Forage ofering and seasonal intake comparisons to evaluate European rabbit threat in Nothofagus forests of southern Patagonia
Background: The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus L. 1758) was introduced into diferent regions of the world, generating signifcant trade-ofs that critically impacted native vegetation. Here, we evaluate the rabbit’s forage intakes in three vegetation types (forests, shrublands, and grasslands)...
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Español |
| Publicado: |
Springer Nature
2022
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/12290 https://ecologicalprocesses.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13717-022-00389-7 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-022-00389-7 |
| _version_ | 1855036729690423296 |
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| author | Huertas Herrera, Alejandro Toro Manriquez, Monica Borrelli, Laura Beatriz Lencinas, María Vanessa Martinez Pastur, Guillermo José |
| author_browse | Borrelli, Laura Beatriz Huertas Herrera, Alejandro Lencinas, María Vanessa Martinez Pastur, Guillermo José Toro Manriquez, Monica |
| author_facet | Huertas Herrera, Alejandro Toro Manriquez, Monica Borrelli, Laura Beatriz Lencinas, María Vanessa Martinez Pastur, Guillermo José |
| author_sort | Huertas Herrera, Alejandro |
| collection | INTA Digital |
| description | Background: The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus L. 1758) was introduced into diferent regions of the world, generating signifcant trade-ofs that critically impacted native vegetation. Here, we evaluate the rabbit’s forage intakes in three vegetation types (forests, shrublands, and grasslands) along the four seasons in a temperate forest landscape in Southern Patagonia and discuss the potential threats over native vegetation. We formulated the following questions: (i) what is the forage ofer at each vegetation type? (ii) what is the rabbit’s forage intake and how it varied across the seasons along the year? and (iii) which vegetation types and plant life forms were more used according to the rabbit’s forage intakes?
Methods: We censused understory vegetation to characterize the forage ofer at each vegetation type and determined seasonal dietary intakes using microhistological analysis of pellets. The plant species identifed in the feld were grouped according to life form classes (tree regeneration, shrubs, forbs, graminoids, orchids, ferns, bryophytes, and hemiparasites). Data were analysed through uni- and multivariate analyses, determining relationships between forage ofer and the rabbit’s forage intakes.
Results: Forage intakes revealed changes in plant life form consumption across vegetation types, where intake pressure was considerably diferent for tree regeneration (p=0.001), graminoids (p=0.001), and hemiparasites (p=0.001).
Besides, signifcant changes in consumption among seasons were detected for shrubs (p=0.001), ferns (p=0.030), and hemiparasites (p=0.002). Although many species play an important role in the rabbit’s forage intake networks (e.g., Chiliotrichum difusum, Holcus lanatus), the strongest intake linkages were found in exotic grasses (e.g., Poa pratensis and Festuca sp.), native hemiparasites (e.g., Misodendrum sp.), native shrubs (e.g., Empetrum rubrum), and native trees (e.g., Nothofagus sp.). The summer and autumn seasons presented higher intake compared to the winter and spring seasons. Furthermore, hemiparasites intake (e.g., Misodendrum sp.) suggests that rabbits utilize diferent forage sources depending on the vegetation types. |
| format | info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo |
| id | INTA12290 |
| institution | Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina) |
| language | Español |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| publisherStr | Springer Nature |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | INTA122902022-11-15T10:47:11Z Forage ofering and seasonal intake comparisons to evaluate European rabbit threat in Nothofagus forests of southern Patagonia Huertas Herrera, Alejandro Toro Manriquez, Monica Borrelli, Laura Beatriz Lencinas, María Vanessa Martinez Pastur, Guillermo José Conejo (oryctolagus) Dieta Alimentación de los Animales Nothofagus Rabbits Diet Animal Feeding Región Patagónica Background: The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus L. 1758) was introduced into diferent regions of the world, generating signifcant trade-ofs that critically impacted native vegetation. Here, we evaluate the rabbit’s forage intakes in three vegetation types (forests, shrublands, and grasslands) along the four seasons in a temperate forest landscape in Southern Patagonia and discuss