Grazing exclusion affects soil and plant communities, but has no impact on soil carbon storage in an upland grassland

Medina‐Roldán, Eduardo; Paz‐Ferreiro, Jorge; Bardgett, Richard D.

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2011.12.012

Cited by 168 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…AGB in grazing management sites was significantly lower than that in fencing and mowing sites, which was accordance with results from Medina-Roldan et al (2012), who found that grassland production could be relatively decreased in grazing areas because of livestock′s consumption. A higher BGB amount was observed in top soil layer of fencing pattern than that in grazing pattern.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Vegetation traits and soil properties in response to utilization patterns of grassland in Hulun Buir City, Inner Mongolia, China

Liu

et al. 2014

Chin. Geogr. Sci.

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Numerous studies have focused on vegetation traits and soil properties in grassland, few of which concerned about effects of human utilization patterns on grassland yet. Thus, this study hypothesized that human disturbance (e.g., grazing, mowing and fencing) triggered significant variation of biomass partitioning and carbon reallocation. Besides, there existed some differences of species diversity and soil fertility. To address these hypotheses of grassland with diverse utilization patterns in Hulun Buir City, Inner Mongolia, China, we sampled in situ about aboveground biomass (AGB) and belowground biomass (BGB) to evaluate their biomass allocation. Species diversity and soil properties were also investigated. Subsequently, we discussed the relationship of species diversity with environmental conditions, using data collected from 23 sites during the ecological project period of Returning Grazing Lands to Grasslands (RGLG) program. The results were as follows: 1) both AGB and BGB were lower on grazing regime than those on fencing and mowing, but the ratio of root-to-shoot (R/S) was higher on grazing regime than the other two utilization patterns; 2) neither of evenness and Simpson Index was different significantly among all grassland utilization patterns in desert, typical, and meadow grassland at 0.05. In meadow grassland, species richness of fencing pattern was significantly higher than that of grazing pattern (p < 0.05); 3) both of soil organic carbon content and soil available phosphorous content were increased significantly on fencing pattern than grazing pattern (p < 0.05) in desert grassland, and mowing patterns increased the soil nutrients (soil organic carbon, soil total phosphorous, soil available phosphorous, and soil total nitrogen) significantly compared with grazing patterns (p < 0.05) in typical grassland. However, there were no significant differences among utilization patterns in meadow grassland. In conclusion, both of AGB and BGB were increased significantly by fencing. Moreover, species diversity and soil nutrients can be promoted via mowing and fencing. This study suggested that implementation of Ecological Project played a positive role in sustainable grassland utilization of Hulun Buir City and a strong positive influence on the entire temperate grassland.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Vegetation traits and soil properties in response to utilization patterns of grassland in Hulun Buir City, Inner Mongolia, China

Liu

et al. 2014

Chin. Geogr. Sci.

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“…3a) and the mean height of community ( Fig. 3b) with the increase in grazing intensity (yaks hm −2 ) (P < 0.001, Table 3), probably resulting from the bite effect of grazing livestock (Medina-Roldán et al 2012;Zhu et al 2016).…”

Section: X) and The Vegetation Characteristics (Y)mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…And functionally, grazing alters the flow of energy and the cycling of materials (Altesor et al 2005;Pineiro et al 2006). Abundant evidence demonstrates that the bite effect of grazing livestock reduces the vegetation coverage and the height of community (Medina-Roldán et al 2012;Zhu et al 2016). The influence of grazing on the plant community lies in two ways, i.e., the direct impact through diet preference and trampling of livestock on plant's survival, growth, and fecundity and the indirect one by altering the intraspecific and interspecific interactions or the water and nutrient availability (Wan et al 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil properties and species composition under different grazing intensity in an alpine meadow on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China

Yang

Xiong

et al. 2016

Environ Monit Assess

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As the main form of land use and human disturbance of grassland, livestock grazing has great influences on the soil resources and plant communities. This study observed the variation of soil properties and community characteristics of four treatments of different grazing intensity (no grazing, UG; light grazing, LG; moderate grazing, MG; and heavy grazing, HG) in an alpine meadow of Sichuan Province on the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that grazing increased the pH, soil bulk density (BD), and contents of total carbon (TC) and total nitrogen (TN), and the BD increased while the others decreased with the grazing intensity. At the community level, with the increase of the grazing intensity, the vegetation coverage (R 2 = 0.61, P < 0.001), mean height of community (R 2 = 0.37, P < 0.001), aboveground biomass (R 2 = 0.54, P < 0.001), litter biomass (R 2 = 0.84, P < 0.001), and percentage of aboveground biomass of palatable grasses to total biomass (R 2 = 0.74, P < 0.001) significantly decreased, while the belowground biomass (R 2 = 0.72, P < 0.001) and the root/shoot (R/S) ratio (R 2 = 0.65, P < 0.001) increased. The species richness was the greatest at LG and the total biomass at UG. With grazing, the dominant species of the plant community shifted from palatable grasses (Gramineae and Cyperaceae) to unpalatable grasses (Compositae and Ranunculaceae). Based on the results, LG may be the optimal grassland management mode to be used in the long time in the alpine meadow of the Tibetan Plateau.

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“…grazing did not compromise the carbon-storage potential (Medina-Roldán et al, 2012). Carbon storage was strongly modulated, however, by location, soil type (Marriott et al, 2010), stocking rate (Martinsen et al, 2011) and grassland management (Soussana et al, 2004).…”

Section: An Inventory Of the Es Provided By Plfs In Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Applying the ecosystem services framework to pasture-based livestock farming systems in Europe

Rodríguez-Ortega

Oteros‐Rozas

Ripoll-Bosch

et al. 2014

Animal

125

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The concept of 'Ecosystem Services' (ES) focuses on the linkages between ecosystems, including agroecosystems, and human well-being, referring to all the benefits, direct and indirect, that people obtain from ecosystems. In this paper, we review the application of the ES framework to pasture-based livestock farming systems, which allows (1) regulating, supporting and cultural ES to be integrated at the same level with provisioning ES, and (2) the multiple trade-offs and synergies that exist among ES to be considered. Research on livestock farming has focused mostly on provisioning ES (meat, milk and fibre production), despite the fact that provisioning ES strongly depends on regulating and supporting ES for their existence. We first present an inventory of the non-provisioning ES (regulating, supporting and cultural) provided by pasture-based livestock systems in Europe. Next, we review the trade-offs between provisioning and non-provisioning ES at multiple scales and present an overview of the methodologies for assessing biophysical trade-offs. Third, we present non-biophysical (economical and socio-cultural) methodologies and applications for ES valuation. We conclude with some recommendations for policy design.

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Grazing exclusion affects soil and plant communities, but has no impact on soil carbon storage in an upland grassland

Cited by 168 publications

References 24 publications

Vegetation traits and soil properties in response to utilization patterns of grassland in Hulun Buir City, Inner Mongolia, China

Vegetation traits and soil properties in response to utilization patterns of grassland in Hulun Buir City, Inner Mongolia, China

Soil properties and species composition under different grazing intensity in an alpine meadow on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China

Applying the ecosystem services framework to pasture-based livestock farming systems in Europe

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