How to Bloom the Green Desert: Eucalyptus Plantations and Native Forests in Uruguay beyond Black and White Perspectives

Abstract

The ongoing debate on the boon or bane of monocultural timber plantations demonstrates the need to develop alternative approaches that achieve forest productivity while conserving biodiversity. We assessed the diversity of tree species in native forests and in Eucalyptus plantations, and evaluated the potential use of native species to enhance plantation management. For this purpose, we established one-hectare permanent plots in nine native forests (riverine and park forests) and nine Eucalyptus plantations in the northwestern part of Uruguay. Forest inventories were carried out on 200 m2 plots and regeneration was assessed along transects in 9 m2 subplots. Riverine forests have the highest Shannon diversity index (2.5) followed by park forests (2.1) and Eucalyptus plantations (1.3). Tree density was high in riverine forests (1913/ha) and plantations (1315/ha), whereas park forests have lower tree density (796/ha). Regeneration density was high in riverine forests (39136/ha) and park forests (7500/ha); however, native species can regenerate in the understory of plantations (727/ha), and this underlines the possibility of developing a mixed species approach to reduce the negative impact of monocultures. Differences in the composition of plant communities were denoted between native forests and plantations, although native forests were similar in composition, even in the presence of exotic species. Native forests harbor specialist species that are absent from plantations, and therefore perform a decisive role in maintaining local biodiversity. Strategies to enhance species diversity and structural diversity within plantations or to establish mixed buffer strips containing native species at the edge of plantations are potential measures to enhance biodiversity and foster the integration of plantations into the local landscape.

Nurse species facilitate persistence of dry forests in agricultural landscapes in Uruguay

“…We characterized here, for the first time, a large number of park forests across Uruguay. The park forests analyzed are similar in species diversity (Figure 4b, c) and the values are comparable with results in another study that evaluated other park forests in northwestern Uruguay (Pozo & Säumel, 2018), but higher than those recorded in the 'espinillares' in Brazil (Watzlawick et al, 2010;Redin et al, 2011). Tree communities have a distinct species composition (Figure 4a).…”

“…Among them, the so-called park forests ('monte parque') are composed of native xerophilous trees growing in a dense herbaceous stratum shaped by cattle ranching. Quantitative studies in park forests are scarce (but see Bernardi et al, 2016;Pozo & Säumel, 2018).…”

“…Among them, the so‐called park forests (‘monte parque’) are composed of native xerophilous trees growing in a dense herbaceous stratum shaped by cattle ranching. Quantitative studies in park forests are scarce (but see Bernardi et al, 2016; Pozo & Säumel, 2018). Some qualitative studies have reported on the geographical variation in species composition denoting a high affinity with the Flora Paranaense and the seasonal dry forests of the Chaco and Espinal of central South America (Grela, 2004; Brussa & Grela, 2007).…”

Time dynamic climate impacts of a eucalyptus pulp product: Life cycle assessment including biogenic carbon and substitution effects

“…Irrespective of its controversial climate implications, cascading wood use can bring great benefits in terms of land use (Höglmeier et al, 2015; Sathre & Gustavsson, 2006; Suter et al, 2017). In fact, it is key to consider other impact categories apart from climate effects, such as water consumption (Ferraz et al, 2019) or biodiversity aspects (Pozo & Säumel, 2018) when assessing the environmental sustainability of a eucalyptus wood product system. Since only 8% of the managed forests in South America are under PEFC or FSC certification (Sikkema et al, 2017), there is an urgent need for scrutiny of environmental sustainability in LCA of the European wood supply (O’Sullivan et al, 2016).…”

Butterfly Conservation in China: From Science to Action

“…Over the past five decades, China has invested significant efforts in reforestation to compensate for the historical loss of forest resources [166,167]. Increasing forest cover versus maintaining biodiversity in reforested areas has been a debated topic in forest policy [168][169][170]. Monoculture of selected tree species is often a typical image in reforestation, especially in projects like sand-fixation and slope conservation in China [60].…”