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The effects of soil compaction and fertility on a threatened endemic palm species in a global conservation hotspot

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Abstract

Butia eriospatha (Mart. ex Drude) Becc. is a subtropical endemic palm tree that occurs in the Southern Brazilian Highlands. A vast area of its natural habitat has been lost by land-use changes, placing the species at high risk of extinction. Here, we investigated how environmental variables impact the structure of B. eriospatha populations. We randomly allocated 14,100 × 100 m plots, where all palms had the diameter at breast height (dbh) and the total height (th) measured. In the same plots, we collected data on edaphic, topographic, and land-use variables. The data were analysed by frequency histograms, factor analysis of mixed data, and regression trees. B. eriospatha’s size class frequencies tended towards a normal distribution, with few small individuals. We found that plots with flatter terrain had more compacted soils. The structure and biometrics traits of B. eriospatha’s populations were affected by the interaction between soil compaction and fertility. We conclude that sites with lower fertility and more compacted soils showed populations with lower abundance and basal area, and smaller individuals. Sustainable practices of soil management are required to prevent the species from becoming locally extinct.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for granting a scholarship to VDS, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for granting a research productivity scholarship to ACS and PH, and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Santa Catarina (FAPESC/PAP/UDESC) for funding this research.

Funding

This study was funded by Santa Catarina State Research and Innovation Funding Agency (PAP/UDESC), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forestry Department, Santa Catarina State University (UDESC), Av. Luiz de Camões, 2090 - Conta Dinheiro, Lages, SC, CEP: 88.520-000, Brazil

    Vanderlei dos Santos, Ana Carolina da Silva, Jaqueline Beatriz Brixner Dreyer, Maiara Fortuna Silveira, Monique Bohora Schlickmann, Giselli Castilho Moraes, Jéssica Talheimer Aguiar, Janaina Gabriela Larsen, Guilherme Neto dos Santos & Pedro Higuchi

  2. Department of Agriculture, Biodiversity and Forests (UFSC), Curitibanos, SC, Brazil

    Marcelo Callegari Scipioni

Authors
  1. Vanderlei dos Santos
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  2. Ana Carolina da Silva
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  3. Marcelo Callegari Scipioni
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  4. Jaqueline Beatriz Brixner Dreyer
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  5. Maiara Fortuna Silveira
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  6. Monique Bohora Schlickmann
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  7. Giselli Castilho Moraes
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  8. Jéssica Talheimer Aguiar
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  9. Janaina Gabriela Larsen
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  10. Guilherme Neto dos Santos
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  11. Pedro Higuchi
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Contributions

ACS, MCS, and PH, VS contributed to conceptualization and methodology. PH made software and performed formal analysis. ACS, MCS, PH, and VS validated the study. VS, MCS, JBBD, MFS, MBS, GCM, JTA, JGL, and GNS collected the data. ACS and MCS contributed to resources, data curation, and supervision. VS was involved in writing––original draft. VS, ACS, MCS, JBBD, MFS, MBS, GCM, JTA, JGL, GNS, and PH were involved in writing––review and editing. VS, ACS, MCS, JBBD, MFS, MBS, GCM, JTA, JGL, GNS, and PH contributed to visualization. ACS was involved in project administration and funding acquisition.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pedro Higuchi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals.

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Communicated by Martin Nunez.

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dos Santos, V., da Silva, A.C., Scipioni, M.C. et al. The effects of soil compaction and fertility on a threatened endemic palm species in a global conservation hotspot. Plant Ecol 222, 603–611 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-021-01128-2

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