Growth and mortality patterns of the Neotropical bracken (Pteridium arachnoideum) and their response to shading in a savanna–riparian forest transition

Xavier, Rafael de Oliveira; Dodonov, Pavel; Matos, Dalva Maria da Silva

doi:10.1016/j.flora.2019.02.005

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…We monitored for six years the variation in the size of patches dominated by P. arachnoideum in a Neotropical savanna-riparian forest transition protected from disturbances in South-eastern Brazil, in order to determine whether (1) Pteridum arachnoideum patches would enlarge, thus overthrowing the surrounding vegetation; (2) the patches would remain stable during the study period, indicating that this species is in equilibrium with the surrounding communities; or (3) the patches would diminish, being replaced by the surrounding vegetation. Degeneration of Pteridum patches has been identified at a time scale of decades (Marrs & Hicks 1986;Marrs & Watt 2006), and the growth of P. arachnoideum has been shown to be negatively affected by shading (Xavier et al 2019). Accordingly, we expected that the patches would remain stable during the study period, corroborating with the definition of P. arachoideum as a native species that only becomes dominant under specific conditions.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…Here, for practical reasons, we adopted the classification of P. arachnoideum at species level. P. arachnoideum is a rhizomatosous and perennial species, with fronds (ramets) reaching up to 3-4 m in height and with a leaf morphology clearly different from the northern bracken fern P. aquilinum (Thomson 2012;Xavier et al 2019).…”

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). Data on ramet density, biomass production and ramet growth in some of these sites were obtained in previous studies (Silva Matos et al 2014;Xavier et al 2016Xavier et al , 2019. These patches are characterized by a nearly continuous P. arachnoideum cover; however, they also contain native tree species, albeit with a lower diversity than adjacent non-invaded areas (Fig.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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Temporal dynamics of the superdominant bracken fern Pteridium arachnoideum in Neotropical savanna-riparian forest transitions

Dodonov,

Xavier,

Matos

2023

Rodriguésia

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Clonal growth can be especially advantageous in spatially heterogeneous environments and some clonal plants are highly invasive or superdominant, especially in disturbed environments. However, their temporal dynamics in the absence of large disturbances are not well known. We assessed whether patches dominated by the native bracken fern Pteridium arachnoideum expanded or retracted in area over six years. We mapped the contour of eight patches occupied by P. arachnoideum in a savanna-forest transition every two years from 2009 to 2015. The area occupied by most patches was overall stable, indicating that forested patch boundaries may be unsuitable for an effective vegetative spread of P. arachnoideum. One patch fully retracted during the study period, possibly due to extensive herbivory by leafcutter ants. Thus, although clonal foraging may enable the spread of the species to more suitable sites from these patches, these results indicate that P. arachnoideum does not represent a threat to the biodiversity of savanna-riparian forest transitions in the absence of extensive disturbances, as the area of the largest patches remained stable or decreased during our study. These findings highlight that specific characteristics of the local disturbance regime may be key to the cost-effective management of some superdominant native species.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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Temporal dynamics of the superdominant bracken fern Pteridium arachnoideum in Neotropical savanna-riparian forest transitions

Dodonov,

Xavier,

Matos

2023

Rodriguésia

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“…Herbivory by these insects is common in disturbed environments (Wirth et al, 2007) and also affects other Cerrado species (Costa et al, 2008). However, leaf-cutting ants often show preference for more palatable plants (Farji-Brener, 2001), and a previous study reported that leaf-cutting ants could have led to a high mortality of newly emergent fronds and hence contribute to the retraction of P. arachnoideum dominated patches (Xavier et al, 2019). The effect of leaf-cutting ants on the biomass after fire may be an additive effect worth of further research, as it could enhance our comprehension about the dominance of P. arachnoideum in tropical grassland landscapes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire has short-term negative effects on a super-dominant native fern, Pteridium arachnoideum (Dennstaedtiaceae), in a Brazilian savanna

Tiberio¹,

Xavier²,

Dodonov³

et al. 2022

Nat. Conserv. Res.

