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Response of Pyrenean Subalpine Pastures to Continuous Climate Warming and Annual Sporadic Variations

Received: 27 November 2018     Accepted: 22 December 2018     Published: 17 January 2019
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Abstract

The certainty of global warming is leading to the programming of activities and management practices for a future in which conditions will be very different from today. In the case of subalpine mountain pastures (or upland summer grasslands), it is necessary to know the changes that have taken place in the three most important variables: biomass production, forage quality and diversity. This work was carried out in the high-mountain pastures of the Aigüestortes National Park (located above 2000 m a.s.l.) in the Spanish Pyrenees during a period of twenty years, with sampling every five years. The three most abundant types of pasture of the National park, which occupy 60% of its area (Festuca eskia, Nardus and Nardus+Festuca nigrescens) were taken and used to measure aboveground biomass production by means of cuts, forage quality through bromatological analyses of biomass and Pastoral value, and the diversity through transects. Simultaneously, climatic data from three nearby official climatic stations were collected to relate rainfall and temperature variations to vegetation data. The results show that changes in total production are more linked to annual climatology (more temperature in the growth period, less production), whereas general climate warming leads to a decrease in forage quality (more temperature and more rain in the growth period, higher fiber content) and an increase in specific richness (more temperature more diversity). In the future in order to maintain these highly diverse pastures for optimal feeding of the livestock, a downward adjustment of stocking rates will have to be programmed, in accordance with production and quality trends: the pastures will feed fewer animals.

Published in International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management (Volume 3, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20180306.11
Page(s) 97-105
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Global Warming, Forage Production and Quality, Diversity, Spanish Pyrenees

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  • APA Style

    Rosario Fanlo, Marc Taull. (2019). Response of Pyrenean Subalpine Pastures to Continuous Climate Warming and Annual Sporadic Variations. International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, 3(6), 97-105. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20180306.11

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    ACS Style

    Rosario Fanlo; Marc Taull. Response of Pyrenean Subalpine Pastures to Continuous Climate Warming and Annual Sporadic Variations. Int. J. Nat. Resour. Ecol. Manag. 2019, 3(6), 97-105. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20180306.11

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    AMA Style

    Rosario Fanlo, Marc Taull. Response of Pyrenean Subalpine Pastures to Continuous Climate Warming and Annual Sporadic Variations. Int J Nat Resour Ecol Manag. 2019;3(6):97-105. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20180306.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijnrem.20180306.11,
      author = {Rosario Fanlo and Marc Taull},
      title = {Response of Pyrenean Subalpine Pastures to Continuous Climate Warming and Annual Sporadic Variations},
      journal = {International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6},
      pages = {97-105},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijnrem.20180306.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20180306.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnrem.20180306.11},
      abstract = {The certainty of global warming is leading to the programming of activities and management practices for a future in which conditions will be very different from today. In the case of subalpine mountain pastures (or upland summer grasslands), it is necessary to know the changes that have taken place in the three most important variables: biomass production, forage quality and diversity. This work was carried out in the high-mountain pastures of the Aigüestortes National Park (located above 2000 m a.s.l.) in the Spanish Pyrenees during a period of twenty years, with sampling every five years. The three most abundant types of pasture of the National park, which occupy 60% of its area (Festuca eskia, Nardus and Nardus+Festuca nigrescens) were taken and used to measure aboveground biomass production by means of cuts, forage quality through bromatological analyses of biomass and Pastoral value, and the diversity through transects. Simultaneously, climatic data from three nearby official climatic stations were collected to relate rainfall and temperature variations to vegetation data. The results show that changes in total production are more linked to annual climatology (more temperature in the growth period, less production), whereas general climate warming leads to a decrease in forage quality (more temperature and more rain in the growth period, higher fiber content) and an increase in specific richness (more temperature more diversity). In the future in order to maintain these highly diverse pastures for optimal feeding of the livestock, a downward adjustment of stocking rates will have to be programmed, in accordance with production and quality trends: the pastures will feed fewer animals.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Response of Pyrenean Subalpine Pastures to Continuous Climate Warming and Annual Sporadic Variations
    AU  - Rosario Fanlo
    AU  - Marc Taull
    Y1  - 2019/01/17
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20180306.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20180306.11
    T2  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
    JF  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
    JO  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
    SP  - 97
    EP  - 105
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-3061
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20180306.11
    AB  - The certainty of global warming is leading to the programming of activities and management practices for a future in which conditions will be very different from today. In the case of subalpine mountain pastures (or upland summer grasslands), it is necessary to know the changes that have taken place in the three most important variables: biomass production, forage quality and diversity. This work was carried out in the high-mountain pastures of the Aigüestortes National Park (located above 2000 m a.s.l.) in the Spanish Pyrenees during a period of twenty years, with sampling every five years. The three most abundant types of pasture of the National park, which occupy 60% of its area (Festuca eskia, Nardus and Nardus+Festuca nigrescens) were taken and used to measure aboveground biomass production by means of cuts, forage quality through bromatological analyses of biomass and Pastoral value, and the diversity through transects. Simultaneously, climatic data from three nearby official climatic stations were collected to relate rainfall and temperature variations to vegetation data. The results show that changes in total production are more linked to annual climatology (more temperature in the growth period, less production), whereas general climate warming leads to a decrease in forage quality (more temperature and more rain in the growth period, higher fiber content) and an increase in specific richness (more temperature more diversity). In the future in order to maintain these highly diverse pastures for optimal feeding of the livestock, a downward adjustment of stocking rates will have to be programmed, in accordance with production and quality trends: the pastures will feed fewer animals.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Crop and Forestry Sciences Department, University of Lleida-Agrotecnio, Lleida, Spain

  • Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia Consortium (CTFC), Solsona, Spain

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