Descripción
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The populations of herbivore ungulates in Cantabrian Mountains (Spain) have increased without density control for the last decades. This increment of hervibores in forest areas has coincided with the decline of the population of Cantabrian capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus cantabricus Castroviejo, 1967). Herbivores have a great capacity of modification forest structures and composition that affect capercaillie habitat. The aim of this study is to assess the effects of wild herbivore ungulates grazing on the diversity and richness of plants as well as on natural forest regeneration under different browsing pressures and different forest management practices. The selected approach consists on the study of the effect of herbivores on bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) as a key species in capercaillie conservation. The field experiment is located in 16 beech stands of the south-west of Cantabria region, Spain. At each stand we installed three replicates of three different treatments depending on the type of grazing exclusion fencing (todomestic, domestic and wild ungulates exclusion) and a control plot without fencing. We analyzed field data each year since 2007. Preliminary results show that richness species composition decreases when bilberry appear. The grazing exclusions causes a rapid increase of understory vegetation. However, bilberry does not seem to recover from strong browsing rates after, at least, three years, depending on soil conditions. | |
Internacional
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Si |
Nombre congreso
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XXXth IUGB Congress (International Union of Game Biologists) and Perdix XIII |
Tipo de participación
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960 |
Lugar del congreso
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Barcelona (España) |
Revisores
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Si |
ISBN o ISSN
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000-00-0000-000-0 |
DOI
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Fecha inicio congreso
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05/09/2011 |
Fecha fin congreso
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09/09/2011 |
Desde la página
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1 |
Hasta la página
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1 |
Título de las actas
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XXXth IUGB Congress (International Union of Game Biologists) and Perdix XIII |