Rehabilitation of degraded areas in northeastern Patagonia, Argentina: Effects of environmental conditions and plant functional traits on performance of native woody species

Abstract

Degradation processes affect a vast area of arid and semi-arid lands around the world and damage the environment and people′s health. Degradation processes are driven by human productive activities that cause direct and indirect effects on natural resources, such as species extinction at regional scale, reduction and elimination of vegetation cover, soil erosion, etc. In this context, ecological rehabilitation is an important tool to recover key aspects of the degraded ecosystem. Rehabilitation trials rely on the use of native plant species with characteristics that allow them to obtain high survival and growth rates. The aim of this work was to assess the survival and growth of native woody species in degraded areas of northeastern Patagonia and relate them to plant functional traits and environmental variables. We observed high early and late survival rates, and growth rates in Prosopis flexuosa DC. var. depressa F.A. Roig and Schinus johnstonii F.A. Barkley, and low values in Condalia microphylla Cav. and Geoffroea decorticans (Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.) Burkart. Early survival rates were positively associated with specific leaf area (SLA) and precipitation, but negatively associated with wood density, the maximum mean temperature of the warmest month and the minimum mean temperature of the coldest month. Late survival rates were positively associated with SLA and soil organic matter, but negatively associated with plant height and precipitation. The temperature had a positive effect on late survival rates once the plants overcame the critical period of the first summer after they were transplanted to the field. Prosopis flexuosa and S. johnstonii were the most successful species in our study. This could be due to their functional traits that allow these species to acclimatize to the local environment. Further research should focus on C. microphylla and G. decorticans to determine how they relate to productive conditions, acclimation to environmental stress, auto-ecology and potential use in ecological rehabilitation trials.

Rehabilitación ecológica en el noreste patagónico: Supervivencia y reclutamiento de especies nativas en suelos con diferentes texturas

“…En estudios previos se seleccionaron tres sitios para desarrollar tareas de rehabilitación ecológica y se determinaron sus características edáficas (Zeberio et al 2018;Zeberio and Pérez 2020). El presente estudio se llevó adelante en esos tres sitios, que poseen características edáficas diferentes, pero una historia de uso común.…”

“…Estudios previos a este trabajo evaluaron los remanentes de vegetación nativa del Monte en el área de estudio y determinaron las especies más frecuentes (Torres Robles et al 2015;Zeberio et al 2018;Zeberio and Pérez 2020). Esas especies se usaron para las tareas de rehabilitación ecológica, dado que se corroboró su ausencia en los sitios de ensayos (Zeberio 2018).…”

“…Características edáficas de los sitios donde se desarrollaron los ensayos de rehabilitación ecológica(Zeberio 2018;Zeberio and Pérez 2020). CE: Conductividad eléctrica (dS/m).…”

“…Prof.: profundidad (m). Trial rehabilitation soil sites characteristics(Zeberio 2018;Zeberio and Pérez 2020). CE: electrical conductivity (dS/m).…”

Plant cover as an estimator of above-ground biomass in semi-arid woody vegetation in Northeast Patagonia, Argentina

“…In dry ecosystems, tree cover and shrub cover are closely related to carbon storage, and their spatio-temporal features are strongly dependent on climate, soil, herbivory, wildfire frequency, and land-use change (Sankarán et al, 2005;Torres Robles et al, 2015;Zeberio and Pérez, 2020). Field estimation of biomass vegetation in arid and semi-arid regions is usually more difficult than it is in temperate forest regions due to the lack of classical tools such as national forest inventories and the standardized biomass equations available for trees (Le Polain de Waroux and Lambin, 2012).…”