Search results for "GRASSLAND"
showing 10 items of 161 documents
Species co-occurrence networks of ground beetles in managed grasslands
2020
AbstractGrassland biodiversity, including traditional rural biotopes maintained by traditional agricultural practices, has become threatened worldwide. Road verges have been suggested to be complementary or compensatory habitats for species inhabiting grasslands. Species co-occurrence patterns linked with species traits can be used to separate between the different mechanisms (stochasticity, environmental filtering, biotic interactions) behind community structure. Here, we study species co-occurrence networks and underlying mechanisms of ground beetle species (Carabidae) in three different managed grassland types (meadows, pastures, road verges, n = 12 in each type) in Central Finland. We a…
A multi-site study to classify semi-natural grassland types
2009
International audience; Calibration and validation of simulation models describing herbage growth or feed quality of seminatural grasslands is a complex task for agronomists without investing effort into botanical surveys. To facilitate such modelling efforts, a limited number of grassland types were identified using a functional classification of species. These grassland types were characterized by three descriptors required to model herbage growth or feed quality: the abundance-weighted mean leaf dry matter content across grass species, the relative abundance of grasses, and an estimate of species richness. We conducted a multi-site analysis over 749 grasslands from eight temperate region…
Influence of plant traits, soil microbial properties, and abiotic parameters on nitrogen turnover of grassland ecosystems
2016
International audience; Although it is known that multiple interactions among plant functional traits, microbial properties , and abiotic soil parameters influence the nutrient turnover, the relative contribution of each of these groups of variables is poorly understood. We manipulated grassland plant functional composition and soil nitrogen (N) availability in a multisite mesocosm experiment to quantify their relative effects on soil N turnover. Overall, root traits, arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization, denitrification potential, as well as N availability and water availability, best explained the variation in measured ecosystem properties, especially the trade-off between nutrient sequest…
Responses of above- and below-ground fungal symbionts to cessation of mowing in subalpine grassland
2017
Abstract The cessation of mowing in subalpine grasslands promotes the dominance of Festuca paniculata leading to the reduction in plant diversity. Moreover, it affects positively the abundance of Epichloe sp. inhabiting F. paniculata leaves and negatively the soil density of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). We explored how the cessation of mowing influences root AMF communities in F. paniculata and the neighboring plants, and Epichloe sp alkaloids. Thirteen AMF operational taxonomical units were found. The neighboring plants affected positively the abundances of Aalpin and GLOM_7 whereas the interaction plant/management type influenced significantly Claroide_1 , GLOM_1 and GLOM_7 . The N…
The genomic history of Southern Europe
2018
Farming was first introduced to southeastern Europe in the mid-7th millennium BCE - brought by migrants from Anatolia who settled in the region before spreading throughout Europe. However, the dynamics of the interaction between the first farmers and the indigenous hunter-gatherers remain poorly understood because of the near absence of ancient DNA from the region. We report new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 204 individuals-65 Paleolithic and Mesolithic, 93 Neolithic, and 46 Copper, Bronze and Iron Age-who lived in southeastern Europe and surrounding regions between about 12,000 and 500 BCE. We document that the hunter-gatherer populations of southeastern Europe, the Baltic, and the Nor…
A large-scale screening for the taiga tick, Ixodes persulcatus, and the meadow tick, Dermacentor reticulatus, in southern Scandinavia, 2016
2019
Abstract The taiga tick, Ixodes persulcatus, has previously been limited to eastern Europe and northern Asia, but recently its range has expanded to Finland and northern Sweden. The species is of medical importance, as it, along with a string of other pathogens, may carry the Siberian and Far Eastern subtypes of tick-borne encephalitis virus. These subtypes appear to cause more severe disease, with higher fatality rates than the central European subtype. Until recently, the meadow tick, Dermacentor reticulatus, has been absent from Scandinavia, but has now been detected in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Dermacentor reticulatus carries, along with other pathogens, Babesia canis and Rickettsia r…
The impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño on global photosynthesis using satellite remote sensing
2018
The El Niño-Southern Oscillation exerts a large influence on global climate regimes and on the global carbon cycle. Although El Niño is known to be associated with a reduction of the global total land carbon sink, results based on prognostic models or measurements disagree over the relative contribution of photosynthesis to the reduced sink. Here, we provide an independent remote sensing-based analysis on the impact of the 2015–2016 El Niño on global photosynthesis using six global satellite-based photosynthesis products and a global solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) dataset. An ensemble of satellite-based photosynthesis products showed a negative anomaly of −0.7 ± 1.2 PgC in 2015, but a sli…
Grasslands of Northern Europe and the Baltic States
2020
This chapter deals with the grasslands of Northern Europe (Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) and the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), with a focus on natural and semi-natural grasslands of the lowlands, thus treating arctic-alpine and strongly intensified types only marginally. At present, grasslands cover ca. 7% of the study region, half of which are natural grasslands (mostly arctic-alpine, to a smaller extent also azonal and extra-zonal) and the other half secondary grasslands created by human land use (livestock grazing or haymaking). Both grassland categories have high importance for biodiversity in many taxa. However, particularly the secondary grass…
Soil feedback does not explain mowing effects on vegetation structure in a semi-natural grassland
2009
Due to its ability to create aboveground conditions that favour plant diversity, mowing is often used to preserve the high conservation value of semi-natural species-rich grasslands. However, mowing can also affect belowground conditions. By decreasing plant carbon supply to soil, mowing can suppress the activity of soil decomposers, diminish plant nutrient availability and thus create a feedback on plant growth. In this study, we first documented the effects of three-year mowing on plant community structure in a species-rich grassland. We found that mowing decreased the total areal cover of woody plants and increased the total cover of leguminous forbs. At the species level, mowing further…
Influence of land-use intensity on the spatial distribution of N-cycling microorganisms in grassland soils
2011
A geostatistical approach using replicated grassland sites (10 m × 10 m) was applied to investigate the influence of grassland management, i.e. unfertilized pastures and fertilized mown meadows representing low and high land-use intensity (LUI), on soil biogeochemical properties and spatial distributions of ammonia-oxidizing and denitrifying microorganisms in soil. Spatial autocorrelations of the different N-cycling communities ranged between 1.4 and 7.6 m for ammonia oxidizers and from 0.3 m for nosZ-type denitrifiers to scales >14 m for nirK-type denitrifiers. The spatial heterogeneity of ammonia oxidizers and nirS-type denitrifiers increased in high LUI, but decreased for biogeochemical …