Recuperación post-indencio del pinar y matorral mediterráneo mallorquín con presencia de cabras

Se ha realizado un seguimiento del efecto de la herbivoría por cabra doméstica asilvestrada en la regeneración de la vegetación en tres áreas de la Sierra de Tramuntana afectadas por el incendio de 2013 y con diferente densidad de población de cabras. Tras el incendio, independientemente de la densidad de cabras, la vegetación se ha regenerado de forma gradual siendo las especies rebrotadoras Ampelodesmos mauritanica, Arisarum vulgare, Chamaerops humilis y Pistacia lentiscus las dominantes gracias a su mayor grado de regeneración y cobertura vegetal. El grado de afectación por herbivoría ha sido superior en los primeros estadios de regeneración y ha disminuido con el tiempo, alcanzando valores mínimos en la primavera siguiente. Las especies más ramoneadas han sido Ampelodesmos mauritanica, Pistacia lentiscus y Olea europea

The Role of Feral Goats in Maintaining Firebreaks by Using Attractants

Altres ajuts: FONDECYT/236-2015The threat of large forest fires is increasing, and the main causes are the depopulation of rural areas, along with the effects of climate change. To counter this threat in recent decades, there have been numerous proposals and actions aimed at promoting grazing in the forest as a tool for controlling biomass fuel. However, the continued disappearance of traditional herds makes this activity difficult. Rural depopulation has also meant that domestic species become feral, being habitual in the case of goats. Currently, little is known about the role that feral goats can play in the fight against forest fires. In this work, an analysis is made on the effect of feral goats on the control of the vegetation in firebreak areas. Furthermore, the effect of attractants, such as water, salt, or food, on goat behavior is also studied. The study was carried out on the island of Mallorca, where a population of feral goats occupies the mountain areas, and where it is common for them to graze on the network of firebreaks. The results showed that these areas in themselves exert an attractive effect with respect to the neighboring forest, and that the herbaceous biomass is reduced. This effect was enhanced with the implementation of water and salt points, although only in certain periods of the year. In general, it was possible to reduce the phytovolume of many species without affecting biodiversity in the short or medium term. Therefore, strategic management of feral animals, aimed at firebreak areas, could contribute not only to reducing the risk of fires and, consequently, to the mitigation of climate change, but also to attracting these animals to the forests, thus avoiding their dispersion to conflictive places such as roads,residences, agricultural fields, and gardens

Complementarity between microhistological analysis and PCR-capillary electrophoresis in diet analysis of goats and cattle using faecal samples

Altres ajuts: project Life Montserrat (LIFE13 BIO/ES/000094). Javier Pareja was supported by the National Fund for Scientific, Technological Development and Technological Innovation (FONDECYT), the funding branch of the National Council for Science, Technology and Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC) Peru (Grant contract number N° 236-2015-FONDECYT).An evaluation is made of the complementarity between two non-invasive techniques, cuticle microhistological analysis (CMA) and PCR-capillary electrophoresis (PCR-CE) DNA-based analysis, for the determination of herbivore diet composition from faecal samples. Cuticle microhistological analysis is based on the different microanatomical characteristics of the epidermal fragments remaining in the faeces. The PCR-CE technique combines PCR amplification of a trnL(UAA) genomic DNA region with amplicon length determination by CE, with this length being characteristic for each species or taxon. A total of 37 fresh stool samples were analyzed, including 16 from feral goats (Capra hircus) from the Tramuntana mountain range (Mallorca, Baleares) and 11 from Bruna dels Pirineus cattle breed (Bos taurus) from the surrounding Montserrat mountain range (Barcelona, Spain). All the animals were in a free grazing Mediterranean pine habitat, dominated by Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis). The results showed that both techniques detected a similar number of plant components in the faeces of goats and cows. In the case of goats, a positive correlation was obtained between the percentage of samples in which a particular taxon is detected by CMA and the percentage of samples in which that taxon is detected by PCR-CE. This correlation was not observed in the case of cows. It is concluded that PCR-CE is a fast and reliable method to detect the different plant components in the faeces of herbivores. However, it cannot be considered as an alternative to CMA, but as a complementary method, since both techniques can detect some taxa that are not detected by the other technique. In addition, CMA detected the presence of the different taxa in a greater number of samples, and at the same time, it enables quantitative data to be obtained for plant diet composition. The species of herbivore also seems to influence the results obtained by PCR-CE, so more studies are required to address this aspect

