taller silvopastoril en RFM

En Ricardo Flores Magón están echándole muchas ganas para desarrollar una ganadería basada en un buen manejo del pastizal y del ganado, así como integrar sistemas silvopastoriles. Asistimos a un taller (6-8 diciembre) que trató estos temas, y de paso conocimos al grupo y platicamos algunas ideas de colaboración. Hay motivación, curiosidad y ganas de trabajar.

Algunos momentos del evento...

cosechando un metro cuadrado de pasto

pasto cubano de corte

preparando un silaje de pasto cubano con matarratón (Gliricidia sepium)

pastando agusto

buen uso de mesas y sillas

no faltó la barbacoa y una cerveza (con holandés!)

la lechería - quesería avanzando

in the field

he got by with a little help from local friends

Kieran's been bussy in the field. Putting in long days and plenty of hikes to find the sample locations he had randomly assigned in the mountains. His circular plots are 1000 square meters and the measurements plenty; that feels like quite a big area when you're out in the field (and even more when the slope is over 100%). These sample units will provide valuable information on forest structure and composition, and lots of data for him to work with. All the best.

paddock fence hikes

There was collective interest in these potreros, fenced paddocks where cattle grazing and other farming activities take place. We had mapped just a couple of them and so the next task at hand was to do more, that is, to follow the fence and map the boundaries of these fields (baptized as 'Land Management Units').

Walking some parts of these paddocks were pretty straightforward (literally), others took us through bushy canyons, winding ridges and steep mountaintops. Long and rewarding hikes, last week we got fifteen done.

Looking for the next paddock in good company

Kieran and Marcelo going for it

the hiking routes - paddock fences

One morning was also spent tagging along the weekly tree-scratching route, which ensures that pine resin keeps flowing.

pine trees, resin tappers and tarantula

forefront meeting @ Sepultura

30 October to 2 November, 2016

And they came to visit!, (almost) the whole Forefront team spent some days up and down La Sepultura, hiking, chatting, digging soils, gorging on barbacoa, comparing leaves, acorn-whistling tunes and discussing all things considered.

This is indeed a magnificent team...
and a small sample of pictures from all the things that happened during these four days.

me and my supervisor -said Ale.

John shows us how it's done

Los Laureles

the crew

platicando pues

the fellowship of the resin

it's about nature after all

Kieran and Elsbeth

Two great MSc students from Wageningen arrived to La Sepultura, enter Elsbeth and Kieran. Fine-tuning their research ideas, what better than to go on long hikes so that minds get creative and distracted by sore legs.

We'll hear more from them soon.

¡Bienvenidos!

hike around "Los Altos de Jalisco" - October 13

cooling feet

about to dip in the pool

pinos - fuego - ganado

Dos días de campo en compañía de Marco Braasch, candidato a PhD de ECOSUR. Mucha caminata, mucha plática, para aprender sobre la relación del fuego y los bosques de pino (dominados por Pinus oocarpa), la regeneración del bosque, los pastos nativos e introducidos y el papel del ganado en todo ello. Por California y Tres Picos recorrimos el terreno para visitar cada una de las unidades experimentales, exclusiones de ganado con distintos tratamientos, y realizar las mediciones necesarias. Es muy interesante visitar el sitio de estudio con alguien que ha ya trabajado ahí por un par de años; las vacas en lo suyo y nosotros también.

Two field-days in the company of Marco Braasch, PhD candidate at ECOSUR. We did a lot of walking and talking, to learn about the relation of fire and pine forests (dominated by Pinus oocarpa), forest regeneration, native and introduced grasses and the role of livestock in it all. We roamed the hills of California and Tres Picos to visit each experimental unit, cattle exclusions with different treatments, and do the necessary measurements. It's very interesting to visit the study site with someone who has worked there for a couple of years; the cows were doing their thing and so were we.

un Marco bien aplicado (y peinado)

vacas en el bosque o viceversa / cows in the fields or viceversa

La frontera forestal se presenta de diferentes maneras. Hay una zona núcleo, de conservación, donde es evidente que "ahí empieza el bosque". Pero los árboles y bosques también están dispersos a través del territorio, a veces (aparentemente) aislados en medio de un campo, otras veces en lugares específicos como cañadas, las partes altas de las colinas o a los costados de los arroyos. Tratándose de campos de pastoreo para ganado, no sólo se encuentra uno con pastos y hierbas, pero de hecho con áreas boscosas también. Sí, la ganadería extensiva permite que las vacas entren en el bosque y causen disturbios, pero también podría argumentarse que los árboles y los bosques son parte integral de un sistema ganadero...y posiblemente estén -bien- valuados.

pine trees in pastures / pinos en pastizales

hilltops, ravines, fences, fields: trees in the landscape
colinas, cañadas, cercos, campos: árboles en el paisaje

