Assessment of browsed plants in a sub-tropical forest frontier by means of fuzzy inference

Yanus A. Dechnik-Vázquez*, Luis García-Barrios, Neptalí Ramírez-Marcial, Meine van Noordwijk, Armando Alayón-Gamboa

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Browsing of forest frontiers by cattle in sub-tropical landscapes is detrimental to ecosystem health, but essential to smallholder livelihoods. We described a silvopastoral landscape, searching for browsed plants to assess how much of the forest is actually used for this end, and also searching for potential new useful species for silvopastoral purposes. The first objective was accomplished through a floristic description, making observations of individuals with browsing marks. Information from interviews, bromatological analyses and vegetative propagation tests further complemented this information to achieve the second objective. We classified the results using Fuzzy Inference Systems (FISs). A great variety of nutritious browsed plants was found, distributed across various types of vegetation, growth habits and taxonomic groups: forest frontiers already are like silvopastoral systems. Various plants like Acalypha leptopoda, Montanoa tomentosa and Verbesina perymenioides are interesting prospects for further intensification of silvopastoral systems.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)163-181
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Environmental Management
Volume236
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Apr 2019

Keywords

  • Agroforestry
  • Browsing
  • Cattle
  • Fuzzy inference
  • Silvopastoral systems

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