Ecosystem process interactions between central Chilean habitats
Understanding ecosystem processes is vital for developing dynamic adaptive management of human-dominated landscapes. We focus on conservation and management of the central Chilean silvopastoral savanna habitat called “espinal”, which often occurs near matorral, a shrub habitat. Although matorral, es...
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doaj-31002afb06d5489aaec20a62ebff92212020-11-25T00:21:00ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942015-01-013C77678810.1016/j.gecco.2015.04.007Ecosystem process interactions between central Chilean habitatsMeredith Root-Bernstein0Fabián M. Jaksic1Department of Ecology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, ChileDepartment of Ecology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, ChileUnderstanding ecosystem processes is vital for developing dynamic adaptive management of human-dominated landscapes. We focus on conservation and management of the central Chilean silvopastoral savanna habitat called “espinal”, which often occurs near matorral, a shrub habitat. Although matorral, espinal and native sclerophyllous forest are linked successionally, they are not jointly managed and conserved. Management goals in “espinal” include increasing woody cover, particularly of the dominant tree Acacia caven, improving herbaceous forage quality, and increasing soil fertility. We asked whether adjacent matorral areas contribute to espinal ecosystem processes related to the three main espinal management goals. We examined input and outcome ecosystem processes related to these goals in matorral and espinal with and without shrub understory. We found that matorral had the largest sets of inputs to ecosystem processes, and espinal with shrub understory had the largest sets of outcomes. Moreover, we found that these outcomes were broadly in the directions preferred by management goals. This supports our prediction that matorral acts as an ecosystem process bank for espinal. We recommend that management plans for landscape resilience consider espinal and matorral as a single landscape cover class that should be maintained as a dynamic mosaic. Joint management of espinal and matorral could create new management and policy opportunities.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989415000438Acacia cavenEcosystem processEspinalFunctional traitMatorralSilvopastoral system |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Meredith Root-Bernstein Fabián M. Jaksic |
spellingShingle |
Meredith Root-Bernstein Fabián M. Jaksic Ecosystem process interactions between central Chilean habitats Global Ecology and Conservation Acacia caven Ecosystem process Espinal Functional trait Matorral Silvopastoral system |
author_facet |
Meredith Root-Bernstein Fabián M. Jaksic |
author_sort |
Meredith Root-Bernstein |
title |
Ecosystem process interactions between central Chilean habitats |
title_short |
Ecosystem process interactions between central Chilean habitats |
title_full |
Ecosystem process interactions between central Chilean habitats |
title_fullStr |
Ecosystem process interactions between central Chilean habitats |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ecosystem process interactions between central Chilean habitats |
title_sort |
ecosystem process interactions between central chilean habitats |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Global Ecology and Conservation |
issn |
2351-9894 |
publishDate |
2015-01-01 |
description |
Understanding ecosystem processes is vital for developing dynamic adaptive management of human-dominated landscapes. We focus on conservation and management of the central Chilean silvopastoral savanna habitat called “espinal”, which often occurs near matorral, a shrub habitat. Although matorral, espinal and native sclerophyllous forest are linked successionally, they are not jointly managed and conserved. Management goals in “espinal” include increasing woody cover, particularly of the dominant tree Acacia caven, improving herbaceous forage quality, and increasing soil fertility. We asked whether adjacent matorral areas contribute to espinal ecosystem processes related to the three main espinal management goals. We examined input and outcome ecosystem processes related to these goals in matorral and espinal with and without shrub understory. We found that matorral had the largest sets of inputs to ecosystem processes, and espinal with shrub understory had the largest sets of outcomes. Moreover, we found that these outcomes were broadly in the directions preferred by management goals. This supports our prediction that matorral acts as an ecosystem process bank for espinal. We recommend that management plans for landscape resilience consider espinal and matorral as a single landscape cover class that should be maintained as a dynamic mosaic. Joint management of espinal and matorral could create new management and policy opportunities. |
topic |
Acacia caven Ecosystem process Espinal Functional trait Matorral Silvopastoral system |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989415000438 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT meredithrootbernstein ecosystemprocessinteractionsbetweencentralchileanhabitats AT fabianmjaksic ecosystemprocessinteractionsbetweencentralchileanhabitats |
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