A state-and-transition approach to alpine grasslands under abandonment

Targetti, Stefano; Staglianò, N.; Messeri, Alessandro; Argenti, Giovanni

doi:10.3832/ifor0525-003

Cited by 23 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…), especially in the southwest part of the region. In Comelico both shale-clay (siliceous) and calcareous-dolomite are represented (Targetti et al, 2010). More than 6000 and about 400 vegetation relevés were carried out in Piedmont and Comelico district, respectively.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The pasture-type approach for mountain pasture description and management

Argenti

Lombardi

2012

Ital J Agronomy

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The study of pastoral resources can take different approaches with the main goal of characterizing pasture vegetation and its potential carrying capacity. In recent times, the pasture-type approach has been developed in several Alpine areas -on a regional and on a district scale -starting from sward surveys carried out taking the approach formerly developed by the French pastoral school. The pasture-type approach may play an important role in defining the management of mountain and marginal environments where grazing pressure reduction remarkably affects the agro-ecosystems functions (production, landscape, wildlife, recreation, etc.). This approach is based on the concept of pasture type, which could be defined as a semi-natural vegetation (mainly exploited by grazing animals), rather homogeneous in terms of botanic composition and influenced by environmental factors and agro-pastoral management. This paper presents the pasture-type approach by discussing the results of two large studies carried out in two areas of the south side of the Alps (Piedmont and Veneto). In order to identify pasture types, the vegetation composition was assessed with a point quadrat method. It allowed the computation of speciesspecific contribution, and of sward forage value and carrying capacity, after a multivariate statistical procedure for type classification and ordination. The site conditions (altitude, slope, aspect) and other environmental variables were surveyed. Moreover, to characterize the pasture types from the point of view of the ecological and management factors affecting vegetation composition, the Landolt indicators were used. The results achieved in the two areas were synthesised and organised into reference technical tools with the aim of using the pasture-type approach for pastoral planning. For each study area an identification key to recognize pasture types was drafted, and a handbook containing the technical sheets for pasture type identification, description and management was published. The approach here described enhances the knowledge on mountain pastoral resources, laying the foundations for their conservative management.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are homogenous for vegetation composition and management potentiality, so they are the basic units of grazing management. They can be described by means of vegetation, ecological, productive, and soil parameters, and they are dynamically connected each other (Targetti et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The pasture-type approach for mountain pasture description and management

Argenti

Lombardi

2012

Ital J Agronomy

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“…Non sono stati effettuati rilievi in aree attribuite alla classe 4 in quanto, pur essendo stati identificati con l'indagine fotointerpretativa, tali settori non sono stati considerati di interesse pascolivo viste le loro caratteristiche strutturali e fisionomiche. Le indagini botaniche sono state eseguite con la metodologia fitopastorale consistente nell'effettuazione di transect lineari dal quale ottenere la presenza delle singole specie dove CS i è il contributo specifico della i-esima specie trovata lungo un transect lineare e IS i l'indice specifico della i-esima specie (Cavallero et al 2007, Targetti et al 2010. L'indice specifico è compreso tra 0 e 5 e viene impiegato per dare un giudizio di valore foraggero ad ogni specie erbacea sulla base delle sue principali caratteristiche quantitative e qualitative quali produttività, valore nutritivo, appetibilità e digeribilità (Cavallero et al 2002, Roggero et al 2002.…”

Section: Materiali E Metodiunclassified

Assessment of pastoral resources at a landscape scale: a case study in the Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e Campigna (AR, Italy)

