Intraguild predation of weevils by livestock reduces acorn pests in oak silvopastoral systems

Canelo, Tara; Pérez-Izquierdo, Carlos; Gaytán, Álvaro; Bonal, Raúl

doi:10.1007/s10340-020-01278-8

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…They select their food depending on crude protein content and essential amino acids such as lysine, methionine, and tryptophan [23]. This sensory ability allows pigs to differentiate between acorn fruits from different oak trees [24].…”

Section: Nut Crops -New Insightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of Pork Meat Fed with Acorns (Quercus spp.)

Flores¹

2023

Nut Crops - New Insights

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Pork is one of the most popular foods in Chile. Consumers are concerned about their nutritional quality and about the characteristics of the production systems. Outdoor production systems are the most valued by consumers due to animal welfare conditions related to the nutritional quality of the product. On the other hand, intensive or traditional confined pig production systems represent an environment that alters the nutrients in meat products. For this reason, outdoor production systems become more important, especially when nuts (Quercus spp.) are included in pig feeding. Acorn nuts have a high level of fatty acids transferred to the meat, increasing flavor and juiciness. This proposal is a bibliographic review that will also include the advantage of controlling an invasive species, such as wild boar for a small producer in southern Chile, who could obtain a meat product with healthy fatty acids, favoring the sustainability of the ecosystem.

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Section: Nut Crops -New Insightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of Pork Meat Fed with Acorns (Quercus spp.)

Flores¹

2023

Nut Crops - New Insights

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“…birds), are among them (Diaz-Siefer et al, 2021;Garcia et al, 2021;Redlich et al, 2018;Zhu et al, 2019). However, for oak dehesas, we previously proposed a novel way of biological control based on livestock management (Canelo et al, 2021b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of livestock on arthropod biodiversity in Iberian Holm oak savannas revealed by metabarcoding

Canelo,

Marquina,

Chozas

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Increasing food production while avoiding negative impacts on biodiversity constitutes one of the main challenges of our time. Traditional silvopastoral systems like Iberian oak savannas (“dehesas”) set an example, where free-range livestock has been reared for centuries while preserving a high natural value. Nevertheless, factors decreasing productivity need to be addressed, one being acorn losses provoked by pest insects. An increased and focalized grazing by livestock on infested acorns would kill the larvae inside and decrease pest numbers, but increased livestock densities could have undesired side effects on ground arthropod communities as a whole. We designed an experimental setup including areas under trees with livestock exclosures of different ages along with controls, using DNA metabarcoding (mitochondrial markers COI and 16S) to rapidly assess arthropod communities’ composition. Livestock removal quickly increased grass cover and arthropod taxonomic richness and diversity, which was already higher in short-term (1-year exclosures) than beneath the canopies of control trees. Interestingly, arthropod diversity was not highest at long-term exclosures (≥10 years), although their community composition was the most distinct. The diversity peak at short term exclosures would support the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, which relates it with the higher microhabitat heterogeneity at moderately disturbed areas. Thus, we propose a rotatory livestock management in dehesas: plots with increased grazing should co-exist with temporal short-term exclosures. Ideally, a few long-term excluded areas should be also kept for the singularity of their arthropod communities. This strategy would make possible the combination of biological pest control and arthropod conservation in Iberian dehesas.

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“…Extensive livestock management can be aligned with conservation of dehesas, however, increased livestock density jeopardizes the sustainability of these systems [16]. When the number of domestic animals increases too much, acorn predation, lack of seed dispersal by rodents because of their lower density due to the elimination of their shelters (shrubs), and seedling trampling/predation may dramatically reduce natural tree regeneration [16,17]. In the long term, if regeneration of trees completely fails, dehesas could turn into pastures/grasslands with a consequent negative impact on biodiversity (e.g., ants in this study) [18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trees Increase Ant Species Richness and Change Community Composition in Iberian Oak Savannahs

et al. 2021

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Iberian man-made oak savannahs (so called dehesas) are traditional silvopastoral systems with a high natural value. Scattered trees provide shelter and additional food to livestock (cattle in our study sites), which also makes possible for animals depending on trees in a grass-dominated landscape to be present. We compared dehesas with nearby treeless grasslands to assess the effects of oaks on ant communities. Formica subrufa, a species associated with decayed wood, was by far the most abundant species, especially in savannahs. Taxa specialized in warm habitats were the most common both in dehesas and grasslands, as expected in areas with a Mediterranean climate. Within dehesas, the number of species was higher below oak canopies than outside tree cover. Compared to treeless grasslands, the presence of oaks resulted in a higher species richness of aphid-herding and predator ants, probably because trees offer shelter and resources to predators. The presence of oaks changed also the species composition, which differed between grasslands and dehesas. In self-standing scattered oaks, ant communities did not differ between the trunks and soil below canopies. These results stress the conservation value of trees in dehesas; within grasslands, they offer an additional microhabitat for species that would otherwise be scarce or absent.

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Intraguild predation of weevils by livestock reduces acorn pests in oak silvopastoral systems

Cited by 9 publications

References 72 publications

Quality of Pork Meat Fed with Acorns (Quercus spp.)

Quality of Pork Meat Fed with Acorns (Quercus spp.)

Effects of livestock on arthropod biodiversity in Iberian Holm oak savannas revealed by metabarcoding

Trees Increase Ant Species Richness and Change Community Composition in Iberian Oak Savannahs

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