Conservation value of dispersed tree cover threatened by pasture management
Trees dispersed in pastures are a prominent feature of many Central American landscapes, particularly in cattle producing regions where farmers retain trees to serve as shade, fodder, timber and firewood. The presence of dispersed trees in pastures is often considered as important for the conservation of biodiver sity by providing habitat and enhancing landscape connectivity. However, despite their critical productive and environmental roles, little is known about tree distribution within pastures or how farmers’ man agement decisions influence the trees themselves and their impact on farm productivity and biodiversity conservation. Here, we present a synthesis of (a) the abundance, composition, and size of dispersed trees in four important cattle producing regions of Costa Rica (Canas and Río Frío) and Nicaragua (Rivas and ˇ Matiguás), based on inventory of 18,669 trees on 1492 ha of pasture, (b) the local knowledge, manage ment and use of trees by cattle farmers, and (c) opportunities for ensuring sustainable management of dispersed trees in pasture-dominated landscapes. Dispersed trees were common in all four landscapes, with mean frequency ranging from 8.0 trees ha−1 in Canas to 33.4 trees ha ˇ −1 in Matiguás. A total of 255 tree species were found in pastures across the four landscapes. The total number of tree species per land scape varied from 72 in Rivas to 101 in Canas and Rio Frio, with mean species richness per farm ranging ˇ from 22.9 in Rio Frio to 45.9 in Matiguás. In all four landscapes, a handful of tree species dominated the pastures, with the ten most abundant species in each landscape accounting for >70% of all trees recorded. Most of these common tree species provide fruits or foliage eaten by cattle, or are important timber or firewood species, and are deliberately retained by farmers for these uses. In all four landscapes, farmers had a detailed knowledge of tree attributes affecting pasture and animal productivity, and influenced tree cover through pasture management activities and occasional tree cutting. Current farm manage ment practices are gradually decreasing the diversity of trees in pastures, and in some cases also tree density, reducing their contribution to farm productivity and biodiversity conservation. To reverse this trend, incentives are required to encourage cattle farmers to retain and enhance tree cover in pastures, through the adoption of pasture management practices that favor the regeneration and persistence of a diverse range of tree species.
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 biblioteca |
Language: | eng |
Published: |
Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica
2011
|
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11056/22953 |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
id |
oai:https:--repositorio.una.ac.cr:11056-22953 |
---|---|
record_format |
koha |
spelling |
oai:https:--repositorio.una.ac.cr:11056-229532022-05-04T13:39:25Z Conservation value of dispersed tree cover threatened by pasture management Harvey, Celia A. Villanueva, Cristobal Esquivel, Humberto Gómez, Rene Ibrahim, Muhammad Lopez, Marlon Martinez, Jorge Diego, Muñoz Restrepo, Claudia Joel, Saénz Villacís, Jaime Sinclair, Fergus Trees dispersed in pastures are a prominent feature of many Central American landscapes, particularly in cattle producing regions where farmers retain trees to serve as shade, fodder, timber and firewood. The presence of dispersed trees in pastures is often considered as important for the conservation of biodiver sity by providing habitat and enhancing landscape connectivity. However, despite their critical productive and environmental roles, little is known about tree distribution within pastures or how farmers’ man agement decisions influence the trees themselves and their impact on farm productivity and biodiversity conservation. Here, we present a synthesis of (a) the abundance, composition, and size of dispersed trees in four important cattle producing regions of Costa Rica (Canas and Río Frío) and Nicaragua (Rivas and ˇ Matiguás), based on inventory of 18,669 trees on 1492 ha of pasture, (b) the local knowledge, manage ment and use of trees by cattle farmers, and (c) opportunities for ensuring sustainable management of dispersed trees in pasture-dominated landscapes. Dispersed trees were common in all four landscapes, with mean frequency ranging from 8.0 trees ha−1 in Canas to 33.4 trees ha ˇ −1 in Matiguás. A total of 255 tree species were found in pastures across the four landscapes. The total number of tree species per land scape varied from 72 in Rivas to 101 in Canas and Rio Frio, with mean species richness per farm ranging ˇ from 22.9 in Rio Frio to 45.9 in Matiguás. In all four landscapes, a handful of tree species dominated the pastures, with the ten most abundant species in each landscape accounting for >70% of all trees recorded. Most of these common tree species provide fruits or foliage eaten by cattle, or are important timber or firewood species, and are deliberately retained by farmers for these uses. In all four landscapes, farmers had a detailed knowledge of tree attributes affecting pasture and animal productivity, and influenced tree cover through pasture management activities and occasional tree cutting. Current farm manage ment practices are gradually decreasing the diversity of trees in pastures, and in some cases also tree density, reducing their contribution to farm productivity and biodiversity conservation. To reverse this trend, incentives are required to encourage cattle farmers to retain and enhance tree cover in pastures, through the adoption of pasture management practices that favor the regeneration and persistence of a diverse range of tree species. Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica Instituto Internacional en Conservación y Manejo de Vida Silvestre 2022-05-04T13:39:24Z 2022-05-04T13:39:24Z 2011 http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 03781127 http://hdl.handle.net/11056/22953 10.1016/j.foreco.2010.11.004 eng Acceso abierto application/pdf Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica Cattle production, Farmer decision-making, Local knowledge, Natural regeneration, Tree diversity. |