the potential threats over native vegetation. We formulated the following questions: (i) what is the forage ofer at each vegetation type? (ii) what is the rabbit’s forage intake and how it varied across the seasons along the year? and (iii) which vegetation types and plant life forms were more used according to the rabbit’s forage intakes? Methods: We censused understory vegetation to characterize the forage ofer at each vegetation type and determined seasonal dietary intakes using microhistological analysis of pellets. The plant species identifed in the feld were grouped according to life form classes (tree regeneration, shrubs, forbs, graminoids, orchids, ferns, bryophytes, and hemiparasites). Data were analysed through uni- and multivariate analyses, determining relationships between forage ofer and the rabbit’s forage intakes. Results: Forage intakes revealed changes in plant life form consumption across vegetation types, where intake pressure was considerably diferent for tree regeneration (p=0.001), graminoids (p=0.001), and hemiparasites (p=0.001). Besides, signifcant changes in consumption among seasons were detected for shrubs (p=0.001), ferns (p=0.030), and hemiparasites (p=0.002). Although many species play an important role in the rabbit’s forage intake networks (e.g., Chiliotrichum difusum, Holcus lanatus), the strongest intake linkages were found in exotic grasses (e.g., Poa pratensis and Festuca sp.), native hemiparasites (e.g., Misodendrum sp.), native shrubs (e.g., Empetrum rubrum), and native trees (e.g., Nothofagus sp.). The summer and autumn seasons presented higher intake compared to the winter and spring seasons. Furthermore, hemiparasites intake (e.g., Misodendrum sp.) suggests that rabbits utilize diferent forage sources depending on the vegetation types. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche Fil: Huertas Herrera, Alejandro. Centro de Investigación en Ecosistemas de la Patagonia; Chile Fil: Toro Manriquez, Monica. Centro de Investigación en Ecosistemas de la Patagonia; Chile. Ulterarius Consultores Ambientales y Científcos Limitada; Chile Fil: Borrelli, Laura Beatriz. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Area de Recursos Naturales; Argentina Fil: Lencinas, Maria Vanessa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científcas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científcas. Laboratorio de Recursos Agroforestales; Argentina Fil: Martinez Pastur, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científcas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científcas. Laboratorio de Recursos Agroforestales; Argentina 2022-07-11T10:47:56Z 2022-07-11T10:47:56Z 2022-07-05 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/12290 https://ecologicalprocesses.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13717-022-00389-7 2192-1709 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-022-00389-7 spa info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf Springer Nature Ecological Processes 11 : Art. 45 (Julio 2022) |
| spellingShingle | Conejo (oryctolagus) Dieta Alimentación de los Animales Nothofagus Rabbits Diet Animal Feeding Región Patagónica Huertas Herrera, Alejandro Toro Manriquez, Monica Borrelli, Laura Beatriz Lencinas, María Vanessa Martinez Pastur, Guillermo José Forage ofering and seasonal intake comparisons to evaluate European rabbit threat in Nothofagus forests of southern Patagonia |
| title | Forage ofering and seasonal intake comparisons to evaluate European rabbit threat in Nothofagus forests of southern Patagonia |
| title_full | Forage ofering and seasonal intake comparisons to evaluate European rabbit threat in Nothofagus forests of southern Patagonia |
| title_fullStr | Forage ofering and seasonal intake comparisons to evaluate European rabbit threat in Nothofagus forests of southern Patagonia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Forage ofering and seasonal intake comparisons to evaluate European rabbit threat in Nothofagus forests of southern Patagonia |
| title_short | Forage ofering and seasonal intake comparisons to evaluate European rabbit threat in Nothofagus forests of southern Patagonia |
| title_sort | forage ofering and seasonal intake comparisons to evaluate european rabbit threat in nothofagus forests of southern patagonia |
| topic | Conejo (oryctolagus) Dieta Alimentación de los Animales Nothofagus Rabbits Diet Animal Feeding Región Patagónica |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/12290 https://ecologicalprocesses.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13717-022-00389-7 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-022-00389-7 |
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