Historic exposure to herbivores, not constitutive traits, explains plant tolerance to herbivory in the case of two Medicago species (Fabaceae)

Altres ajuts: Direcció General de Política Universitària i Recerca (Govern de les Illes Balears) FPI/1925/2016Mechanisms that allow plants to survive and reproduce after herbivory are considered to play a key role in plant evolution. In this study, we evaluated how tolerance varies in species with different historic exposure to herbivores considering ontogeny. We exposed the range-restricted species Medicago citrina and its closely related and widespread species M. arborea to one and two herbivory simulations (80 % aerial biomass loss). Physiological and growth parameters related to tolerance capacity were assessed to evaluate constitutive values (without herbivory) and induced tolerance after damage. Constitutive traits were not always related to greater tolerance, and each species compensated for herbivory through different traits. Herbivory damage only led to mortality in M. citrina; adults exhibited root biomass loss and increased oxidative stress after damage, but also compensated aerial biomass. Despite seedlings showed a lower death percentage than adults after herbivory in M. citrina, they showed less capacity to recover control values than adults. Moderate tolerance to M. arborea herbivory and low tolerance to M. citrina is found. Thus, although the constitutive characteristics are maintained in the lineage, the tolerance of plants decreases in M. citrina. That represents how plants respond to the lack of pressure from herbivores in their habitat

Preliminary results on climate change evidence from coprolites of Myotragus balearicus Bate 1909 (Artiodactyla, Caprinae)

Plants may vary their stomata density as a function of environmental factors, such as [CO2], drought and temperature. Under the present atmospheric conditions, it is expected that leaves have different stomata density than they had hundreds or thousands of years ago, due to the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere. Microhistological analyses of coprolites of the extinct Myotragus balearicus from Cova Estreta (Pollença, Mallorca), with a radiocarbon age of 4950 ± 38 BP (3775-3640 2σ cal BC; Wk-33010), have shown a diet including an important amount of Buxus balearica epidermal fragments. Three of these coprolites were used to estimate the stomata density on Buxus balearica epidermal fragments from this period. Additionally, three samples of the endangered Buxus balearica, the sole species of Buxus currently present on Mallorca, were collected in three different localities and leaves were examined under microscopy to determine the stomata density. A significant difference between epidermal fragments from coprolites and epidermal fragments of living plants (c² = 34.46, P<0.0001, L-R c² test), with a density average of 27.21 and 19.05 stomata/mm2 res pectively, has been recorded. The current lower density of stomata could be a plant response to climatic change in the Mediterranean islands

Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species : Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard

During the second half of the 20th century, European countries experienced an increase in their forest area due to the global change. Consequently, there has been an increase in large forest fires, mainly in the Mediterranean basin, and this has forced the development of several types of prevention programs. One of them is the control of the understory by livestock. In this sense, browsing with a combination of donkeys and goats could be a good option, as both animals usually feed on forest species. However, little is known about their preferences for the key species of the Mediterranean forest. Using a cafeteria test, the preferences and consumption of both animals have been determined for five typical species of the Mediterranean forest, such as Quercus ilex, Pinus halepensis, Phillyrea latifolia, Rubus ulmifolius, and Brachypodium retusum. Results showed that donkeys and goats could act complementarily in the reduction of the fuel biomass of forests. Donkeys appear to act more on fine fuel, such as B. retusum, and goats on the more pyrophyte species, in this case P. halepensis. In addition, given that donkeys are at severe risk of extinction in Europe, this role of providing ecosystem services could contribute to their conservation. Despite this study only showing that goats and donkeys would consume all five presented plant species and that there are some differences in consumption during a short-term test, it constitutes a useful first step for conservation and fire prevention in the Mediterranean forests

Comparación del ramoneo entre la cabra salvaje mallorquina (Capra aegagrus Erxleben, 1777) y la cabra doméstica asilvestrada (Capra hircus L. 1758) en Mallorca

