Effects of harvesting intensity and site conditions on biomass production of northern Patagonia shrublands
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Effects of harvesting intensity and site conditions on biomass production of northern Patagonia shrublands Matías G. Goldenberg1,2 · Facundo J. Oddi1,2 · Mariano M. Amoroso1,2 · Lucas A. Garibaldi1,2 Received: 2 September 2019 / Revised: 29 April 2020 / Accepted: 19 May 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Forest biomass with energy purpose is gaining importance. Although there is a lot of information about afforestation for energy purpose, native resource management for biofuel production is a less studied topic. Consequently, generating information about management of local forest types that have potential for providing biomass for energy, such as resprouting shrublands, becomes a priority objective. We evaluated the effects of harvesting intensity on coppice growth in three resprouting shrublands with contrasting site conditions in northern Patagonia (Argentina). At each site, three harvesting treatments in strips of increasing width were randomly assigned to six permanent plots of 31.5 × 45 m during 2013–2014. Four years after, we measured resprouts (number and size of stems) of the five native dominant species. We found that almost all species responded to harvesting intensity by enhancing the coppice growth rates. Nonetheless, species showed different strategies for resource obtention. When analyzing at the community level, the response to harvesting intensity was consistent among the hillside sites, but conservative in the valley bottom site with the worst environmental conditions. Due to the high response of these species to harvesting intensity, we conclude that intense shrubland management for biomass commercialization could be a viable option depending on site conditions. Keywords Bioenergy · Coppicing · Woodlands
Introduction Sustainable use of renewable energy sources is essential to face current global change challenges. While energy use of forest biomass reduces the dependency on non-renewable energy sources, and thus on greenhouse gas emissions, it also generates pressure on forest resources; therefore, Communicated by Lluís Coll. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-020-01292-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Matías G. Goldenberg [email protected] 1
Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Mitre 630, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina
Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina
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sustainable management plans are necessary. Shrublands have suitable properties for energy production, and biomass derived from these ecosystems is gaining importance (González-González et al. 2017). Indeed, this forest type has the potential to complement biomass derived from clearing, thinning or pruning,
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