Quality and Conservation of Riparian Forest in a Mountain Subtropical Basin of Argentina

The aims of this work were to describe the conservation status of riparian forests located in a mountain subtropical basin of Tucumán province, Argentina, and assess how the quality of riparian forests is related with altitude, plant species richness, proportion of exotic species, and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) in adjacent rivers. Composition and species richness of riparian forests were studied at 16 sites located along an altitudinal gradient and TSS was determined from water samples collected in each site. In order to evaluate conservation status of riparian forests, we calculated an index of Quality of Yungas Riparian Forests (QBRy). We recorded 90 plant species at all sites, from which 77% were native. QBRy index was mainly associated with altitude and varied from riparian forests with good preservation or slightly disturbed to those with extreme degradation. At lower altitude, forests were more disturbed, more invaded by exotic plant species, and closer to urban and cropped areas. QBRy was not correlated with species richness or TSS. Like other riparian forests of Argentina, plant species invasion increased their degradation; therefore, future studies should focus on native riparian forests conservation and on the management of invasive plant species, which affect their quality.

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Plant species richness in riparian forests: Comparison to other forest ecosystems, longitudinal patterns, role of rare species and topographic factors

Forest Ecology and Management ◽

10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119400 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 496 ◽

pp. 119400

Author(s):

Remigiusz Pielech

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Plant Species ◽

Rare Species ◽

Forest Ecosystems ◽

Plant Species Richness ◽

Riparian Forests ◽

Longitudinal Patterns ◽

Topographic Factors

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Spatio-temporal patterns along a primary succession on alluvial sediments

Open Life Sciences ◽

10.2478/s11535-013-0205-x ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (9) ◽

pp. 888-897

Author(s):

Maša Ignjatović ◽

Mitja Kaligarič ◽

Sonja Škornik ◽

Danijel Ivajnšič

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Plant Species ◽

Primary Succession ◽

Riparian Forest ◽

Habitat Type ◽

Plant Species Richness ◽

Anthropogenic Pressures ◽

Artificial Lake ◽

White Willow ◽

Successional Stages

AbstractDynamic alluvial landscapes offer many possibilities to study primary succession processes on newly developed habitats. However, within the Central European environmental conditions, where watercourses and their riparian spaces are under severe anthropogenic pressures — water regulation, deforestation, lowering of groundwater — natural processes are limited. We studied primary succession on alluvial stream deposits in an artificial lake, where we aimed to follow the terrestrialisation rate and habitat turnover, along with plant species richness and composition across successional stages. In 30 years, a pristine white-willow riparian forest developed. One half of the initially aquatic habitat became terrestrial. The frequency of change, studied on 11250 quadrats 10×10 m each (on a scale from “no change” to 8 changes) and the mean of change per habitat type (most of the habitats changed 2 to 3 times) revealed only one successional trajectory. The percentage flow chart showed a deterministic pathway of succession. The “time since formation” of a terrestrial habitat shows that more than 20% of the lake was terrestrialised within in the first ten years. We studied species richness and composition along three composed transects, following successional stages. We found that the newly assembled riparian white willow woodland has a surprisingly low colonisation rate of plant species.

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The impacts of invasive plant species on the biodiversity of Australian rangelands

The Rangeland Journal ◽

10.1071/rj06014 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 27 ◽

Cited By ~ 58

Author(s):

A. C. Grice

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Species Richness ◽

Plant Species ◽

Native Species ◽

Invasive Plant ◽

Plant Species Richness ◽

Native Plant ◽

Weed Species ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Native Plant Species

Most parts of the Australian rangelands are at risk of invasion by one or more species of non-native plants. The severity of current problems varies greatly across the rangelands with more non-native plant species in more intensively settled regions, in climatic zones that have higher and more reliable rainfall, and in wetter and more fertile parts of rangeland landscapes. Although there is quantitative evidence of impacts on either particular taxonomic groups or specific ecological processes in Australian rangelands, a comprehensive picture of responses of rangeland ecosystems to plant invasions is not available. Research has been focused on invasive species that are perceived to have important effects. This is likely to down play the significance of species that have visually less dramatic influences and ignore the possibility that some species could invade and yet have negligible consequences. It is conceivable that most of the overall impact will come from a relatively small proportion of invasive species. Impacts have most commonly been assessed in terms of plant species richness or the abundance of certain groups of vertebrates to the almost complete exclusion of other faunal groups. All scientific studies of the impacts of invasive species in Australian rangelands have focused on the effects of individual invasive species although in many situations native communities are under threat from a complex of interacting weed species. Invasion by non-native species is generally associated with declines in native plant species richness, but faunal responses are more complex and individual invasions may be associated with increase, decrease and no-change scenarios for different faunal groups. Some invasive species may remain minor components of the vegetation that they invade while others completely dominate one stratum or the vegetation overall.

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