El objetivo de este estudio fue comparar el nivel de ramoneo de la cabra salvaje Mallorquina y la cabra doméstica asilvestrada en la sierra Tramuntana de Mallorca durante los periodos de primavera, verano e invierno. Los resultados muestran que las especies más ramoneadas, en orden decreciente, fueron: Olea europea, Ampelodesmos mauritanica, Cistus albidus, Chamaerops humilis, Phillyrea angustifolia, Cistus monspeliensis y Pistacia lentiscus. En las zonas pastoreadas por cabras asilvestradas Olea europaea aparece más ramoneada que en las zonas pastoreadas por cabras salvajes. Lo contrario ocurre con Cistus albidus que es más ramoneada en las zonas pastoreadas por cabras salvajes. La diferencia del ramoneo entre periodos varía en función de cada especie, así por ejemplo, el ramoneo disminuye en invierno en Chamaerops humilis, mientras que el consumo de Cistus albidus aumenta. Se concluye que la intensidad de ramoneo realizada por cada tipo de cabra depende de factores de variación como el periodo del año y la zona de pastoreo

Efecto de la simulación de ramoneo en parámetros estructurales de tres especies de matorral mallorquín

La herviboría por la cabra salvaje mallorquina y la cabra doméstica asilvestrada puede ser uno de los factores que determinen la regresión en que se encuentran las poblaciones de tres especies anteriormente abundantes y actualmente raras del matorral mallorquín: boj balear (Buxus balearica), canadillo (Ephedra fragilis) y enebro rojo (Juniperus oxycedrus). Para determinar esta afectación analizamos la respuesta de estas especies en condiciones de invernadero, a las que se les realizó una simulación de ramoneo cortando el 80% de sus brotes terminales y se les midió la variación en los parámetros estructurales de crecimiento y capacidad de generar brotes nuevos. La simulación de ramoneo produjo respuestas morfológicas diferentes en las tres especies estudiadas. Mientras en las tres especies aumenta la producción de brotes, el crecimiento en diámetro no aumenta de manera significativa en B. balerica ni en E. fragilis, y en J. oxycedrus se ve afectado negativamente. Por lo que respecta al crecimiento en altura, el ramoneo tiene un efecto positivo en B. balearica y J. oxycedrus y es indiferente en E. fragilis. El hecho de que B .balearica sea actualmente una especie poco ramoneada contribuiría a explicar su regresión

Impacto del uso del suelo y la configuración del paisaje en las comunidades de hongos micorrícicos

Resumen de la comunicación oral presentada en: III Simposio del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Interacciones Planta-Suelo AEET. Barcelona, 6-7 junio (2023

Comparative study of trophic behaviour and herd structure in wild and feral goats living in a mediterranean island: Management implications

The aim of this study was to compare the trophic behaviour and the social structure of Majorcan wild goats and feral goats present in the island of Majorca. The former are descendants of an ancestral goat ecotype introduced in the island in the late Neolithic, whereas feral goats come from domestic forms introduced recently from the Iberian Peninsula. The study was conducted in four localities of the Serra de Tramuntana, a mountain range located in the northwest of the island of Majorca. Behavioural data were collected in three seasons, summer, winter and spring of 2011-2013, and when goat activity is at its peak, i.e., 3. h after dawn and before dusk. The following variables were recorded: group composition (males, females, and kids) and activity (feeding, walking, resting, and watching). The proportion of time spent on each activity and their frequency were obtained from focal samples. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) were used to simultaneously analyse the activity variables. A total of 155 observations of 85 herds were registered throughout the study. A similar behaviour pattern has been observed in this study for the two goat ecotypes, feral and wild, apart from some seasonal variations in feeding and resting activities. In summer, feral goats showed higher feeding efforts (duration and frequency) than wild goats; this might be related to a lower efficiency obtaining feeding resources by the former, whereas wild goats, that have inhabited the island for millennia, coexisting with vegetation in periods of lower forage abundance and quality, would be more efficient herbivores during restrictive periods. Average herd size for both ecotypes is smaller than that recorded for domestic goat herds, suggesting a relatively low browsing damage compared to the latter. Also, feral goats apparently have a higher gregarious behaviour than wild ones, which might relate to their domestic origin. Currently, the management of goats on the island is based on maintaining the wild ecotype and eradicate the feral one, whose impact on vegetation is supposedly worse. However, our results show a similar trophic behaviour by both ecotypes, so that their impact on vegetation should also be expected to be similar, indicating that this argument has not enough scientific basis.This study was made possible thanks to the funding obtained from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (projects CGL2010-22116 (sub-BOS), and CGL2010-17889) and the BBVA Foundation (BIOCON08-059). Leidy Rivera was funded by CONACyT, Mexican Institute.Peer Reviewe