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Rasgos-CL: A functional trait database of Chilean woody plants
Due to language and networking barriers, global initiatives to compile trait data often fail to integrate data from sources in non-English languages or scientists that largely speak and write in non-English languages. To illustrate the potential for regional databases to fill gaps in trait data, and how such databases may fill critical gaps in global biodiversity databases, we built the Rasgos-CL Database. Rasgos-CL provides a comprehensive set of plant traits for the woody flora of Chile by mobilizing and standardizing unstructured data largely from the Spanish-language literature. We quantified the gains in trait coverage compared to global trait databases and identified phylogenetic and geographic biases of trait data gaps. Rasgos-CL contains 25,174 trait records, including 2 continuous and 21 categorical traits for 662 woody species.
Alfaro, Elías-Pérez Tello, Valentina-Acevedo Tapia, Manuel-Ovalle, Juan F.-Segovia, Ricardo-Craven, Dylan
2023
Shrub influences on seedling performance when restoring the slow‐growing conifer Pilgerodendron uviferum in southern bog forests
Forest restoration is most efficient if it can take advantage of facilitative interactions between established vegetation and planted trees. However, positive and negative interactions have been identified in a number of plant communities. After centuries of anthropogenic fires, forest recovery has been extremely slow in southern bog forests previously dominated by the slow‐growing and vulnerable conifer Pilgerodendron uviferum on Chiloé Island, Chile. Today, the landscape is dominated by secondary shrublands with scattered patches of Sphagnum moss and limited natural tree regeneration. We hypothesized that the retention of secondary shrubs facilitates the early performance of P. uviferum restoration plantings by providing better microsite conditions. To test this hypothesis, we compared the response of seedlings planted on sites prepared at two levels of intervention: after shrubs had been removed or where shrubs were retained. Shrub retention showed a nurse‐plant effect on P. uviferum seedlings 4 years after planting, which resulted in reduced physiological stress (measured as Fv/Fm) for seedlings, as well as reduced browsing. Consequently, the seedlings growing in areas with shrub retention had larger height increment and higher vitality than those in areas where shrubs had been removed. Thus, the more open micro‐site conditions created by shrub removal resulted in generally poorer seedling performance, although seedling mortality—which was low overall (approximately 2–4%)—showed no significant difference between the two levels of intervention. These findings have direct implications for the restoration of slow‐growing conifers that can tolerate extreme wet conditions in highly degraded forests.
Bannister, Jan R.-Travieso, Germán-Galindo Castillo, Nicole-Acevedo Tapia, Manuel-Puettmann, Klaus J.-Salas Eljatib, Christian
2020
Major bottlenecks for the restoration of natural forests in Chile
International agreements combined with the recent Chilean Forestry Policy (2015–2035) represent a challenge and an opportunity for forest landscape restoration in Chile. Nevertheless, restoring over 500,000 ha using mainly native species seems like a daunting task by 2035. Here, we discuss the three major bottlenecks that currently constrain the restoration efforts of forest ecosystems in Chile. First, Chile urgently needs a national strategic plan for forest landscape restoration, which should take into account mid- and long-term goals. There is also a need to prioritize resource allocation for efficient use, promoting the creation of economic subsidies for restoration that consider different types of forest ecosystems. Second, there is a great need for better nursery protocols in plant production as well as to strengthen educational programs for professional and technical training, given the lack of high-quality personnel in Chilean nurseries. This would help increase the currently limited national plant supply, improving quality and increasing the diversity of native species suitable for forest restoration. Lastly, taking advantage of novel eco-technological tools and promoting innovative plantation design would help to overcome the usually deficient results in the establishment phase, leading to higher survival rates and promoting better performance of native species. Beyond current experiments that are relatively efficient on a small spatial scale, the practice of forest restoration needs to become massive and successful at a landscape scale. More and better applied research is crucial for improving the impact of forest landscape restoration, so that Chile can achieve its forest restoration challenge in the next decade.
Bannister, Jan R.-Vargas-Gaete, Rodrigo-Ovalle, Juan F.-Acevedo Tapia, Manuel-Fuentes-Ramírez, Andrés-Donoso, Pablo J.-Promis, Alvaro-Smith-Ramírez, Cecilia
2018
Hillslope soil erosion and mobility in pine plantations and native deciduous forest in the coastal range of south‐Central Chile
Significant areas of Latin America, and especially of Chile, have been forested with forest plantations to provide timber and fiber and to decrease soil erosion after deforestation. Despite their potential contribution to reducing erosion processes, the magnitude of this decline has not been adequately assessed. In this study, we estimated soil loss and mobility for one year on steep hillslopes using the traditional erosion‐pin approach at five micro‐catchments planted with Pinus radiata with different stand ages and compared them to an adjacent secondary broadleaf Nothofagus sp. native forest. Annual net soil loss (ASL) positively correlated with cumulative rainfall (R2 = .49, p < .001). ASL averaged 65.03 ± 9.8 mg ha−1 yr−1, with the lowest ASL in the natural forest with 21.4 ± 3.1 mg ha−1 yr−1 and the highest in one of the 1‐year‐old plantation micro‐catchments (88.9 ± 9.3 mg ha−1 yr−1). ASL under plantation stands of different ages displayed no significant differences. All areas showed similar net soil loss index values, averaging 83.0 ± 1%, suggesting that most of the sediment left the hillslope. The RUSLE model predicted ASL moderately well across all sites and conditions (0.41, p = .018), but it tends to underestimate ASL, particularly for native forests. On average, soils on hilly terrain under plantation forest may suffer losses up to four times greater than natural forests. The latter stresses the need to improve our understanding of erosive processes that may be still active under planted forest, and to better assess the effect of management practices on soil erosion, particularly on previously highly degraded and erodible soils.
Aburto, Felipe-Cartes Rodríguez, Eduardo-Mardones, Oscar-Rubilar, Rafael
2021
Fall fertilization during nursery production increases nitrogen status of Purshia tridentata seedlings: implications for outplanting
During container nursery production of Purshia tridentata (antelope bitterbrush), we found that three fall fertilization applications successfully loaded plants with nitrogen (N) with little effect on plant biomass. Using 15N-labeled fertilizer to track N movements, we observed that N-loaded seedlings attained luxury consumption and ultimately translocated more N toward roots. In trees, such N-loading efforts have been reported to increase seedling survival and growth after outplanting by improving initial root growth. This leads to enhanced access to water and nutrients that increases overall plant competitiveness and performance. Our results add, in general, to the paucity of information concerning fall fertilization of shrubs, and specifically that this technique offers promise to enhance the quality of antelope bitterbrush seedlings. This could improve overall planting success of this important shrub native to western United States rangelands. Increasing the effectiveness of planting antelope bitterbrush, which can often improve restoration trajectories more than direct seeding or reliance on natural regeneration of this species, could accelerate the pace and scope of critical habitat restoration. Restoration is needed as antelope bitterbrush abundance has been reduced across the landscape because of conversion to agriculture, invasion by nonnative annual grasses, and an increase in fire frequency and intensity, among other reasons. In addition, this species provides browse for ungulates and critical habitat for at-risk species, such as Centrocercus urophasianus (greater sage-grouse). Although N loading antelope bitterbrush has potential to improve outplanting performance, the resulting higher nutrient status of this preferred browse species may lead to elevated browsing during seedling establishment.
Dumroese, R. Kasten-Zhu, Yan-Acevedo Tapia, Manuel-Pinto, Jeremiah R.-Álvarez, Carolina-Liu, Yong
2023

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