Success of active restoration in grasslands: a case study of birds in southern Brazil

Silva, Thaiane Weinert da; Fontana, Carla Suertegaray

doi:10.1111/rec.13111

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In view of this, and considering the high proportion of degraded grasslands in the Brazilian Pampa biome in southeastern South America (SESA Grasslands; Azpiroz et al, 2012), we have compared the structure of bird communities of restoration sites with those of native grasslands. We found similarity in the species richness and composition between sites under passive restoration and sites in native grassland (Silva et al, 2019), but these variables differed between sites under active restoration and sites in native grassland (Silva and Fontana, 2020). These findings suggested that the similarities might be due to effects from fragments of native grassland in the surroundings of grassland under restoration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…We carried out the study at five restoration sites located in the Brazilian Pampa grasslands, state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, which have been used in previous studies (Silva et al, 2019;Silva and Fontana, 2020; Supplementary Figure 1). This was the maximum number of restoration sites found after more than 6 months of search during previous study design.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All five sites had similar relief, soil types, and climates, besides a low cattle stocking rate (≤1 animal unit per ha). They were at least 2.5 km apart, and had a restoration time ranging from 5 to 35 years (the location map and details of each study site are in Silva et al, 2019 andFontana, 2020).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We surveyed birds in point counts of 5 min and a 100-m radius, totaling 50 point counts for all sites, all completed by TWS. The sampling occurred soon after sunrise on days of favorable weather (see Silva et al, 2019 andFontana, 2020 for details). The distance from the observer to the birds was measured with a rangefinder, and birds in flight were not considered.…”

Section: Bird Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Remnants of Native Vegetation Surrounding Do Not Affect the Diversity and Density of Birds in Brazilian Grassland-Restoration Sites

Silva

Fontana

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since in general the surrounding landscape influences the species diversity and abundance in fragments of native vegetation, an amount of native-vegetation cover nearby may also positively affect communities in restored areas, regardless of the sizes of individual habitat patches. We investigated for the first time whether the species richness, total abundance, and density of grassland birds in restoration sites are influenced by the amount of native grassland in the surrounding landscape in the Brazilian Pampa. We sampled birds by point counts in five restoration sites in the most representative area of grasslands in Brazil. We established an outer buffer zone with a 1 km-radius around the point-count areas in each site, and calculated the percentage of native grassland vegetation in the surrounding landscape. Bird species richness and abundance did not show a significant response to the amount of neighboring native grassland in restored areas. Individual analyses of the density of seven bird species associated to grassland also showed similar pattern. We believe the vegetation structure in these restoration sites may already been sufficiently re-established to provide necessary resources and a suitable habitat for the birds. Even so, we assume that previously existing landscape features were important for recovery of the vegetation structure, as continuous native grassland in the surroundings. Thus, we recommend consider the landscape context as an additional issue in studies dealing with conservation strategies for recovery of grasslands in Brazil.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bird Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Remnants of Native Vegetation Surrounding Do Not Affect the Diversity and Density of Birds in Brazilian Grassland-Restoration Sites

Silva

Fontana

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Image_1.tiff

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bird species responses to rangeland management in relation to their traits: Rio de la Plata Grasslands as a case study

Aldabe,

Morán‐López,

Soca

et al. 2023

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Areas used for livestock production and dominated by native grasses represent a unique opportunity to reconcile biodiversity conservation and livestock production. However, limited knowledge of individual species’ responses to rangeland management restricts our capacity to design grazing practices that favor endangered species and other priority birds. In this work, we applied Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC) to study individual species responses, as well as the influence of traits on such responses, to variables related to rangeland management using birds of the Rio de la Plata Grasslands as a case study. Based on presence–absence data collected in 454 paddocks across 46 ranches we inferred the response of 69 species considering imperfect detection. This degree of detail fills a major gap in rangeland management, as species‐level responses can be used to achieve targeted conservation goals other than maximizing richness or abundance. We found that artificial pastures had an overall negative impact on many bird species, whereas the presence of tussocks had a positive effect, including all threatened species. Grassland specialists were in general sensitive to grass height and tended to respond positively to tussocks but negatively to tree cover. Controlling grass height via adjustments in stocking rate can be a useful tool to favor grassland specialists. To favor a wide range of bird species in ranches, a mosaic of short and tall native grasslands with patches of tussocks and trees is desirable. We also found that species‐specific responses were modulated by their traits: small‐sized birds responded positively to tussocks and tree cover while large species responded negatively to increasing grass height. Ground foragers preferred short grass while birds that scarcely use this stratum were not affected by grass height. Results on the influence of traits on bird responses are an important novelty in relation to previous work in rangelands and potentially increase our predicting capacity and model transferability across grassland regions.

show abstract

Success of active restoration in grasslands: a case study of birds in southern Brazil

Cited by 9 publications

References 45 publications

Remnants of Native Vegetation Surrounding Do Not Affect the Diversity and Density of Birds in Brazilian Grassland-Restoration Sites

Remnants of Native Vegetation Surrounding Do Not Affect the Diversity and Density of Birds in Brazilian Grassland-Restoration Sites

Image_1.tiff

Bird species responses to rangeland management in relation to their traits: Rio de la Plata Grasslands as a case study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About