A contribution to the understanding of the woody encroachment in grasslands/savannas from the South American Semiarid Chaco
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.21.31.3.0.1615Keywords:
woody cover, shrub cover, herbaceous biomass, plant functional types, plant diversity, restoration, grazing intensity, fire frequencyAbstract
The grassland/savannas in the South American Semiarid Chaco have been massively transformed into shrubland. However, the ecology of this phenomenon is little known and restoration initiatives almost non-existent. We provide information about 1) the differences in plant structure and diversity along a woody encroachment gradient, and 2) the association among plant structural and functional attributes with environmental factors. We utilized 38 sample units and obtained tree and shrub cover, herbaceous biomass, species richness and composition of grasses and woody plants and several herbaceous functional types (mainly grasses). The environmental factors were historic grazing intensity and fire frequency. Related to item 1, we found: a) shrub cover was significant and progressively greater along the woody encroachment gradient and largely exceeded the tree cover, b) the herbaceous biomass was significantly smaller, with a high woody cover (x̄=89.7%), c) the grass species richness was maximum at intermediate levels of woody cover (x̄=39.3% and 64%), d) the dissimilarity in grass species composition was maximum between very low and high levels of woody cover (x̄=15.8% and 89.7%), and e) woody species richness and composition were uniform along the woody encroachment gradient. In relation to item 2, we observed: 1) the increase in historic grazing intensity was significant and strongly associated with the reduction of fire frequency, which, in turn, was significantly associated with the increase in tree and shrub cover and the decrease in herbaceous biomass, suggesting that overgrazing reduces or eliminates the grassland fires and promotes the woody encroachment, and 2) several grass functional types were significantly associated with the historic grazing intensity and fire frequency. Our results are useful both to anticipate the grassland/savannas responses to woody encroachment processes and to plan restoration and management strategies.
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