O efeito do fogo nas respostas funcionais foliares de espécies forrageiras

• Ano de defesa: 2024
• Autor(a) principal: Furquim, Fernando Forster
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; Brasil; Zootecnia; UFSM; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia; Centro de Ciências Rurais
• Palavras-chave em Português: Atributos funcionais; Distúrbios; Espectro econômico foliar; Queima controlada; Vegetação campestre; Disturbances; Functional atributes; Grasslands; Leaf economic spectrum; Prescribed fire; CNPQ::CIENCIAS AGRARIAS::ZOOTECNIA
• Link de acesso: http://repositorio.ufsm.br/handle/1/33133

Globally, fire and grazing are the main agents of vegetation structure and ecosystem functioning in natural grasslands. Fire can alter plant species composition, affect nutrient cycling, improve forage quality and digestibility, and provide habitat for a wide range of biodiversity. Biomass removal by herbivores alters vegetation structure through direct (i.e., grazing) and indirect (e.g., trampling, fecal/urine deposition) effects, altering both botanical composition and vegetation structure. Given this, knowledge of the effects of these disturbances on plants is critical for the conservation of these grassland environments. Such effects act as selective agents for certain plant functional attributes that are related to photosynthesis and growth rates, such as specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf dry matter content (LDMC). Thus, through changes in these traits, in areas with different management systems, it is possible to predict potential changes in ecosystem processes, and such information can help in proposing future management of natural grasslands that reconcile animal production with environmental conservation. The subtropical grasslands of southern Brazil, an ecosystem considered fire-dependent and traditionally used as a forage base for domestic livestock, lack studies on different fire management systems. In this context, this project aims to evaluate, through functional traits, the response of forage plants subjected to different fire management systems. This proposal is unprecedented in the context of grassland vegetation management in southern Brazil, and the results generated can be incorporated into future management proposals that aim to optimize animal production through the use of fire.