Argenti¹,

Ceccarelli²,

Ghione³

et al. 2012

Forest@

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IntroduzioneLo studio delle risorse pastorali può essere affrontato secondo differenti approcci, anche se l'aspetto più comune è quello di ottenere indicazioni gestionali, in modo da determinare per l'area pascoliva in esame la capacità di carico, ossia il numero massimo di animali che possono insistere su una certa superficie per un certo periodo di tempo senza degradazione della risorsa (Allen et al. 2011). Le metodiche messe a punto prevedono la determinazione di alcu- (AR, Italy). Investigations on pastoral resources are mainly represented by surveys aimed to assess the main characteristics of pastures in order to obtain useful information on the carrying capacity of a pastoral surface. At a territorial level, different approaches can be used, involving also remote sensing and use of geographical information systems. The study presented here has been carried out in a National Park in Tuscany, central Italy (Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e Campigna) on a pastoral surface of about 1500 ha, with the aim of evaluating the potential stocking rate in the studied area. The whole investigated territory was subdivided into three wide districts, and inside each of them a photointerpretation was performed to classify the occurring pastoral resources into different classes of quality, based on the percentage of ground covered by trees and shrubs encroaching the pastures. Inside each district and class of pasture, botanical relevés were conducted to assess the presence of different herbaceous species and to compute the pastoral value, a key parameter used to determine the potential stocking rate of a pastoral resource. Photointerpretation allowed an easy and efficient classification of different pastures in relation to shrubs encroachment and to quantify the surfaces occupied by each identified class. Vegetation assessment confirmed the accuracy of the followed method to rank pastures, in terms of presence of herbaceous species and of pastoral value, which resulted highly related to the presence of woody species in the pastures. Moreover, average pastoral value and carrying capacity of each quality category were very similar for all districts, thus demonstrating the validity of the utilized method and the representativeness of chosen areas.

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“…Decreases and seasonal variability in precipitation projected in the next future will thus have severe consequences on vegetation productivity and composition, with effects in annual and inter-annual yield variability (Engler et al, 2011). In addition, increases in temperatures coupled with reduced precipitations will likely alter pastoral vegetation quality (i.e., pastoral value), favouring the expan-sion of grassland dominated by xeric species, which are characterised by a very low forage value (Targetti et al, 2010;Dibari et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pastoral suitability driven by future climate change along the Apennines

et al. 2015

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This work aims at evaluating the impacts of climate change on pastoral resources located along the Apennines chain. To this end, random forest machine learning model was first calibrated for the present period and then applied to future conditions, as projected by HadCM3 general circulation model, in order to simulate possible spatial variation/shift of pastoral areas in two time slices (centred on 2050 and 2080) under A2 and B2 SRES scenarios. Pre-existent spatial database, namely Corine land cover map and WorldClim, were integrated and harmonised in a GIS environment in order to extract climate variables (mean seasonal precipitation, mean maximum temperature of the warmest month and minimum temperature of the coldest month) and response variables (presence/absence of pastures) to be used as model predictors. Random forest model resulted robust and coherent to simulate pastureland suitability under current climatology (classification accuracy error=19%). Accordingly, results indicated that increases in temperatures coupled with decreases in precipitation, as simulated by HadCM3 in the future, would have impacts of great concern on potential pasture distribution. In the specific, an overall decline of pasturelands suitability is predicted by the middle of the century in both A2 (-46%) and B2 (-41%) along the entire chain. However, despite alarming reductions in pastures suitability along the northern (-69% and -71% under A2 and B2 scenarios, respectively) and central Apennines (-90% under both scenarios) by the end of the century, expansions are predicted along the southern areas of the chain (+96% and +105% under A2 and B2 scenarios, respectively). This may be probably due to expansions in pastures dominated by xeric and thermophiles species, which will likely benefit from warmer and drier future conditions predicted in the southern zone of the chain by the HadCM3. Hence, the expected climate, coupled with an increasing abandonment of the traditional grazing practices, will likely threat grassland biodiversity as well as pastoral potential distribution currently dominating the Apennines chain.

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A state-and-transition approach to alpine grasslands under abandonment

Cited by 23 publications

References 19 publications

The pasture-type approach for mountain pasture description and management

The pasture-type approach for mountain pasture description and management

Assessment of pastoral resources at a landscape scale: a case study in the Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e Campigna (AR, Italy)

Pastoral suitability driven by future climate change along the Apennines

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