Intermediate harvesting intensities enhance native tree performance of contrasting species while conserving herbivore diversity in a Patagonian woodland

• Main Authors: Nacif, Marcos Ezequiel, Quintero, Carolina, Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021
• Subjects: Biodiversidad y Conservación; Ecología; Ciencias y Recursos Forestales; HARVESTING INTENSITY; ARTHROPOD HERBIVORY AND GUILD DIVERSITY; NATIVE TREE PLANTATION; NOTHOFAGUS SPP; AUSTROCEDRUS CHILENSIS; SUSTAINABLE WOODLAND MANAGEMENT; Argentina; Garibaldi; Marcos; Quintero; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://rid.unrn.edu.ar/handle/20.500.12049/7163; https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12049/7163; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112720314882?via%3Dihub; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118719

Fil: Nacif, Marcos E. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Nacif, Marcos E. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Quintero, Carolina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Quintero, Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas A. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas A. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Sustainable forest management should optimise the balance between tree productivity and biodiversity conservation. One strategy to achieve both is the use of native plantations in biomass extraction systems. However, it is unknown how different native tree species and their herbivores respond to a gradient of biomass extraction. In a Patagonian woodland, we planted six native tree species of high wood value and contrasting physiological traits, in plots with increasing harvesting intensities (HI: 0, 30, 50 or 70% of basal area removal), and measured herbivory rates, herbivore guild diversity, and sapling survival and growth. To understand whether herbivore diversity in non-planted wild species was affected by harvesting intensity, we performed the same herbivore measures in six wild woodland plant species. Herbivory rates and herbivore guild diversity showed similar responses to HI, being highest on saplings growing at 30% (N. dombeyi, N. antarctica, N. pumilio and N. alpina) or 30% and 50% (N. ...