Biological invasions and land use change for extensive livestock are among the main threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the Anthropocene. Mechanical management actions against invasive plants are important to restore some of nature's contributions to people (, water provisioning). Mountain Chaco Woodlands in central Argentina have been occupied by livestock production for centuries and during the last three decades invasive woody plants have been increasing their invaded surface. is a thorny invasive shrub that facilitates other exotic species establishment and is rapidly invading many areas of this system. Moreover, the advance of the invasion is not uniform across the landscape (, plant density is higher along water courses). The necessity to establish a low-cost, low-impact management strategy (, without chemicals), motivates the integration of livestock production with mechanical actions against advance. In this regard, we evaluate if livestock browsing complements mechanical control of invasive shrubs in mountain woodlands to reduce posterior resprout and fruit production. Using individual livestock exclusions we tested the effect of browsing and topography on resprout and fruiting in a period of two years after mechanical cutting in an invaded basin of Mountain Chaco Woodlands. Our study demonstrates that the combined effect of plant cutting and subsequent livestock browsing on resprout contributes to reducing the propagule pressure of the targeted invasive shrub by temporarily limiting resprout and fruiting. Moreover, the livestock browsing on individuals located near the watercourse showed higher resprout and fruit production after the second year post-cutting compared to individuals on the slopes. This result highlights that the livestock effect is affected by topographic characteristics of the area (, proximity to a watercourse). Furthermore, after two years of post-cutting, all the treatments showed a decrease in the effect of livestock browsing but the treatment with the highest fruit production remains much lower than the expected fruit production without management actions. Our study represents a contribution to the knowledge about how the interaction between human activity, such as livestock production, and invasive plant mechanical control can impact the invasion process of alien plants in mountain woodlands of central Argentina. The understanding of this relationship is an essential step for evaluating the success of a plant invasion management strategy in mountain systems.

中文翻译：

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入侵植物管理和农业之间的联盟：砍伐和牲畜啃食减少了入侵灌木的萌芽和果实产量

生物入侵和粗放牲畜的土地利用变化是人类世生物多样性和生态系统功能的主要威胁。针对入侵植物的机械管理行动对于恢复自然对人类的一些贡献（供水）非常重要。阿根廷中部的查科山林地几个世纪以来一直被畜牧业占据，在过去三十年里，入侵木本植物的入侵面积不断扩大。是一种多刺的入侵灌木，有助于其他外来物种的建立，并迅速入侵该系统的许多区域。此外，入侵的进展在整个景观中并不均匀（沿水道的植物密度较高）。建立低成本、低影响的管理策略（不含化学品）的必要性，促使畜牧生产与机械行动相结合，以对抗前进。在这方面，我们评估牲畜啃食是否可以补充山地林地入侵灌木的机械控制，以减少后发芽和果实产量。通过排除个体牲畜，我们测试了查科山林地入侵盆地机械砍伐后两年内的浏览和地形对重新发芽和结果的影响。我们的研究表明，植物砍伐和随后的牲畜啃食对重新发芽的综合影响有助于通过暂时限制重新发芽和结果来降低目标入侵灌木的繁殖压力。此外，与斜坡上的个体相比，在砍伐后第二年，在水道附近个体上觅食的牲畜显示出更高的发芽和果实产量。这一结果凸显了牲畜效应受到该地区地形特征（靠近水道）的影响。此外，经过两年的后砍伐，所有处理都显示出牲畜啃食的效果有所下降，但果实产量最高的处理仍然远低于没有管理措施的预期果实产量。我们的研究对了解人类活动（例如畜牧生产）与入侵植物机械控制之间的相互作用如何影响阿根廷中部山区林地外来植物的入侵过程的知识做出了贡献。了解这种关系是评估山区系统植物入侵管理策略是否成功的重要步骤。