Riparian forest recovery following a decade of cattle exclusion in the Colombian Andes

Background

Throughout Latin America, intensive silvopastoral systems (SPS) have been promoted in the face of large-scale international challenges in order to foster forest restoration and deliver key ecological and economical services. These systems increase cattle production on certain lands while removing cattle from other marginal areas with the aim to restore. While there has been extensive acknowledgement of the value of remnant riparian forests, there has been limited studies have examined how these forest recover on abandoned agricultural lands. This study seeks to fill that gap.  

Goals & Methods

The aim of the study was to evaluate the conservation value of regenerating riparian forests in a landscape with high biodiversity but was also previously used for intensive agriculture.  Conducted in the La Vieja River watershed of the Colombian Andes, the study measured forest structure and composition in 20 sites which had been fenced off over a decade ago for restoration as part of a SPS initiative. These sites were then compared to other remnant riparian forests in the region, each of which had undergone human managment.

Conclusions & Takeaways

The study found that woody species richness and basal area was higher in the regenerated forests but proportion of large-seeded, later successional, animal-dispersed species were similar in both. Moreover, both forests had similar dominant tree species yet Guadua angustifolia was more abundant in the remnant forests. The authors found these results encouraging since they suggest that regenerating riparian forests can play a role in both forest recovery and natural succession.