Can cattle grazing substitute fire for maintaining appreciated pine savannas at the frontier of a montane forest biosphere-reserve?

Changes in Vegetation of Flooded Savannas Subject to Cattle Grazing and Fire in Plains of Colombia

“…Previous studies in other grasslands in the northern hemisphere have reported that cattle show significant preference for recently burned patches, and this preference declines with time [36,37]. The same trend was observed for tropical savannas with pines, where fire suppression management is implemented using cattle grazing to reduce fire risk [38]. Regarding stocking rate, previous studies have shown that overgrazing of savannas is related to the size of the animal and grazing habits [27,39] and not only to the number of animals.…”

“…Previous studies in the savanna indicate that biomass is related to soil water availability, and leaf nutrient content to soil fertility [27,43]. Trampling, soil compaction and changes in species composition due to selective grazing are also drivers of change [36,38]. The smaller heights recorded for HS could be explained by the nutrient losses from annual burning.…”

Tapping into nature’s benefits: values, effort and the struggle to co-produce pine resin

“…Thus, removing the bark and exposing more delicate tissues likely left trees vulnerable to fire. Still, the effects from resin extraction were part of a more complex socialecological system in which fire, pine biology, resin production and other land uses interacted (Braasch et al 2017). Furthermore, forest fires, fire use and the underlying perception of fire have changed repeatedly in California and in the Biosphere Reserve; presently, the use of fire is restricted and forest fires are suppressed -in part due to a perceived threat to resin activities -though more flexible and informed fire management policies and practices are being introduced (Huffman 2010;Gutiérrez Navarro et al 2017;García-Barrios et al 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, though abundant pine trees remained for future use, the sustainability of resin extraction was uncertain. Braasch et al (2017Braasch et al ( , 2018 questioned if sufficient tree recruitment could sustain long-term resin extraction in California, more importantly, they showed that multiple factors were interacting and affecting recruitment, including grasses, cattle, fire and incongruent stakeholder interventions. Still, pines were regenerating across the California landscape.…”

Investigación ecológica participativa como apoyo de procesos de manejo y restauración forestal, agroforestal y silvopastoril en territorios campesinos. Experiencias recientes y retos en la sierra Madre de Chiapas, México

“…De ello surgió un interés compartido en explorar si las condiciones ecológicas que crea esta nueva actividad y su manejo pueden afectar el reclutamiento de las plántulas de P. oocarpa que son necesarias para sustituir a los adultos cuando estos últimos agoten su vida productiva de aproximadamente 20 años. Se han iniciado desde 2015 varias actividades de investigación participativa (Braasch et al, 2017) que incluyen: a) inventarios forestales realizados con y por los productores; b) experimentos en rodales de los productores para dilucidar los efectos sobre el reclutamiento que resultan de la interacción entre los pastos, el régimen de fuego y la intensidad de pastoreo/pisoteo. Se anticipa que un pastoreo apropiado puede liberar a la plántula de la competencia intensa de pastos no controlados por el fuego; y c) modelos amigables de simulación de agentes ecológicos y sociales, parametrizados con los resultados del estudio, para que los actores interesados exploren conjuntamente las consecuencias de diversas estrategias de manejo silvopastoril de los rodales resineros.…”