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

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Donkeys and goats are animals adapted to graze in understories, and thus contribute to the prevention of forest fires. In this work, the preferences of donkeys and goats have been determined for five key plant species of the Mediterranean forest, where large forest fires have increas...

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Autores principales: Bartolomé, Jordi, Miró, Jordi, Panadès, Xavier, Broncano, Maria José, Plaixats, Josefina, Rigau, Teresa, Milán, Maria José, Baraza, Elena
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7459504/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32751439
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10081302
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author Bartolomé, Jordi
Miró, Jordi
Panadès, Xavier
Broncano, Maria José
Plaixats, Josefina
Rigau, Teresa
Milán, Maria José
Baraza, Elena
author_facet Bartolomé, Jordi
Miró, Jordi
Panadès, Xavier
Broncano, Maria José
Plaixats, Josefina
Rigau, Teresa
Milán, Maria José
Baraza, Elena
author_sort Bartolomé, Jordi
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Donkeys and goats are animals adapted to graze in understories, and thus contribute to the prevention of forest fires. In this work, the preferences of donkeys and goats have been determined for five key plant species of the Mediterranean forest, where large forest fires have increased as a result of global change. Using a multiple selection test, it has been observed that both species can complement each other, since donkeys consume more fine fuel, such as Brachypodium retusum, and goats, highly flammable woody species, such as Pinus halepensis. In this way, browsing becomes an ecosystem service, which, in the case of donkeys, can even help prevent their extinction. ABSTRACT: 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.
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spelling pubmed-74595042020-09-02 Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species: Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard Bartolomé, Jordi Miró, Jordi Panadès, Xavier Broncano, Maria José Plaixats, Josefina Rigau, Teresa Milán, Maria José Baraza, Elena Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Donkeys and goats are animals adapted to graze in understories, and thus contribute to the prevention of forest fires. In this work, the preferences of donkeys and goats have been determined for five key plant species of the Mediterranean forest, where large forest fires have increased as a result of global change. Using a multiple selection test, it has been observed that both species can complement each other, since donkeys consume more fine fuel, such as Brachypodium retusum, and goats, highly flammable woody species, such as Pinus halepensis. In this way, browsing becomes an ecosystem service, which, in the case of donkeys, can even help prevent their extinction. ABSTRACT: 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. MDPI 2020-07-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7459504/ /pubmed/32751439 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10081302 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Bartolomé, Jordi
Miró, Jordi
Panadès, Xavier
Broncano, Maria José
Plaixats, Josefina
Rigau, Teresa
Milán, Maria José
Baraza, Elena
Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species: Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard
title Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species: Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard
title_full Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species: Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard
title_fullStr Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species: Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard
title_full_unstemmed Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species: Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard
title_short Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species: Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard
title_sort preference by donkeys and goats among five mediterranean forest species: implications for reducing fire hazard
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7459504/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32751439
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10081302
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