institution |
UNA CR |
collection |
DSpace |
country |
Costa Rica |
countrycode |
CR |
component |
Bibliográfico |
access |
En linea |
databasecode |
dig-una-cr |
tag |
biblioteca |
region |
America Central |
libraryname |
Biblioteca de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra y el Mar de la UNA CR |
language |
eng |
description |
Trees dispersed in pastures are a prominent feature of many Central American landscapes, particularly in
cattle producing regions where farmers retain trees to serve as shade, fodder, timber and firewood. The
presence of dispersed trees in pastures is often considered as important for the conservation of biodiver sity by providing habitat and enhancing landscape connectivity. However, despite their critical productive
and environmental roles, little is known about tree distribution within pastures or how farmers’ man agement decisions influence the trees themselves and their impact on farm productivity and biodiversity
conservation. Here, we present a synthesis of (a) the abundance, composition, and size of dispersed trees
in four important cattle producing regions of Costa Rica (Canas and Río Frío) and Nicaragua (Rivas and ˇ
Matiguás), based on inventory of 18,669 trees on 1492 ha of pasture, (b) the local knowledge, manage ment and use of trees by cattle farmers, and (c) opportunities for ensuring sustainable management of
dispersed trees in pasture-dominated landscapes. Dispersed trees were common in all four landscapes,
with mean frequency ranging from 8.0 trees ha−1 in Canas to 33.4 trees ha ˇ −1 in Matiguás. A total of 255
tree species were found in pastures across the four landscapes. The total number of tree species per land scape varied from 72 in Rivas to 101 in Canas and Rio Frio, with mean species richness per farm ranging ˇ
from 22.9 in Rio Frio to 45.9 in Matiguás. In all four landscapes, a handful of tree species dominated the
pastures, with the ten most abundant species in each landscape accounting for >70% of all trees recorded.
Most of these common tree species provide fruits or foliage eaten by cattle, or are important timber or
firewood species, and are deliberately retained by farmers for these uses. In all four landscapes, farmers
had a detailed knowledge of tree attributes affecting pasture and animal productivity, and influenced
tree cover through pasture management activities and occasional tree cutting. Current farm manage ment practices are gradually decreasing the diversity of trees in pastures, and in some cases also tree
density, reducing their contribution to farm productivity and biodiversity conservation. To reverse this
trend, incentives are required to encourage cattle farmers to retain and enhance tree cover in pastures,
through the adoption of pasture management practices that favor the regeneration and persistence of a
diverse range of tree species. |
format |
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 |
author |
Harvey, Celia A. Villanueva, Cristobal Esquivel, Humberto Gómez, Rene Ibrahim, Muhammad Lopez, Marlon Martinez, Jorge Diego, Muñoz Restrepo, Claudia Joel, Saénz Villacís, Jaime Sinclair, Fergus |
spellingShingle |
Harvey, Celia A. Villanueva, Cristobal Esquivel, Humberto Gómez, Rene Ibrahim, Muhammad Lopez, Marlon Martinez, Jorge Diego, Muñoz Restrepo, Claudia Joel, Saénz Villacís, Jaime Sinclair, Fergus Conservation value of dispersed tree cover threatened by pasture management |
author_facet |
Harvey, Celia A. Villanueva, Cristobal Esquivel, Humberto Gómez, Rene Ibrahim, Muhammad Lopez, Marlon Martinez, Jorge Diego, Muñoz Restrepo, Claudia Joel, Saénz Villacís, Jaime Sinclair, Fergus |
author_sort |
Harvey, Celia A. |
title |
Conservation value of dispersed tree cover threatened by pasture management |
title_short |
Conservation value of dispersed tree cover threatened by pasture management |
title_full |
Conservation value of dispersed tree cover threatened by pasture management |
title_fullStr |
Conservation value of dispersed tree cover threatened by pasture management |
title_full_unstemmed |
Conservation value of dispersed tree cover threatened by pasture management |
title_sort |
conservation value of dispersed tree cover threatened by pasture management |
publisher |
Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11056/22953 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT harveyceliaa conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT villanuevacristobal conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT esquivelhumberto conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT gomezrene conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT ibrahimmuhammad conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT lopezmarlon conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT martinezjorge conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT diegomunoz conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT restrepoclaudia conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT joelsaenz conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT villacisjaime conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement AT sinclairfergus conservationvalueofdispersedtreecoverthreatenedbypasturemanagement |
_version_ |
1756475316989067264 |