Bulletin no. 4 of the COMPÁS project is now available
The COMPASS project publishes its fourth newsletter, which includes a summary of the work done in recent months on the project.
This new publication includes, among others, a very interesting article by the professor at the Public University of Navarra and coordinator of the COMPÁS project, Rosa María Canals, entitled “Herbivores and controlled fire: a necessary alliance to prevent large forest fires“.
In this article, which can be read in full... on this link, Professor Canals analyzes how the anthropization of forests has changed the natural fire regime that allowed plant regeneration, which, together with new climatic conditions and the accumulation of fuel in the forests, causes forest fires to be more virulent.
It also speaks of the interconnection that has always existed between herbivores and fire, which have different ways of managing fuel, but when combined with each other they allow open, mosaic landscapes to be maintained at reduced costs, reducing the fuel load and maintaining high biodiversity.
He concludes the article with this important observation: “Where herbivores prevail, plant communities tend to be nutritious and attractive to the animal, which seeks to be grazed to ensure its regeneration. Where fire dominates, flammable species thrive, burning quickly and regenerating rapidly, thus favoring the occurrence of new fires. Without herbivores and with climate change underway, it is easy to guess what types of plant communities will be favored in the future: communities adapted to fire and that depend on it primarily for regeneration.”
This new bulletin of the COMPÁS project also reports on the participation in the 63rd Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Pasture Society that took place in Lugo from 22 to 26 last September and also on the observational study of cattle and horses that was carried out last August and that will allow us to understand how they select habitats in order to carry out more sustainable management.
The full text of this fourth newsletter can be accessed on this link.
The project COMPAS it is coordinated by the Public University of Navarra in which the Galician Forestry Association (AFG), the Experimental Station of Zaidín de Granada (CSIC), the University of Santiago de Compostela and the Association of Shepherds for the Mediterranean Forest also participate.
COMPAS has the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
