Pyric herbivory increases soil microbial diversity but has a site-dependent effect on soil mesofauna in the mid-term
Fecha
2023Autor
Versión
Acceso abierto / Sarbide irekia
Tipo
Artículo / Artikulua
Versión
Versión publicada / Argitaratu den bertsioa
Identificador del proyecto
Impacto
|
10.1016/j.agee.2023.108632
Resumen
Woody plant encroachment threatens grassland biomes at a global scale. Pyric herbivory combines prescribed
burnings and targeted grazing to restore open habitats and has proved to be successful in promoting landscape
and plant community diversity. However, less is known on the effects of pyric herbivory practices on belowground biodiversity. We evaluated the midterm effect on mesofauna, bacteri ...
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Woody plant encroachment threatens grassland biomes at a global scale. Pyric herbivory combines prescribed
burnings and targeted grazing to restore open habitats and has proved to be successful in promoting landscape
and plant community diversity. However, less is known on the effects of pyric herbivory practices on belowground biodiversity. We evaluated the midterm effect on mesofauna, bacteria and fungi of prescribed burns and
targeted horse grazing regimes implemented to restore a grassland encroached by gorse (Ulex gallii Planch.). We
hypothesized that 1) low-intensity shrub-to shrub burnings had no effect or had a transient effect of low
magnitude on soil microbial diversity, and that 2) targeted horse grazing after burning increased soil mesofauna
and microbial diversity in the midterm. We established an experiment in two shrub-encroached grasslands in
western Pyrenees with three treatments (no burning and no grazing as control, burning but no grazing, and
burning and grazing). We measured soil properties and soil diversity of fungi and bacteria (DNA-metabarcoding)
just after fire, and vegetation structure, soil properties and soil diversity of fungi, bacteria and mesofauna after
two periods of targeted grazing (a year and a half after the burning). The response to pyric herbivory differed
among soil organisms. Fungi were more sensitive to burning than bacteria, but both recovered a year and a half
after burning –fungi only recovered in the presence of grazing–. Grazing increased soil fungi and bacteria diversity indexes (~20 % and ~5 % increase, respectively) at the two sites. A year and a half after burning, burned
and ungrazed areas had a 30 % more mesofauna diversity than control areas whereas grazing of the burned areas
decreased mesofauna diversity by 30 % at one of the sites compared to the control. Since the responses to pyric
herbivory vary among soil organisms, a wide range of management intensities across space and time are recommended for maximizing soil biodiversity. [--]
Materias
DNA metabarcoding,
Horse targeted grazing,
Prescribed burnings,
Soil compaction,
Temperate mountain grasslands
Editor
Elsevier
Publicado en
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 356 (2023) 108632
Departamento
Universidad Pública de Navarra. Departamento de Agronomía, Biotecnología y Alimentación /
Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa. Agronomia, Bioteknologia eta Elikadura Saila /
Universidad Pública de Navarra. Departamento de Ciencias /
Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa. Zientziak Saila /
Universidad Pública de Navarra/Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa. Institute on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Food Chain - ISFOOD
Versión del editor
Entidades Financiadoras
This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Sudoe Programme [grant number SOE2/P5/E0804 ] and the Spanish Ministry of Science [grant number PID2020-116786RB-C31 ]. Open access funding provided by Universidad Pública de Navarra.