Abstract

BARAZA, Elena  and  VALIENTE-BANUET, Alfonso. Effect of exclusion of livestock in two species of palatable shrubs of the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico. Rev. Mex. Biodiv. [online]. 2012, vol.83, n.4, pp.1145-1151. ISSN 2007-8706.  https://doi.org/10.7550/rmb.22871.

In many areas of the planet extensive grazing has been considered as a limitation to the conservation of vegetation. However, herbivores have a fundamental role in maintaining ecosystems and their effects on plant communities are complex and specific. Therefore, studies that analyzed the effect of these herbivores on vegetation are needed. In this study we analyze the response, in the short time, of 2 species of shrubs, one of them in critical state of conservation, to the exclusion of livestock with 3 enclosures. The results show that, in just a few months, the plants included in the enclosures were greater (major canopy area) than plants outside enclosures. However, only one of them shows a decline in reproductive investment while for the other we did not found changes in reproductive effort between plants grazed and not grazed. So we can consider that this shrub species is, to some degree, adapted to be consumed. It will require a long-term monitoring to analyze possible changes in these species population in livestock exclusion areas. However, results showed the potential changes that may occur to vegetation after livestock removal.

Keywords : Bouvardia erecta; domestic goat; flowering; herbivory tolerance; Justicia candicans; plant size.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )