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. 2020 Jul 30;10(8):1302.
doi: 10.3390/ani10081302.

Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species: Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard

Jordi Bartolomé  1 , Jordi Miró  2 , Xavier Panadès  3 , Maria José Broncano  1 , Josefina Plaixats  1 , Teresa Rigau  2 , Maria José Milán  1 , Elena Baraza  4
Affiliations

Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species: Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard

Jordi Bartolomé et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

During the second half of the 20th century, European countries experienced an increase in their forest area due to the global change. Consequently, there has been an increase in large forest fires, mainly in the Mediterranean basin, and this has forced the development of several types of prevention programs. One of them is the control of the understory by livestock. In this sense, browsing with a combination of donkeys and goats could be a good option, as both animals usually feed on forest species. However, little is known about their preferences for the key species of the Mediterranean forest. Using a cafeteria test, the preferences and consumption of both animals have been determined for five typical species of the Mediterranean forest, such as Quercus ilex, Pinus halepensis, Phillyrea latifolia, Rubus ulmifolius, and Brachypodium retusum. Results showed that donkeys and goats could act complementarily in the reduction of the fuel biomass of forests. Donkeys appear to act more on fine fuel, such as B. retusum, and goats on the more pyrophyte species, in this case P. halepensis. In addition, given that donkeys are at severe risk of extinction in Europe, this role of providing ecosystem services could contribute to their conservation. Despite this study only showing that goats and donkeys would consume all five presented plant species and that there are some differences in consumption during a short-term test, it constitutes a useful first step for conservation and fire prevention in the Mediterranean forests.

Keywords: Brachypodium retusum; Phillyrea latifolia; Pinus halepensis; Quercus ilex; Rubus ulmifolius; cafeteria test.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Daily average of fresh weight consumed by goats in the choice tests (n = 7). Lines crossing the circles are standard errors.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Daily average of fresh weight consumed by donkeys in the choice tests (n = 7). Lines crossing the circles are standard errors.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total number of times each plant species was chosen as the first option.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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