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Although fire occurrence plays a central role in the dominance of the super-dominant bracken fern Pteridium arachnoideum in Neotropical forests, it is unclear whether this applies to the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado), which vegetation is naturally adapted to fire. We assessed fire effects on the aboveground biomass of P. arachnoideum in the Cerrado Ecological Reserve in Central Brazil. We measured frond height, density, standing biomass, and litter biomass before and for two years following a prescribed fire, and also sampled a control site to control for other mortality events and for seasonal variation. The average P. arachnoideum frond height and aboveground biomass decreased over three times in the burnt site 18 months after the fire. The frond density decreased both in the burnt and control site, indicating that this may have been caused in another way than by fire. Conversely, litter biomass decreased shortly after the fire in the burnt site, but returned to pre-fire levels in one year. Possible explanations for the lasting negative effects of fire on the height and biomass of P. arachnoideum include the implementation of the prescribed fire early in the dry season, which likely limited immediate clonal regrowth, and the herbivory by leaf-cutting ants. Nevertheless, the effective clonal growth of P. arachnoideum apparently precluded the fire from having stronger effects and hence this species was not excluded from the site. We conclude that direct and indirect fire effects may cause the decline of P. arachnoideum in Cerrado, so that prescribed fires may be applied as a management strategy in Cerrado sites where this species is super-dominant, ideally in combination with other control measures.

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“…The attack by leaf-cutting ants was another serious mortality problem in the riparian forest, however, in general, the forest species had an efficient regeneration. Xavier et al (2019) also had problems with leaf-cutting ants in forest planting, the authors suggested the introduction of forest species diversity to minimize the impacts of ants in highly degraded ecosystems. However, several authors have found positive effects of ants for the transport of nutrients in forest soil (Madureira et al 2013, thus the extermination of ants is not the best option to eliminate the problem (Alvarez-Loayza and Terborgh 2011), rather a solution may be to carry out effective management with biological control (Roos et al 2011), as some species of ants, even the leaf-cutting, have a fundamental role in improving soil fertility (Farji-Brener and Werenkraut 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of sand mining: A case study of initial growth of forest species for recovery of degraded areas

Zanon

Silva

et al. 2021

Bosque (Valdivia)

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The Vale do Ribeira region has a large extension of Brazilian Atlantic Forest, and in most cities, low environmental impact activities predominate, such as sand mining. Sand mining has been trying to adapt their industrial activities to low environmental impact, aiming at the protection of permanent preservation areas (PPAs) of riparian forests. The objective of this work was to conduct a case study focused on monitoring and initial growth of forest species by 18 months. This study was performed in a riparian forest site on the Ribeira de Iguape River, Registro, state of São Paulo, Brazil, in a PPA with extraction of river bed sand. Forest species height, stem diameter and mortality index, and rainfall were evaluated in the period. Non-pioneer species accounted for 42.7 % of the forest, while pioneer species accounted for 53.1 %. These proportions are in accordance with local legislation, which establishes a lower limit of 40 % in planting for both groups. Drought periods and leaf-cutting ants at the beginning of growth stages contributed to a higher mortality index and irregular development of some species, however, even during such adversities, forest species indicated resistance to these conditions. Pioneer species had more important development, with emphasis on Senna multijuga, Alchornea triplinervia, Citharexylum myrianthum and Trema micranta, these species must be taken into consideration during the first stages of a project which aims at recovering degraded areas in riparian forests of Atlantic Forest.

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Growth and mortality patterns of the Neotropical bracken (Pteridium arachnoideum) and their response to shading in a savanna–riparian forest transition

Cited by 9 publications

References 54 publications

Temporal dynamics of the superdominant bracken fern Pteridium arachnoideum in Neotropical savanna-riparian forest transitions

Temporal dynamics of the superdominant bracken fern Pteridium arachnoideum in Neotropical savanna-riparian forest transitions

Fire has short-term negative effects on a super-dominant native fern, Pteridium arachnoideum (Dennstaedtiaceae), in a Brazilian savanna

Impact of sand mining: A case study of initial growth of forest species for recovery of degraded areas

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