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Changes in soil properties and plant biodiversity after 12 years of rehabilitating livestock farms in the Hyrcanian Forests

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Abstract

Livestock presence in forest ecosystems is considered a factor in forest destruction in developing countries; therefore, rehabilitation practices following livestock exclusion could be a good way to restore forests. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in the soil properties and plant biodiversity 12 years after applying fencing and planting in the livestock farms in the Hyrcanian Forests of Iran. First, three regions close to each other were selected and then four areas (treatments) were considered in each region: 1. An area under livestock use (L), 2. an enclosed area (E; with fences, established in 2007), 3. a planted area (P; established with Acer velutinum seedlings in 2007), and 4. a control area (C; natural forest); therefore, a total of 12 areas were considered. In each of the 12 areas, three plots (20 × 20 m) were randomly established (a total of 36 plots), and all the vascular plants in the herbaceous layer and woody species seedlings were recorded in order to study the biodiversity of the vegetation cover. One soil sample was taken from each plot to examine the physical and chemical properties of the soil. The results showed that bulk density, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and available potassium were not significantly different between the C, E, and P treatments. Rehabilitation practices improved the soil pH (P: 6.36 ± 0.06, E: 6.59 ± 0.08), EC (P: 0.86 ± 0.05, E: 0.82 ± 0.04 ds cm−1), total nitrogen (P: 0.31 ± 0.001, E: 0.31 ± 0.005), available phosphorus (P: 10.13 ± 2.22, E: 19.29 ± 2.43 mg kg−1), and available potassium (P: 1369.60 ± 31.06, E: 1898.80 ± 448.60 mg kg−1). The Margalef index was lower in the L area and no significant difference was observed between the E and P areas. Since the multivariate analysis (based on the vegetation and soil data) showed that P and E had more similarity to C, these treatments could accelerate the forest restoration process.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support from Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to thank Miss Maryam Asadian for her kind cooperation. Michael Lee provided valuable feedback on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Forest Sciences and Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran

    Seyed Mohammad Hojjati, Asieh Darzi, Hamed Asadi & Mahya Tafazoli

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Hojjati, S.M., Darzi, A., Asadi, H. et al. Changes in soil properties and plant biodiversity after 12 years of rehabilitating livestock farms in the Hyrcanian Forests. Agroforest Syst 95, 1493–1503 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-021-00658-y

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