American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

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Tree Cover on Cattle Farms in the Southeast Region of Guatemala

Received: 26 February 2019    Accepted: 09 April 2019    Published: 07 May 2019
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Abstract

Often livestock activity is related to deforestation and loss of natural resources such as soil and water quality and quantity. The strategies that come from this perception seek the minimization of livestock effect of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. Silvopastoral systems is been used as an alternative to increase tree cover on livestock farms, mitigate the effects of climate change, and make farmers more resilient to these. Tree cover plays an important role inside of this system, they can help with the optimization of the land use on the farm and it provides socioeconomical and environmental benefits to the farmers. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterize livestock farms and the floristic composition of tree cover in the southeast region of Guatemala. This region belongs to the dry corridor of Central America and present high vulnerability to drought. Thirty farms were selected using seven criteria, on each farms a socioeconomical survey was applied to recollect biophysical, socioeconomical and productive information. Two groups of farms were identified: 1) farms with high level technological innovation (HLTI) and 2) farms with low level of technological innovation (LLTI). Tree data were obtained from individuals with diameter above breast height (DBH) of >5 cm. Composition, richness and abundance of tree species were evaluated using Q-Hill Diversity Index. Seven land uses were identified: scattered trees in paddocks, natural forest, agrisilvicultural systems, fodder banks, forest plantations, riparian forest and living fences. Study area were 790 ha in which there were 143 plots distributed randomly, living fences were present in 1.691 km (169.1 ha) with 44 transects. A total of 4,678 trees, from 37 families and 83 species, were found in the area. The most abundant families were Fabaceae and Pinaceae. The most common tree species for timber were Pinus spp and Quercus spp and for non-timber were Gliricidia sepium and Acacia pennatula. It was found that 77.27% of the total inventory is dominated by ten species. We conclude that farmers consider tree cover of importance, this is reflected in the 29% of tree cover found inside of natural forests, 26.2% in scattered trees in paddocks and 7.9% in forest plantations. There were marked differences of richness by individuals, density of species accumulated by land use and diametrical class.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajaf.20190702.14
Published in American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry (Volume 7, Issue 2, March 2019)
Page(s) 66-77
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Dry Region, Floristic Composition, Livestock Farm Typologies, Richness and Abundance of Species, Silvopastoral Systems

References
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[37] Villanueva, C; Detlefsen, G; Casasola, F. 2018. Potencial de los sistemas silvopastoriles en la mitigación al cambio climático y en la generación de múltiples beneficios en fincas ganaderas de Costa Rica. Turrialba, Costa Rica. 61 p. No. 87.
[38] Chacón León, M; Harvey, CA. 2008. Contribución de las cercas vivas a la estructura y la conectividad de un paisaje fragmentado en Rio Frio, Costa Rica. In A, HC; C., SJ (eds.). Evaluación y conservación de la biodiversidad en paisajes fragmentados de Mesoamérica. Heredia, Costa Rica. p. 225-248.
[39] Camargo, J. C; Ibrahim, M; Somarriba, E; Finegan, B; Current, D. 2000. Factores ecológicos y socioeconómicos que influyen en la regeneración natural de laurel en sistemas silvopastoriles del trópico húmedo y subhúmedo de Costa Rica. Agroforestería en las Américas. 7 (26): 46-49.
[40] Bautista-Tolentino, M; López-Ortíz, S; Pérez-Hernández, P; Vargas-Mendoza, M; Gallardo-Lopez, F; Gómez-Merino, FC. 2011. Agro and Silvopastoral system in the community El Limón, Paso de Ovejas, Veracruz, México. Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystem. 14:63-76
[41] León, P. 2010. Analysis of forest financing in Guatemala. Ciudad Guatemala, Guatemala. Consulted 20 Ago.2018. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/esa/forests/pdf/aheg/aheg1/Guatemala_case_study.pdf
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Author Information
  • Agroforestry and Sustainable Agriculture, Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), Turrialba, Costa Rica

  • Agroforestry and Sustainable Agriculture Program, CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica

  • Agroforestry and Sustainable Agriculture Program, CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica

  • Forest, Biodiversity and Climate Change Program, CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica

  • Unit of Biostatistics, CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica

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  • APA Style

    Jennifer Solis, Cristóbal Villanueva, Guillermo Detlefsen, Christian Brenes, Sergio Vilchez. (2019). Tree Cover on Cattle Farms in the Southeast Region of Guatemala. American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 7(2), 66-77. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20190702.14

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    ACS Style

    Jennifer Solis; Cristóbal Villanueva; Guillermo Detlefsen; Christian Brenes; Sergio Vilchez. Tree Cover on Cattle Farms in the Southeast Region of Guatemala. Am. J. Agric. For. 2019, 7(2), 66-77. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20190702.14

