Interacción planta-animal en el contexto de sistemas productivos desarrollados en distintos ambientes ecológicos

Abstract

The study of factors that drive the spatial patterns and distribution of the grazing of domestic herbivores is central to the discipline of natural resource ecology and management. Although ranchers and rangeland professionals conduct annual or seasonal stocking rate adjustments to influence animal habitat preference and achieve efficient use of forage resource, the management of the distribution of livestock continues to be a major challenge. The heterogeneity of rangeland grazing environments has both spatial and temporal dimensions, which pose significant challenges to the understanding of the factors that drive livestock habitat selection decisions. The manuscript starts with a review of the current conceptual models of livestock foraging behavior at large spatial scale, whereafter some results of studies conducted in contrasting range biomes of Argentina and New Mexico (EEUU) are presented. In those studies the grazing behavior of animals with or without GPS-collars was monitored which contributed to a gradual improvement of grazing management decisions on rangelands. In the final section of the manuscript are briefly some considerations presented related with livestock management in Ecuador and the importance of the animal-plant interaction approach that we believe can contribute to improving the sustainability of livestock production systems.