Variation in pastoral vegetation in Piedmont following to the change of flock management because of wolf predation -On the whole Piedmont alpine chain, sheep and goats breeding has always represented an important activity allowing - till today – the utilization and conservation of valley floors and, mainly, of high mountain territory. The social, economic and technical changed conditions have nevertheless imposed substantial variations onto the organization of flocks breeding and pastoral system, mainly in concomitance with the ascertained presence of wolves, since the beginning of 90’s. Small ruminants’ breeding activity on mountain pastures, highly influenced by the defence against the predator, has more manifestly adopted - in the last decade - different steps to reduce the number of attacks. These consist above all in the use of electric fence for delimiting pens (corrals), of guarding dogs, and in a few cases, also of other systems (lighting devices, sound deterrent devices etc). The present study carried out in Piedmont in 2011 within ProPast Project (Pastoral breeding sustainability: identifying and carrying out intervention and support actions financed by Piedmont Region) on a sample of ten alpine summer pastures concerned by wolves return for more than ten years has confirmed that adoption of these systems and the consequent variations in flock management has jeopardized the conservation of high mountain pastoral resources. Observations on vegetation have allowed to verify that – as an effect of the new type of animal management consisting in giving them night shelter in enclosures thus transferring their fertility from pastures to the same enclosures - vegetation and production exhaustion has occurred which has brought about the trivialization of vegetation and the disappearance of cenosis of pastoral, environmental and cultural interest.

Variazione della vegetazione pastorale in Piemonte a seguito del cambiamento nella gestione del gregge per la predazione da lupo

BATTAGLINI, Luca Maria;RENNA, Manuela
2012-01-01

Abstract

Variation in pastoral vegetation in Piedmont following to the change of flock management because of wolf predation -On the whole Piedmont alpine chain, sheep and goats breeding has always represented an important activity allowing - till today – the utilization and conservation of valley floors and, mainly, of high mountain territory. The social, economic and technical changed conditions have nevertheless imposed substantial variations onto the organization of flocks breeding and pastoral system, mainly in concomitance with the ascertained presence of wolves, since the beginning of 90’s. Small ruminants’ breeding activity on mountain pastures, highly influenced by the defence against the predator, has more manifestly adopted - in the last decade - different steps to reduce the number of attacks. These consist above all in the use of electric fence for delimiting pens (corrals), of guarding dogs, and in a few cases, also of other systems (lighting devices, sound deterrent devices etc). The present study carried out in Piedmont in 2011 within ProPast Project (Pastoral breeding sustainability: identifying and carrying out intervention and support actions financed by Piedmont Region) on a sample of ten alpine summer pastures concerned by wolves return for more than ten years has confirmed that adoption of these systems and the consequent variations in flock management has jeopardized the conservation of high mountain pastoral resources. Observations on vegetation have allowed to verify that – as an effect of the new type of animal management consisting in giving them night shelter in enclosures thus transferring their fertility from pastures to the same enclosures - vegetation and production exhaustion has occurred which has brought about the trivialization of vegetation and the disappearance of cenosis of pastoral, environmental and cultural interest.
2012
Quaderno SoZooAlp n. 7 Sistemi agro-zootecnici biologici ed ecocompatibili in ambiente montano
SoZooAlp
7
261
276
9788889222102
http://www.sozooalp.it
pastoral vegetation; wolf predation; small ruminants; Western Alps
Battaglini L.M.; Martinasso B.; Corti M.; Verona M.; Renna M.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/150766
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