Agronomic methods for mountain grassland habitat restoration for faunistic purposes in a protected area of the northern Apennines (Italy)

Abstract

The abandonment of pastures often leads to a remarkable deterioration of grasslands, caused by the spread of intrusive, herbaceous and woody species which reduces the general quality of pastures. Different treatments aimed at improving the grassland and enhancing the forage quality of herbaceous resources have been developed to face this problem. We report the results of a five-year experiment conducted in a protected area of central Italy (the "Laghi di Suviana e Brasimone" regional park) on an abandoned pasture inside a beech forest encroached by intrusive species (mainly bracken). We analyzed the effect on sward's specific composition and grazing value of two agronomic factors: (i) the establishment method (ploughing followed by sowing of a forage mixture versus no intervention), and (ii) the number of cuts performed on vegetation during the growing season (0, 1 or 2 cuts). Plots were arranged according to a split-split-plot experimental design with three replications, with the sampling dates as the main factor, the establishment technique as the subplot factor, and the number of cuts as the sub-subplot factor. In each plot, data were recorded once a month from June to September every year from 2006 to 2010, in order to assess the botanical composition and the quality of the sward. The main pastoral and botanical parameters of pastures were significantly affected by both cutting and sowing. Establishment by sowing significantly reduced the presence of bracken, even with no cuts, with strong effects on the qualitative value of the pasture. A single cut resulted in an efficient recovery of the pasture as compared to cutting twice, especially in sown plots. Our results confirmed that the regular and continued maintenance of the recovered areas is crucial to ensure the long-term preservation of the results achieved by the improvements.

Food and nutrition of Gaur (Bos gaurus C.H. Smith, 1827) at the edge of Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

“…The KPK is mainly covered by evergreen and deciduous forests, but the KPM Area was restored mainly from man-made grassland and in 2017 Prayong and Srikosamatara 37 found forage grass species in KPM were covered by pioneer tree species. There can be large changes in wildlife intake on grassland over different periods 38 , 39 . In this way, wildlife can show an opportunistic behavior in relation to forage availability 40 .…”

“…In the natural habitat, this process is important in ecology 50 and should be accounted for in future studies. This evolution cannot be negative because the utilization of native species by wildlife can occur to a remarkable degree, and species can adapt, in particular situations, to browse on species of reduced forage quality 38 .…”

Evaluation of wild animals browsing preferences in forage resources

“…This is due to the invasion of the experimental plots by other species with a natural and continuous process of renaturalisation which can be considered anyway of high ecological importance (Wilsey and Martin, 2015). This evolution can not be considered completely negative because the utilisation of native species by wild animals can be performed also at a remarkable level and they can adapt, in particular situations, to browse also species of reduced forage quality (Cervasio et al, 2016). A proper evaluation of animal selection for sown and native species in general is provided in Figure 2.…”

“…Grassland restoration is performed by clearing shrubs and trees encroaching pastures or meadows once highly utilised and this operation is often followed by a sowing of a proper forage mixture apt to local environmental conditions (Di Tomaso et al, 2010). Aims of this technique are to recreate areas useful for wild animals feeding (Cervasio et al, 2016) and to recover other important ecosystem services related to open areas, such as landscape heterogeneity or ecological diversity (Laiolo et al, 2004;McAllister et al, 2014;Rossetti et al, 2015). Open areas can be maintained for a long time only utilising proper restoration strategies and maintenance techniques (Alday et al, 2012).…”

“…Open areas can be maintained for a long time only utilising proper restoration strategies and maintenance techniques (Alday et al, 2012). Thus, it is of a great importance to propose methods and parameters to monitor effects of restoration and evolution along time (Cervasio et al, 2016). This is particularly true when target animals are wild species that can have a very different feeding behaviour from domestic ones (Gonzalez-Hernandez and Silva-Pando, 1996;Vavra and Ganskopp, 1998).…”