Neutral Impact of Cattle Grazing in Pyrenean Oak Forests Integrity

Jordi Bartolomé, Antonio Carrasco Amat, Jonathan Rubines, Javier Sesma, Omar López-Garrido, Miguel Ibáñez, Carlos Hernández-Castellano, Santiago Lavín, Araceli Gort-Esteve (), Anahí Hernández-Rodríguez, Karen González, Mariana Rossa, João Carvalho and Emmanuel Serrano
Additional contact information
Jordi Bartolomé: Grup de Recerca en Remugants, Departament de Ciencia Animal i dels Aliments, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
Antonio Carrasco Amat: Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina I Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
Jonathan Rubines: Natura Ondarearen Zerbitzua, Arabako Foru Aldunia, 01001 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Javier Sesma: Natura Ondarearen Zerbitzua, Arabako Foru Aldunia, 01001 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Omar López-Garrido: Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina I Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
Miguel Ibáñez: Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina I Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
Carlos Hernández-Castellano: Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina I Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
Santiago Lavín: Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina I Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
Araceli Gort-Esteve: Grup de Recerca en Remugants, Departament de Ciencia Animal i dels Aliments, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
Anahí Hernández-Rodríguez: Grup de Recerca en Remugants, Departament de Ciencia Animal i dels Aliments, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
Karen González: Grup de Recerca en Remugants, Departament de Ciencia Animal i dels Aliments, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
Mariana Rossa: Department of Biology & Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), University of Aveiro, 3810-168 Aveiro, Portugal
João Carvalho: Department of Biology & Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), University of Aveiro, 3810-168 Aveiro, Portugal
Emmanuel Serrano: Wildlife Ecology & Health Group (WE&H), Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina I Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-15

Abstract: The combination of logging, burning, and livestock farming has been the main driver of European landscape sustainability for thousands of years. Whether or not livestock could keep these habitats on their own is under debate when extensive livestock grazing is kept understory in forests of high environmental value that, in turn, are affected by global warming. In this work, the impact of beef cattle on the diversity, shrub cover, and primary production of the Atlantic Pyrenean oak ( Quercus pyrenaica Willd.) in northern Spain has been evaluated. The research studied their feeding habits using the faecal cuticle micro histological analysis in dung samples. Then, the effects of cattle grazing on the cover and alpha diversity of woody plants were evaluated. Finally, oaks’ primary production and phenology in grazed and control areas were compared. The results show that cattle feed on woody (an average of 30% of non-leguminous woody) and annual plant species (more than 20% of forbs) but do not affect plant cover or alpha diversity of vegetation. However, oak phenology differed between grazed and ungrazed treatments, probably due to the spatial variability of grazed forests. It can be concluded that understory grazing in Pyrenean oak forests could be considered a sustainable silvopastoral activity with a neutral impact on forest integrity.

Keywords: sylvopastoralism; diet composition; phenology; understory diversity; Quercus pyrenaica (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
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