Abstract

GARCIA, Mary Carolina; MENESES, Rosa Isela; NAOKI, Kazuya  and  ANTHELME, Fabien. Methods to evaluate the effects of domestic herbivores on the vegetation communities of bofedales. Ecología en Bolivia [online]. 2014, vol.49, n.3, pp.91-103. ISSN 1605-2528.

Bofedales are azonal, high-Andean wetlands dominated by cushion-forming vascular plants. Among other ecosystem services, they provide a crucial resource in nutrients for domestic herbivores, for centuries. Herbivores are generally known to affect both the composition and the species richness of plant communities. In bofedales, beyond this direct effect, herbivores are also expected to impact severely plant communities across changes in the direction and intensity of plant-plant interactions between the dominant, cushion species (Juncaceae) and their associated species. In the Cordillera Real of Bolivia, bofedales are dominated by two cushion species: Distichia muscoides and Oxychloe andina. Our objective is to provide a panel of easy-to-use methods designed to evaluate precisely the direct and indirect (through changes in plant-plant interactions) impacts of domestic herbivores on the organization and the dynamics of bofedales' plant communities. We present methods both at community and population levels, discussing the observational vs. the experimental approaches. We describe in details the use of exclusion fences in order to experimentally remove the effects of herbivores in situ and we propose pertinent physiological and morphological indices so as to estimate the health of plant communities.

Keywords : Cushion plants; Distichia muscoides; Oxychloe andina; Plant-plant interactions; Transplant.

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