IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i7p3950-d528980.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Diet Selection by Goats Grazing on the Vegetation of a Protected Pine Forest in Doñana Natural Park (SW Spain)

Author

Listed:
  • Juan Manuel Mancilla-Leytón

    (Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo 1095, 41080 Sevilla, Spain)

  • Rocío Fernández-Alés

    (Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo 1095, 41080 Sevilla, Spain)

  • Ángel Martín Vicente

    (Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo 1095, 41080 Sevilla, Spain)

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between feeding selection by goats and changes in plant species abundance in the shrubland of a pine forest in Doñana Natural Park along three years. The abundance of the shrub species was measured using the point-intercept method. Goat preferences for shrub species were determined through direct observation. Goats showed selective feeding, since their browsing behavior was not related to species abundance. Myrtus communis was the overall preferred species (almost half of the bites belonged to this species, despite its low abundance) throughout the monitored years and seasons. Half of the species were selected some years while discarded others; two species were never grazed ( Daphne gnidium and Thymus mastichina ) and nine others were always ingested below their abundance. Within a year, species were consumed in certain seasons but not in others. The detected changes in species abundance were not related to the feeding preferences of the goats. The influence that grazing selectivity exerts on vegetation composition and abundance has long been recognized, but our study suggests that the mechanical effect of grazing herbivores on vegetation (pawing, scratching, and lying) may portrait a more important role than attributed to date.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Manuel Mancilla-Leytón & Rocío Fernández-Alés & Ángel Martín Vicente, 2021. "Effects of Diet Selection by Goats Grazing on the Vegetation of a Protected Pine Forest in Doñana Natural Park (SW Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-10, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3950-:d:528980
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3950/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3950/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eduardo Morales-Jerrett & Juan Manuel Mancilla-Leytón & Manuel Delgado-Pertíñez & Yolanda Mena, 2020. "The Contribution of Traditional Meat Goat Farming Systems to Human Wellbeing and Its Importance for the Sustainability of This Livestock Subsector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Juan Manuel Mancilla-Leytón & Carmen Hernando & Jesús Cambrollé & Sara Muñoz-Vallés & Rafael Pino-Mejías & Ángel Martín Vicente, 2021. "Can Shrub Flammability be Affected by Goat Grazing? Flammability Parameters of Mediterranean Shrub Species under Grazing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Javier Pareja & Elena Baraza & Miguel Ibáñez & Oriol Domenech & Jordi Bartolomé, 2020. "The Role of Feral Goats in Maintaining Firebreaks by Using Attractants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-14, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Juan Manuel Mancilla-Leytón & Carmen Hernando & Jesús Cambrollé & Sara Muñoz-Vallés & Rafael Pino-Mejías & Ángel Martín Vicente, 2021. "Can Shrub Flammability be Affected by Goat Grazing? Flammability Parameters of Mediterranean Shrub Species under Grazing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Christina Paraskevopoulou & Alexandros Theodoridis & Marion Johnson & Athanasios Ragkos & Lisa Arguile & Laurence Smith & Dimitrios Vlachos & Georgios Arsenos, 2020. "Sustainability Assessment of Goat and Sheep Farms: A Comparison between European Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-23, April.
    3. Rafael Celaya & Luis M. M. Ferreira & José M. Lorenzo & Noemí Echegaray & Santiago Crecente & Emma Serrano & Juan Busqué, 2022. "Livestock Management for the Delivery of Ecosystem Services in Fire-Prone Shrublands of Atlantic Iberia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
    4. Juan Manuel Mancilla-Leytón & Djamila Gribis & Claudio Pozo-Campos & Eduardo Morales-Jerrett & Yolanda Mena & Jesús Cambrollé & Ángel Martín Vicente, 2022. "Ecosystem Services Provided by Pastoral Husbandry: A Bibliometric Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-13, November.
    5. Manuel Bertomeu & Javier Pineda & Fernando Pulido, 2022. "Managing Wildfire Risk in Mosaic Landscapes: A Case Study of the Upper Gata River Catchment in Sierra de Gata, Spain," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-26, March.
    6. Sara Muñoz Vallés & Juan Manuel Mancilla-Leytón & Eduardo Morales-Jerrett & Yolanda Mena, 2021. "Natural Carbon Sinks Linked to Pastoral Activity in S Spain: A Territorial Evaluation Methodology for Mediterranean Goat Grazing Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3950-:d:528980. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.