Factors affecting savanna and forest regeneration in pastures across the cerrado

The Cerrado region comprises the world's most biodiverse savanna and the largest cultivated pastures for cattle in Brazil. Forty percent of these pastures are unproductive or degraded, with bare soil and native vegetation increasingly replacing exotic forage grasses. This study sought to investigate the regeneration of native vege-tation in the pastures of the Cerrado and to evaluate the contribution of biophysical, land management, and landscape attributes to this process. Across the Cerrado, we analyzed pasture plant communities and the attri-butes of pasture management intensification, fire events, landscape native vegetation cover, and climate and soil types of 93 active pastures and 15 abandoned pastures. For the abandoned pastures, time since abandonment was an additional variable. On actively cultivated pastures, savanna regeneration varied from 0 to 70%, with a di-versity of herbs and woody species. Pasture management was the main predictor of savanna regeneration on cultivated pastures. On abandoned pastures, time since abandonment was the main predictor. Exotic grass cover had a strong negative relationship with savanna regeneration and they were present even in pastures abandoned for 44 years. Our study reveals the potential of natural regeneration of the Cerrado and its particular predictors. The occurrence of pastures with high natural regeneration indicates that national policies can promote native vegetation restoration and silvopastoral systems with predictable, low cost implementation.

Automated summary

This study investigates the regeneration of native vegetation in the pastures of the Cerrado region and evaluates the factors contributing to this process. The study analyzes pasture plant communities and various attributes across 93 active pastures and 15 abandoned pastures. The results show that pasture management is the main predictor of savanna regeneration on cultivated pastures, while time since abandonment is the main predictor on abandoned pastures.