La intensidad en el uso silvopastoril modifica la provisión de servicios ecosistémicos a través de cambios en la diversidad en bosques del noroeste de la Patagonia Argentina

Abstract

Silvopastoral use intensity modifies the provision of ecosystem services through changes in diversity in forests of NW Patagonia, Argentina. Changes in land use affect biodiversity, but our knowledge about the impact of diversity on ecosystem services (ES) is scarce. In Argentinean northwest Patagonia, mixed forests of cordilleran cypress (Austrocedus chilensis) and coihue (Nothofagus dombeyi) with extensive silvopastoral use are characterized by a spatial segregation of sites with high and low use intensity. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of silvopastoral use intensity (SUI) on the functional diversity of understory vegetation and on different ES, using generalized linear models. Also, we evaluated the relationship between multiple ES under different SUI in order to identify changes in synergies and trade offs, using pairwise correlations between ES. We found that higher functional diversity values are found in communities under higher SUI, mainly due to a change of the community towards rapid resource acquisition strategy. ES such as soil fertility, forage production and erosion prevention were mainly related to changes in biodiversity, while cultural heritage was mainly relate to SUI. We identify synergies between most ES. Only forage production showed trade-offs with soil fertility and erosion prevention. With increasing SUI, this relationship changed the intensity but not the direction. Higher SUI promotes increases in biodiversity but notin the provision of multiple ES. An increase in the provision of provisioning ES is achieved at the expense of regulating and supporting ES. An heterogeneous distribution of areas of higher SUI within the landscape could allow the maintenance of diversity and the provision of multiple ES.