of native vegetation in the pastures of the Cerrado and to evaluate the contribution of biophysical, land management, and landscape attributes to this process. Across the Cerrado, we analyzed pasture plant communities and the attributes of pasture management intensification, fire events, landscape native vegetation cover, and climate and soil types of 93 active pastures and 15 abandoned pastures. For the abandoned pastures, time since abandonment was an additional variable. On actively cultivated pastures, savanna regeneration varied from 0 to 70%, with a diversity of herbs and woody species. Pasture management was the main predictor of savanna regeneration on cultivated pastures. On abandoned pastures, time since abandonment was the main predictor. Exotic grass cover had a strong negative relationship with savanna regeneration and they were present even in pastures abandoned for 44 years. Our study reveals the potential of natural regeneration of the Cerrado and its particular predictors. The occurrence of pastures with high natural regeneration indicates that national policies can promote native vegetation restoration and silvopastoral systems with predictable, low cost implementation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamilis Rocha Silva
- Pós-Graduação Em Ciências Florestais, Universidade de Brasília, 70297-400, Brasília, DF, Brazil; Current Address: Agência de Cooperação Alemã (GIZ) at Embrapa Cerrados, 73301-970, Planaltina, DF, Brazil
| | | | | | - Alexandre Bonesso Sampaio
- Centro Nacional de Avaliação da Biodiversidade e de Pesquisa e Conservação Do Cerrado, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade - ICMBio, 70635-800, Brasília, DF, Brazil
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Aguilera MA, Rojas A, Bulleri F, Thiel M. Breakwaters as habitats for synanthropes: Spatial associations of vertebrates and vegetation with anthropogenic litter. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 862:160753. [PMID: 36513231 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 12/03/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Urban infrastructures can provide 'novel' habitats for marine and terrestrial animals and plants, enhancing their ability to adapt to urban environments. In particular, coastal infrastructures characterized by a complex three-dimensional morphology, such as breakwaters, could provide species refuges and food. We investigated the role of breakwaters in providing habitat for vertebrates and plants, and the influence of anthropogenic litter in regulating the value of these structures as habitat. We sampled vertebrate and plant species and quantified the amount of anthropogenic litter on breakwaters and adjacent rocky habitats at several sites in three different countries (Italy, Spain and Chile). We found breakwaters to accumulate more litter items (e.g. especially plastics) than adjacent rocky habitats by means of their large-scale (i.e., 1 m) structural complexity. Birds, which used the artificial infrastructure as transitory habitat, reached similar abundances in breakwaters compared with adjacent rocky platforms. In contrast, synanthropic mammal species, such as Rattus norvegicus and feral cats, were slightly more frequent on breakwaters and appeared to use them as permanent habitat. Plants were frequent in the upper zone of breakwaters and, even though many macrophyte species can trap litter, their cover correlated negatively with anthropogenic litter density. Therefore, breakwaters provide either transitory or permanent habitats for different species, despite functioning as a sink for anthropogenic litter. Thus, new infrastructure should be designed with lower structural complexity in their supralittoral zone limiting the proliferation of synanthropic species. In addition, restricting public access to sensitive areas and enforcing littering fines could enhance the ecological value of these novel habitats by reducing the benefits to pest species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moisés A Aguilera
- Departamento de Ciencias, Facultad de Artes Liberales, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Diagonal Las Torres, 2640 Peñalolén, Santiago, Chile.
