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In ecosystems with grassland‐forest boundaries, tree plantations could be used to promote forest restoration. In the Humid Chaco region of central South America, fire is one of the main disturbances that shapes the landscape. As eucalypt plantations are flammable, the contribution they can make to forest restoration is questionable. We planted saplings of five native tree species in three different environments (forests, grasslands, and eucalypt plantations) and assessed microclimatic conditions likely to influence sapling survival and growth. After 1 year, accidental fires that affected much of the study area allowed us to investigate the susceptibility of different environments to fire occurrence and post‐fire sapling survival. We planted 600 saplings in four plots per environment. We evaluated fire occurrence in the study area for 2 years and ask whether this factor affects sapling survival. In grasslands, microclimatic conditions were more extreme than in plantations. Plantations and forests showed high pre‐fire sapling survival but growth was almost double in plantations, similar to grasslands for most species. In the study area, fire frequency was similar in plantations and grasslands, whereas forests plots never burnt during the 2‐year study period. Fire reduced sapling survival in plantations, but not in grasslands where survival was low and similar in burned and unburned plots. For top‐killed plants, post‐fire resprouting ability was species‐specific. While more firm conclusions await future studies with even larger sample sizes, our results indicate that fire management may be necessary in order to use eucalypt plantations as nurses in this fire‐prone ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Subtropical Atlantic Forest recovered little commercial timber in 20-years post-logging. • Above-ground biomass of all trees recovered faster after CL than after RIL. • Mortality rates were high (4.4–6.3 % year−1) the first-year post-logging regardless of the harvest system applied. • Logging in this Subtropical Atlantic Forest is not sustainable even with RIL. Long-term studies are key to understanding the dynamics of managed forests, especially as related to timber supplies. We evaluated 20 years of recovery of pre-harvest structure, biomass, and timber stocks of a Subtropical Atlantic Forest in Argentina subjected to either conventional selective logging (CL = ∼15 m3 ha−1) or reduced-impact logging (RIL = ∼11 m3 ha−1); we also monitored the dynamics of interspersed plots of unlogged forest (Control). All trees ≥10 cm DBH were measured before and at variable intervals for 20 years post-logging; the results are presented for all stems and for only those of species that provide commercial timber. After logging, basal areas and volume of all stems increased two-times faster after CL than after RIL, whereas biomass increments were similar between logged treatments. In contrast, commercial timber tree stocking did not recover regardless of the harvesting system applied. Mortality rates were high in both CL and RIL plots but also in unlogged Control plots (1.6–3.6 % year−1). The failure of timber stocks to recover was apparently due to high tree mortality rates coupled with the proliferation of understory bamboos. Alternative silvicultural methods are clearly needed to avoid degrading the remaining species-rich Subtropical Atlantic Forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected areas (PAs) are one of the main strategies to protect biodiversity and its ecosystem services globally. Plants are a critical component of biodiversity, playing a key role in almost every aspect of life, and Fabaceae is the third most diverse plant family worldwide with many useful species. We evaluated the diversity of uses of Fabaceae, how much of this diversity is encompassed by the Argentina's PAs network, and the relationship between species' conservation status and their uses. To do so, we used literature review, species distribution models (SDM), diversity metrics of use, conservation status, and gap analysis. We found that 72% of species (520) had at least one reported use. Prosopis species were the taxa with the most uses. Environmental, Medicine, and Animal food were the most diverse use classes. PAs with low to medium species richness supported the highest proportion of species with uses, and in regions, with higher species richness, the redundancy of uses increased. Most of the Fabaceae species from Argentina provide a valuable resource for people and animals, and fortunately, many of these uses are represented in PAs network. However, all use classes have between 8 and 25% of their species threatened, and most species (548) did not achieve conservation targets, highlighting the need for conservation efforts to safeguard these species. We demonstrated that integrating different species characteristics, data sources, and diversity metrics is an effective way to evaluate the contribution of PAs to conserve the utilitarian aspects of biodiversity on a large-scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]