The forest frontier presents itself in many ways. There is the conservation, core zone, where it can be evident that "the forest starts there". But trees and forests are also scattered throughout the territory, sometimes (apparently) isolated in the middle of a field, other times in specific places like ravines, the top of hills or alongside streams. When it comes to livestock grazing fields, it's not only grass and herbs that you'll encounter, but actually, patches of forest too. Yes, extensive cattle farming allows for cows to go into the forest causing disturbance, but you could also argue that trees and forests are an integral part of livestock systems...and maybe -well- valued.

sword-tailed beautymark

Rhetus arcius

spotted on 1st October, by the stream
observada el 1ero de octubre, por el arroyo

the herbs around the grass

When it comes to plants, I usually look up to (for) trees. And thus I had come with the idea of focusing on them. Particularly in pastures, the presence of trees and their relation to the agroecosystem has always been intriguing. So called silvopastoral systems aim to combine the best of two worlds, lots of grassy forage for livestock and a broad array of multi-purpose trees. As a fan of agroforestry (putting trees on farms), I'm biased towards the latter. But I'm just realizing that the non-woody vegetation is just as fascinating. It's quite evident that some 'pastures', particularly those that are managed in a certain way (more on that later), are teeming with plant diversity. And one wonders about the role of these herbs and shrubs, if they are also foraged and are they nutritious, if they compete with grasses and/or they enhance their quality, if bees appreciate a flowery field and if farmers do too, if different roots below mean better things above...plant diveristy is important...right now it feels to be so.

pasture plant diversity

host a spider

We came across this striking plant of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), locally known as "lechita" because of the milky sap it contains. One farmer mentioned it's foraged by cattle, although I wonder because its latex-like sap probably tastes pretty bad and could be somewhat toxic.

Euphorbia heterophylla

There was more to it: the flower structure seemed to be a favourite hunting ground for this spider.

And it was quite bussy.

the first hike

Our introduction to La Sepultura started with a great hike.

Got as far as we could with the truck at "La Envidia" ranch and then started walking. Just a few minutes into the hike and coffee fields were all around us. Fortunately, coffee plants were looking good despite past damage caused by coffee rust (later we learned that some producers were applying preventive fungicides and planting resistant varieties).

We were looking into the canopy when we noticed that many Heliocarpus trees had their leaves quite perforated. These guys appear to be the culprits:

Zats

Huge gregarious caterpillars from a moth species (Sarturniidae ?). In some parts of Chiapas they call them 'zats' (in the indigenous Tzotzil language) and they say they're delicious :) Culinary curiosities aside, it would be interesting to find out how their frass (droppings) contributes to soil fertility, because there was lots of it on the ground, and many of these infested trees grow in coffee fields. Zats flavoured coffee is what I'm thinking.

Another thing that I found amazing is that farmers that had cleared their coffee fields (from understory plants and weeds) had spared Ceratozamia (Zamiaceae) individuals. This group of cycads is endangered, and so it's encouraging to see these conscious practices in the field. I'm interested to find out how this came to be.

Ceratozamia leaf

Soon enough we entered the forest and hiked our way up to around 1,650 meters a.s.l. Nature abundance! Trees, plants, butterflies, fungi...

fig tree and a Luis hand

Parasitic plant Helosis mexicana

The way down was a bit slower than the way up, we had to cross some abandoned fields with thick vegetation. Our guide made good use of his machete and everyone was in good spirits.

The ECOSUR-Forefront team

the only way through (is striking a pose)

finally out of the forest

What a wonderful introduction to our research site! and dinner at Doña Chonita's was just as great.

First visit to La Sepultura!!

One week in La Sepultura!

Our field site is very green right now!! It´s been raining and maize and bean production are doing good according to people from Los Angeles... Ejido Los Angeles here at the Biosphere Reserve La Sepultura, I´m not talking about the city in California!!! :P

Well... we can also brag about California (another ejido) where resine extraction from pine is taking place...

We had a glance at many land uses here: coffee farms, cattle and pastures, maize and beans...

It´s a very complex and dynamic matrix and last week we met some producers that are interested in conserving nature and providing for their families... and we´ll have the opportunity to work with them!!

Can we take a peak at your field sites??

Abrazo!

arriving

Just arrived to ECOSUR, my host institution in Mexico, and basically the base from which I'll do my fieldwork for the next few years. San Cristóbal de las Casas is now my home, and this room from where I'm writting my new 'office'. What better moment to start a blog, which I hope will be shared by PhDs and postdocs involved in the FOREFRONT program.

Only a month ago I was cycling through Wageningen University when this sign caught my attention. Nothing out of the ordinary for a big building from a big institution, but curiously, asides from not having noticed it until the last days of my six-month stay here, it reflects my/our research topic, that of ecosystem services and the 'delivery of goods'.

Cheers,
welcome all!