| | - Ariel Rojas
- Departamento de Calidad y Laboratorio, Empresa AQUADEUS S.L. Crta. El ballestero, Km. 2, 02340 Robledo, Albacete, Spain
| | - Fabio Bulleri
- Dipartimento di Biologia, University of Pisa, CoNISMa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Martin Thiel
- Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad Católica del Norte, Larrondo, 1281 Coquimbo, Chile; Center for Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile; Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Coquimbo, Chile
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Hierro JL, Eren Ö, Čuda J, Meyerson LA. Evolution of increased competitive ability (
EICA
) may explain dominance of introduced species in ruderal communities. ECOL MONOGR 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- José L. Hierro
- Laboratorio de Ecología, Biogeografía y Evolución Vegetal (LEByEV) Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Ambientales de La Pampa (INCITAP), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)‐Universidad Nacional de La Pampa (UNLPam) Santa Rosa Argentina
- Departamento de Biología Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, UNLPam
| | - Özkan Eren
- Aydin Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi, Biyoloji Bölümü, Fen‐Edebiyat Fakültesi Aydın Turkey
| | - Jan Čuda
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany, Department of Invasion Ecology Průhonice Czech Republic
| | - Laura A. Meyerson
- The University of Rhode Island, Department of Natural Resources Science Kingston RI USA
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Non-native weed reaches community dominance under the canopy of dominant native tree. Biol Invasions 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10530-021-02538-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Chavana J, Singh S, Vazquez A, Christoffersen B, Racelis A, Kariyat RR. Local adaptation to continuous mowing makes the noxious weed Solanum elaeagnifolium a superweed candidate by improving fitness and defense traits. Sci Rep 2021; 11:6634. [PMID: 33758235 PMCID: PMC7988165 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-85789-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 03/02/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
The role of disturbance in accelerating weed growth is well understood. While most studies have focused on soil mediated disturbance, mowing can also impact weed traits. Using silverleaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium), a noxious and invasive weed, through a series of field, laboratory, and greenhouse experiments, we asked whether continuous mowing influences growth and plant defense traits, expressed via different avenues, and whether they cascade into offspring. We found that mowed plants produced significantly less number of fruits, and less number of total seeds per plant, but had higher seed mass, and germinated more and faster. When three herbivores were allowed to feed, tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) caterpillars, gained more mass on seedlings from unmowed plants, while cow pea aphid (Aphis craccivora), a generalist, established better on mowed seedlings; however, leaf trichome density was higher on unmowed seedlings, suggesting possible negative cross talk in defense traits. Texas potato beetle (Leptinotarsa texana), a co-evolved specialist on S. elaeagnifolium, did not show any differential feeding effects. We also found that specific root length, an indicator of nutrient acquisition, was significantly higher in first generation seedlings from mowed plants. Taken together, we show that mowing is a selective pressure that enhances some fitness and defense traits and can contribute to producing superweeds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesus Chavana
- Department of Biology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA
| | - Sukhman Singh
- Department of Biology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA
| | - Alejandro Vazquez
- Department of Biology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA
| | - Bradley Christoffersen
- Department of Biology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA
| | - Alexis Racelis
- Department of Biology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA
- School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA
| | - Rupesh R Kariyat
- Department of Biology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA.
- School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA.
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Machado MX, Castellani TT, de Sá Dechoum M. Integrating management techniques to restore subtropical forests invaded by
Hedychium coronarium
J. Köenig (Zingiberaceae) in a biodiversity hotspot. Restor Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/rec.13213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marcela Xavier Machado
- Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade Gerência Regional Sul, Rodovia Jornalista Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho, 700, 88053‐701 Florianópolis Brazil
- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, s/n, Córrego Grande, 88040‐900 Florianópolis Brazil
| | - Tânia Tarabini Castellani
- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, s/n, Córrego Grande, 88040‐900 Florianópolis Brazil
- Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, s/n, Córrego Grande, 88040‐900 Florianópolis Brazil
| | - Michele de Sá Dechoum
- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, s/n, Córrego Grande, 88040‐900 Florianópolis Brazil
- Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, s/n, Córrego Grande, 88040‐900 Florianópolis Brazil
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Liedtke R, Barros A, Essl F, Lembrechts JJ, Wedegärtner REM, Pauchard A, Dullinger S. Hiking trails as conduits for the spread of non-native species in mountain areas. Biol Invasions 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10530-019-02165-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
AbstractRoadsides are major pathways of plant invasions in mountain regions. However, the increasing importance of tourism may also turn hiking trails into conduits of non-native plant spread to remote mountain landscapes. Here, we evaluated the importance of such trails for plant invasion in five protected mountain areas of southern central Chile. We therefore sampled native and non-native species along 17 trails and in the adjacent undisturbed vegetation. We analyzed whether the number and cover of non-native species in local plant assemblages is related to distance to trail and a number of additional variables that characterize the abiotic and biotic environment as well as the usage of the trail. We found that non-native species at higher elevations are a subset of the lowland source pool and that their number and cover decreases with increasing elevation and with distance to trails, although this latter variable only explained 4–8% of the variation in the data. In addition, non-native richness and cover were positively correlated with signs of livestock presence but negatively with the presence of intact forest vegetation. These results suggest that, at least in the region studied, hiking trails have indeed fostered non-native species spread to higher elevations, although less efficiently than roadsides. As a corollary, appropriate planning and management of trails could become increasingly important to control plant invasions into mountains in a world which is warming and where visitation and recreational use of mountainous areas is expected to increase.
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