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    AMA Style

    Jennifer Solis, Cristóbal Villanueva, Guillermo Detlefsen, Christian Brenes, Sergio Vilchez. Tree Cover on Cattle Farms in the Southeast Region of Guatemala. Am J Agric For. 2019;7(2):66-77. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20190702.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajaf.20190702.14,
      author = {Jennifer Solis and Cristóbal Villanueva and Guillermo Detlefsen and Christian Brenes and Sergio Vilchez},
      title = {Tree Cover on Cattle Farms in the Southeast Region of Guatemala},
      journal = {American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry},
      volume = {7},
      number = {2},
      pages = {66-77},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajaf.20190702.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20190702.14},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajaf.20190702.14},
      abstract = {Often livestock activity is related to deforestation and loss of natural resources such as soil and water quality and quantity. The strategies that come from this perception seek the minimization of livestock effect of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. Silvopastoral systems is been used as an alternative to increase tree cover on livestock farms, mitigate the effects of climate change, and make farmers more resilient to these. Tree cover plays an important role inside of this system, they can help with the optimization of the land use on the farm and it provides socioeconomical and environmental benefits to the farmers. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterize livestock farms and the floristic composition of tree cover in the southeast region of Guatemala. This region belongs to the dry corridor of Central America and present high vulnerability to drought. Thirty farms were selected using seven criteria, on each farms a socioeconomical survey was applied to recollect biophysical, socioeconomical and productive information. Two groups of farms were identified: 1) farms with high level technological innovation (HLTI) and 2) farms with low level of technological innovation (LLTI). Tree data were obtained from individuals with diameter above breast height (DBH) of >5 cm. Composition, richness and abundance of tree species were evaluated using Q-Hill Diversity Index. Seven land uses were identified: scattered trees in paddocks, natural forest, agrisilvicultural systems, fodder banks, forest plantations, riparian forest and living fences. Study area were 790 ha in which there were 143 plots distributed randomly, living fences were present in 1.691 km (169.1 ha) with 44 transects. A total of 4,678 trees, from 37 families and 83 species, were found in the area. The most abundant families were Fabaceae and Pinaceae. The most common tree species for timber were Pinus spp and Quercus spp and for non-timber were Gliricidia sepium and Acacia pennatula. It was found that 77.27% of the total inventory is dominated by ten species. We conclude that farmers consider tree cover of importance, this is reflected in the 29% of tree cover found inside of natural forests, 26.2% in scattered trees in paddocks and 7.9% in forest plantations. There were marked differences of richness by individuals, density of species accumulated by land use and diametrical class.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Tree Cover on Cattle Farms in the Southeast Region of Guatemala
    AU  - Jennifer Solis
    AU  - Cristóbal Villanueva
    AU  - Guillermo Detlefsen
    AU  - Christian Brenes
    AU  - Sergio Vilchez
    Y1  - 2019/05/07
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20190702.14
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajaf.20190702.14
    T2  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
    JF  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
    JO  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
    SP  - 66
    EP  - 77
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-8591
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20190702.14
    AB  - Often livestock activity is related to deforestation and loss of natural resources such as soil and water quality and quantity. The strategies that come from this perception seek the minimization of livestock effect of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. Silvopastoral systems is been used as an alternative to increase tree cover on livestock farms, mitigate the effects of climate change, and make farmers more resilient to these. Tree cover plays an important role inside of this system, they can help with the optimization of the land use on the farm and it provides socioeconomical and environmental benefits to the farmers. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterize livestock farms and the floristic composition of tree cover in the southeast region of Guatemala. This region belongs to the dry corridor of Central America and present high vulnerability to drought. Thirty farms were selected using seven criteria, on each farms a socioeconomical survey was applied to recollect biophysical, socioeconomical and productive information. Two groups of farms were identified: 1) farms with high level technological innovation (HLTI) and 2) farms with low level of technological innovation (LLTI). Tree data were obtained from individuals with diameter above breast height (DBH) of >5 cm. Composition, richness and abundance of tree species were evaluated using Q-Hill Diversity Index. Seven land uses were identified: scattered trees in paddocks, natural forest, agrisilvicultural systems, fodder banks, forest plantations, riparian forest and living fences. Study area were 790 ha in which there were 143 plots distributed randomly, living fences were present in 1.691 km (169.1 ha) with 44 transects. A total of 4,678 trees, from 37 families and 83 species, were found in the area. The most abundant families were Fabaceae and Pinaceae. The most common tree species for timber were Pinus spp and Quercus spp and for non-timber were Gliricidia sepium and Acacia pennatula. It was found that 77.27% of the total inventory is dominated by ten species. We conclude that farmers consider tree cover of importance, this is reflected in the 29% of tree cover found inside of natural forests, 26.2% in scattered trees in paddocks and 7.9% in forest plantations. There were marked differences of richness by individuals, density of species accumulated by land use and diametrical class.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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