Abstract

MOLINA-GUERRA, Víctor Manuel et al. Vegetation composition and diversity in two grazing systems in the Tamaulipan thornscrub of northeast Mexico. Rev. mex. de cienc. pecuarias [online]. 2013, vol.4, n.3, pp.361-371. ISSN 2448-6698.

Tamaulipan thorn scrub (TTS) of Northeastern Mexico has faced widespread deforestation due to human activities. In recent decades, the establishment of pastures for intensive and extensive livestock has notoriously increased in the region. To analyze the effect of livestock activities in the TTS, we selected two areas with different livestock management system 1) continuous grazing and 2) Savory grazing. We evaluated: (1) phytodiversity, (2) ecological indicators such as abundance (Ar), dominance (Dr), frequency (Fr), and index of importance value (IVI), and (3) diversity a and p. Forty two species were recorded for both grazing systems: 35 in the Savory system, and 30 in the continuous grazing system. The genus with the largest number of species in both systems was Acacia, with A. berlandieri, A. farnesiana and A. rigidula. According to the Jaccard coefficient, the assessed areas had a 47 % similarity. In the Savory system, the species with the highest IVI was Cenchrus ciliaris (59.31 %) and in the continuous grazing system, Panicum texanum (37.76 %). In this study we found that native species, preferred by cattle, such as Bouteloua barbata and Panicum texanum are still abundant in the area after 22 yr of continuous grazing.

Keywords : Continuous grazing; Savory grazing; Acacia; Diversity α; Diversity β; Importance value index.

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