A woody plant community and tree-cacti associations change with distance to a water source in a dry Chaco forest of Argentina
Carolina B. Trigo A B E , Andrés Tálamo A B , Mauricio M. Núñez-Regueiro C , Enrique J. Derlindati A , Gustavo A. Marás A , Alicia H. Barchuk D and Antonio Palavecino A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Avda. Bolivia 5150, Salta, Argentina.
B Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA (IBIGEO), Universidad Nacional de Salta, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Mendoza 2, Salta, Argentina.
C School of Natural Resources and the Environment and Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32601, USA.
D Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Ing Agr. Felix Aldo Marrone 746 – Ciudad Universitaria, Córdoba, Argentina.
E Corresponding author. Email: carolinatrigo88@gmail.com
The Rangeland Journal 39(1) 15-23 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ16014
Submitted: 12 February 2016 Accepted: 21 November 2016 Published: 5 January 2017
Abstract
In semiarid regions, livestock is concentrated around water sources generating a piosphere pattern (gradients of woody vegetation degradation with increasing proximity to water). Close to the water source, livestock may affect the composition, structure and regeneration strategies of woody vegetation. We used the proximity from a water source as a proxy of grazing pressure. Our objectives were (1) to compare woody vegetation attributes (richness, diversity, species composition, density and basal area) and ground cover between sites at two distances to a water source: near (higher grazing pressure) and far from the water source (lower grazing pressure), and (2) to quantify and compare cases of spatial association among the columnar cacti Stetsonia coryne (Salm-Dyck) Britton and Rose (Cactaceae), and the dominant tree Bulnesia sarmientoi Lorentz ex Griseb. (Zygophyllaceae). We used a paired design with eight pairs of rectangular plots distributed along a large and representative natural water source. We found lower total species richness, plant density and soil cover near than far from water source, and more cases of spatial associations between the two species studied. Our results show evidence of increased livestock impacts around water sources. However, we found no difference in terms of species composition or basal area at near versus far sites. We conclude that grazing pressure might be changing some attributes of the woody plant community, and that the association of young trees with thorny plants (grazing refuge) could be a regeneration mechanism in this semiarid forest with high grazing pressure.
Additional keywords: grazing pressure, regeneration, water resource.
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