Search results for "grazing"

Functional diversity of different vegetation types does not respond homogeneously to change over time after conservation translocation from a rural l…

2019

Abstract The anthropogenic impact on natural environments and the loss of species diversity along with changes in functional diversity call for effective steps to ensure habitat conservation. The functional diversity in particular has suffered in recent decades due to investment and land use changes. The translocation of whole turfs of certain vegetation plots prior to being destroyed is one possible solution for maintaining habitat functional diversity. In the presented paper, we analyse the functional changes in adaptive, regeneration and urbanity plant traits for meadow, heath and fen that were translocated from a rural site to a post-industrial site in a city. After five years of monito…

Landscape-scale simulation experiments test Romanian and Swiss management guidelines for mountain pasture-woodland habitat diversity

2016

Distinct guidelines have been proposed in Romania and Switzerland for the management of pasture woodlands that either focused on the regulation of grazing pressure (Romanian production perspective) or overall tree cover (Swiss conservation perspective). However, the landscape structural diversity and the cover of forest-grassland ecotones, which are both crucial for nature conservation value, were not explicitly considered. We aimed to compare the country-specific management guidelines regarding their efficiency for the conservation of the structurally diverse forest-grassland mosaics in the light of recent land-use and climate change. In strategic simulation experiments using the process-b…

Grazers increase β-diversity of vascular plants and bryophytes in wood-pastures

2016

Questions How does the presence of grazers impact plant diversity at various spatial scales? What are the effects on plant β-diversity and its two components, species turnover and nestedness? Are the effects caused by defoliation, trampling or defecating? Location Twenty-four currently grazed and 24 abandoned wood-pasture sites in Central Finland. Methods The species richness of vascular plants and bryophytes was studied at four spatial scales: within 4-m2 subplots (α1), within 100-m2 plots (α2), within sites (α3) and within the landscape (γ). β-Diversity was studied between subplots within plots (β1), between plots within sites (β2) and between sites within the landscape (β3). Results Curr…

Mechanisms of shrub encroachment into Northern Chihuahuan Desert grasslands and impacts of climate change investigated using a cellular automata model

2016

Arid and semiarid grasslands of southwestern North America have changed dramatically over the last 150 years as a result of woody plant encroachment. Overgrazing, reduced fire frequency, and climate change are known drivers of woody plant encroachment into grasslands. In this study, relatively sim- ple algorithms for encroachment factors (i.e., grazing, grassland fires, and seed dispersal by grazers) are proposed and implemented in the ecohydrological Cellular-Automata Tree Grass Shrub Simulator (CAT- GraSS). CATGraSS is used in a 7.3 km 2 rectangular domain located in central New Mexico along a zone of grassland to shrubland transition, where shrub encroachment is currently active. CATGraS…

Weed and Weeding Effects on Medicinal Herbs

2017

Competition with weeds exerts significant depressive effects on yield and quality features of Medicinal Plants (MPs). According to the crop, the part of plant to be harvested, the environmental features (including cropping technique) and the severity of infestation, yield losses due to the presence of weeds may vary within wide intervals. Furthermore, unlike the majority of other crops, MPs are cultivated with the goal to obtain relevant quantities of specific secondary metabolites, whose final quantity determines the quality level (and, consequently, the market value) of the harvested drug. Almost all papers addressed to this topic agree on the statement that unrestricted weed growth may a…

Grazing and soil pH are biodiversity drivers of vascular plants and bryophytes in boreal wood-pastures

2016

Abstract Wood-pastures have been formed by traditional low-intensity livestock grazing in wooded areas. They host high biodiversity values that are now threatened by both management abandonment (ceased grazing) and agricultural intensification, and therefore these habitats are of conservation interest in Europe. In order to explore the effects of grazing on the biodiversity of boreal wood-pastures, we studied the communities of vascular plants and bryophytes in 24 currently grazed and 24 abandoned sites. In addition to the current management situation, we studied the effects of soil pH and moisture, tree density, historical land-use intensity, time since abandonment (in abandoned sites) and…

Experimental evidence of the long‐term effects of reindeer on Arctic vegetation greenness and species richness at a larger landscape scale

2019

1. Large herbivores influence plant community structure and ecosystem processes in many ecosystems. In large parts of the Arctic, reindeer (or caribou) are the only large herbivores present. Recent studies show that reindeer have the potential to mitigate recent warming-induced shrub encroachment in the Arctic and the associated greening of high-latitude ecosystems. This will potentially have large scale consequences for ecosystem productivity and carbon cycling. 2. To date, information on variation in the interactions between reindeer and plants across Arctic landscapes has been scarce. We utilized a network of experimental sites across a latitudinal gradient in the Scandinavian mountains …

Effects of ewes grazing sulla or ryegrass pasture for different daily durations on forage intake, milk production and fatty acid composition of cheese

2016

Sulla (Sulla coronarium L.) forage is valued for its positive impact on ruminant production, in part due to its moderate content of condensed tannin (CT). The duration of daily grazing is a factor affecting the feed intake and milk production of ewes. In this study, the effects of grazing sulla pasture compared with annual ryegrass, and the extension of grazing from 8 to 22 h/day, were evaluated with regard to ewe forage intake and milk production, as well as the physicochemical properties and fatty acid (FA) composition of cheese. During 42 days in the spring, 28 ewes of the Comisana breed were divided into four groups (S8, S22, R8 and R22) that grazed sulla (S) or ryegrass (R) for 8 (0800…

Response to reindeer grazing removal depends on soil characteristics in low Arctic meadows

2014

In Arctic tundra, grazing is expected to exert a positive influence on microbial activity thus enhancing nutrient cycling and promoting the presence of high productive graminoids. We investigated the changes occurring in two low Arctic meadow sites after 10 years exclusion from grazing. We compared plant, soil fauna and microbial community composition, extracellular enzymes activities, and soil nutrients in ungrazed and adjacent grazed area in two low Arctic meadows. The two closely located experimental sites were both dominated by the common grass Deschampsia flexuosa which covered more than 50% of the meadows. Plant community was affected significantly by site and grazing, but the effect …

2019

Ingested soil is a major vector of organic contaminants from environment to free-ranged animals, particularly for grazing herbivores. Therefore, a better understanding of processes driving soil intake may provide new insights to limit animal exposure to contaminants and ensure safety of animal products. To maintain the supply service of livestock farming activities in contaminated areas, it is necessary to design adapted farming practices aiming at controlling the risk for human health. This study was conducted in the French West Indies, where chlordecone, an organochlorine insecticide previously used to protect banana plantation against the black weevil and banned since 1993, has polluted …