Impacts of grazing and mowing on reproductive behaviors of Stipa grandis and Stipa krylovii in a semi-arid area

Gao, Hui; Gao, Yubao; He, Xingyuan

doi:10.1007/s40333-013-0196-5

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Thirdly, though the effects of the two disturbances were different, the tradeoffs for plant allocation to stems or leaves were similar. Thus, these results implied that the traits and tradeoffs were similar under the different forms of defoliation and plants responded to the stress of defoliation in a similar way [ 63 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting Effects of Long-Term Grazing and Clipping on Plant Morphological Plasticity: Evidence from a Rhizomatous Grass

Li¹,

Wu²,

Liu³

et al. 2015

PLoS ONE

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Understanding the mechanism of plant morphological plasticity in response to grazing and clipping of semiarid grassland can provide insight into the process of disturbance-induced decline in grassland productivity. In recent studies there has been controversy regarding two hypotheses: 1) grazing avoidance; and 2) growth limiting mechanisms of morphological plasticity in response to defoliation. However, the experimental evidence presented for the memory response to grazing and clipping of plants has been poorly reported. This paper reports on two experiments that tested these hypotheses in field and in a controlled environment, respectively. We examined the effects of long-term clipping and grazing on the functional traits and their plasticity for Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvelev (the dominate species) in the typical-steppe grassland of Inner Mongolia, China. There were four main findings from these experiments. (i) The majority of phenotypic traits of L. chinensis tended to significantly miniaturize in response to long-term field clipping and grazing. (ii) The significant response of morphological plasticity with and without grazing was maintained in a hydroponic experiment designed to remove environmental variability, but there was no significant difference in L. chinensis individual size traits for the clipping comparison. (iii) Plasticity indexes of L. chinensis traits in a controlled environment were significantly lower than under field conditions indicating that plants had partial and slight memory effect to long-term grazing. (iv) The allometry of various phenotypic traits, indicated significant trade-offs between leaf and stem allocation with variations in plant size induced by defoliation, which were maintained only under grazing in the hydroponic controlled environment experiment. Taken together, our findings suggest that the morphological plasticity of L. chinensis induced by artificial clipping was different with that by livestock grazing. The miniaturization of plant size in long-term grazed grassland may reflect retained characteristics of dwarf memory for adaptation to long-term grazing by large herbivores.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting Effects of Long-Term Grazing and Clipping on Plant Morphological Plasticity: Evidence from a Rhizomatous Grass

Li¹,

Wu²,

Liu³

et al. 2015

PLoS ONE

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“…To adapt to stress, under certain resources, an increase in input to one organ will inevitably lead to a decrease in input to another organ. By balancing and adjusting resource allocation, especially between growth and reproduction, life history traits are optimized (Gao, Gao, & XingDong, ; Begay, Alexander, & Questad, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual reproductive strategy of Stipa breviflora under different grazing pressures

Liu

2019

Grassland Science

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Allocation is the core concept of life history theory and provides a basis for different strategies (Weiner, 2004). Under environmental stress, plant traits are subjected to strong environmental selection pressure (Harper, 1977), which means that it is difficult for plants to achieve optimal resource allocation. To adapt to stress, under certain resources, an increase in input to one organ will inevitably lead to a decrease in input to another organ. By balancing and adjusting resource allocation, especially between growth and reproduction, life history traits are optimized (Gao, Gao, & XingDong, 2014; Begay, Alexander, & Questad, 2011). The resource allocation between vegetative growth and reproductive growth is flexible (Miller, Tyre, & Louda, 2006). To ensure individual survival, vegetative organs are often maintained at the expense of sexual reproduction because under long-term stress from large herbivores, monocarpic plant species have only one option to respond to grazing. They must repair damage immediately to compensate for biomass losses and damaged reproductive structures (Huhta, Rautio, Hellström, Saari, & Tuomi,

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“…For example, Hickman and Hartnett found that grazing decreased the reproductive biomass allocation in Amorpha canescens Pursh, a tall perennial grass (Hickman & Hartnett, 2002). In contrast, Gao, Gao & He (2014) reported that grazing increased the reproductive biomass allocation in Stipa grandis P.A. Smirn, a perennial tussock grass.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of grazing intensities on reproduction patterns of elm trees (Ulmus pumila) in degraded sandy lands in China

2020

PeerJ

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The effect of grazing on patterns of reproduction in trees has been little reported. We explored the effects of grazing intensities on reproductive growth, allocation patterns, and duration in elm trees (Ulmus pumila L.) at the Horqin Sandy Land, a degraded area in northern China. Current-year shoots were selected from branches and harvested from individual elm trees subjected to one of four grazing intensities (heavy, moderate, light, and no grazing). Shoots, flower buds, flowers, seeds, leaf buds, and leaves were collected, dried, and weighed. Results showed that the biomass in heavy, moderate and light grazing treatments is significantly higher than in no grazing treatment (P < 0.05). The reproductive allocation of U. pumila in heavy grazing treatment was significantly higher from that in the no grazing treatment (P < 0.05). Additionally, we found that reproduction of U. pumila ended later in grazed plots, suggesting the duration of reproduction is extended with grazing disturbance. Our findings suggest that U. pumila may prolong it s duration of reproduction and alter its reproductive biomass in response to grazing. It is not clear whether these effects are related to damage to U. pumila trees by grazers or whether they are due to grazers affecting soil properties or plant competitors around U. pumila trees. . 2003. Impacts of human disturbance on elms-motte-veldt in hunshangak sandland. Acta Phytoecologica Sinica 27:829-834. Choler P, Du G. 2012. Relationship between reproductive allocation and relative abundance among 32 species of a Tibetan Alpine Meadow: effects of fertilization and grazing. PLOS ONE 7(4):e35448. Perez-Llorca M, Vilas JS. 2019. Sexual dimorphism in response to herbivory and competition in the dioecious herb Spinacia oleracea. Plant Ecology 220:57-68 DOI 10.1007/s11258-018-0902-7. R Core Team. 2015. R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Ren H, Zheng S, Bai Y. 2009. Effects of grazing on foliage biomass allocation of grass land communities in Xilin river basin, Inner Mongolia. . 2005. Structure, pattern and mechanisms of formation of seed banks in sand dune systems in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Plant and Soil 277:175-184 DOI 10.1007/s11104-005-6836-6. Zhang M, Wu J, Tang Y. 2016. The effects of grazing on the spatial pattern of elm (Ulmus pumila L.) in the sparse woodland steppe of Horqin Sandy Land in northeastern China. Solid Earth 7:631-637

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Impacts of grazing and mowing on reproductive behaviors of Stipa grandis and Stipa krylovii in a semi-arid area

Cited by 10 publications

References 27 publications

Contrasting Effects of Long-Term Grazing and Clipping on Plant Morphological Plasticity: Evidence from a Rhizomatous Grass

Contrasting Effects of Long-Term Grazing and Clipping on Plant Morphological Plasticity: Evidence from a Rhizomatous Grass

Individual reproductive strategy of Stipa breviflora under different grazing pressures

Impact of grazing intensities on reproduction patterns of elm trees (Ulmus pumila) in degraded sandy lands in China

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