Plant Species Selection by Goats Foraging on Montane Semi-Natural Grasslands and Grazable Forestlands in the Italian Alps

Iussig, Gabriele; Lonati, Michele; Probo, Massimiliano; Hodge, Simon; Lombardi, Giampiero

doi:10.4081/ijas.2015.3907

Cited by 25 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Livestock pressures on grassland habitats may have varying effects on insect communities in different ways, as reported by van Klink et al (2015), including: i) modification of the abiotic conditions (modification of vegetation patches, a decrease in vegetation height, an alteration in structural complexity, and changes in soil conditions), ii) varying the feeding resource availability (flower and herbage mass reduction, the rate of dung depositions, and live tissue accessibility), and iii) ingestion or trampling by the grazing animals. Each of these actions depends on livestock species and management, due to grazer/browser feeding preferences, live weight and social behaviour (Iussig et al, 2015;van Klink et al, 2015). Amongst the most common grazer species, the higher selectivity of sheep for legumes and forbs and flowering plant parts can lead to grass-dominated plant communities with a lower diversity of nectar-dependent insect taxa than cattlegrazed grasslands (Dumont et al, 2011;Öckinger et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A biodiversity-friendly rotational grazing system enhancing flower-visiting insect assemblages while maintaining animal and grassland productivity

Enri

Probo

Farruggia

et al. 2017

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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Highlights1. Biodiversity-friendly rotational grazing (BR) was applied using cattle and sheep 2. The BR increased the flower cover of the vegetation community 3. Butterfly and bumblebee abundance and diversity increased under BR as did cattle 4. Ground beetles were not affected by grazer species or BR 5. Herbage mass and animal performances were comparable with continuous grazing AbstractGrazing management is an important tool to preserve insect biodiversity. Although literature has discussed the importance of grazing pressure adjustment to support grassland insect communities for the ecosystem services they provide, little has been published on the economic sustainability of such management adjustments to date. This study compared continuous grazing (CG) to an innovative rotational grazing system (the biodiversity-friendly rotation -BR), where a subplot was excluded from grazing for two months during the main flowering period. The effects of grazing two different species (cattle and sheep) within both systems were also evaluated. The aims were to assess the effects on butterfly, bumblebee, and ground beetle assemblages, along with the impact on herbage mass and animal performance. The BR enhanced both the abundance and species richness of flower-visiting insect assemblages and it was observed that cattle provided better results than sheep grazing. A multivariate redundancy analysis highlighted that most of the flower-visiting species (including almost all the endangered and locally rare species) were favoured by BR-cattle treatment, mainly due to the high percentage of flower cover and sward heterogeneity involved in this treatment. However, grazing Page 3 of 29 system and grazer species did not affect ground beetle species richness or abundance. Moreover, herbage mass and animal performance (live weight and body condition score) were comparable between CG and BR throughout the grazing season. The BR could be a useful management system to enhance grassland flower-visiting insect assemblages whilst meeting farm production objectives, especially in protected environments where insect conservation is a major target.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A biodiversity-friendly rotational grazing system enhancing flower-visiting insect assemblages while maintaining animal and grassland productivity

Enri

Probo

Farruggia

et al. 2017

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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“…Tree and shrub removal for grassland restoration can be carried out through manual or mechanical shrub-clearing (Barbaro et al, 2001), prescribed burning (Ascoli et al, 2013) or livestock management (Iussig et al, 2015;Pittarello et al, 2016a). In particular, through the actions of trampling, grazing, seed transport, and dung deposition, livestock can not only affect the cover and structure of vegetation but also its botanical composition (Gaujour et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Targeted grazing for the restoration of sub-alpine shrub-encroached grasslands

et al. 2016

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The decline of agro-pastoral activities has led to a widespread tree and shrub-encroachment of former semi-natural meso-eutrophic grasslands in many European mountain regions. Temporary night camp areas (TNCA) and mineral mix supplements for targeted cattle were arranged over shrub-encroached areas to restore grassland vegetation within the Val Troncea Natural Park (Italy). From 2011 to 2015, their effects on vegetation structure and pastoral value of forage were assessed along permanent transects. Four years after treatments, both practices were effective in reducing the shrub cover and increasing the cover and average height of the herbaceous layer, but changes were more remarkable within TNCA. Moreover, the arrangement of TNCA decreased the cover of nanophanerophytes and increased the cover of graminoids and high quality species, as well as the overall forage pastoral value. In conclusion, TNCA were the most effective pastoral practice to contrast shrub-encroachment and increase herbage mass and forage quality of sub-alpine grasslands.

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“…The SC values of the most abundant plant species were used instead of their SRA because they represented an independent measure of plant abundance within the same plot. Moreover, the use of SC as a predictor in the models allowed for the influence of plant species abundance and the abundance of dominant neighbouring species on the sheep feeding behaviour (Iussig et al 2015a). The dependent variable was proportional data ranging from 0% to 100%, so a binomial distribution was specified.…”

Section: Grazing Spatial Patterns and Variables Affecting Selection Omentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, the SRA of each functional group for each transect was also calculated. We applied the method proposed by Iussig et al (2015a) to assess plant species selection by sheep at the patch scale. Starting at a distance of 1 m, ten 1-m2 squares were alternatively laid out over both sides of each 12.5-m vegetation transect (Fig.…”

Section: Vegetation and Plant Species Selection Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant species selection by sheep in semi-natural dry grasslands extensively grazed in the south-western Italian Alps

et al. 2017

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Sheep can have an important role in the conservation of abandoned and shrub-and tree-encroached, semi-natural dry grasslands because their feeding behaviour is known to affect plant diversity and structure. Nevertheless, little information is available about feeding preferences of sheep at the sward-patch scale and about the effects of stocking density on their selectivity. Consequently, we investigated plant-species selection by sheep managed with a low-intensity grazing, examining the influence of stocking density and plant species abundance by means of vegetation surveys and animal GPS tracking. Sheep grazed a graminoid-dominated, semi-natural dry grassland (Festuco-Brometea) in Piedmont Region, north-west Italy. Plant species, classified into graminoids, suffruticose forbs, and herbaceous forbs, were selected with a different intensity by sheep, which preferred graminoids over suffruticose and herbaceous forbs. Plant species showing a high consumption ratio (CR), i.e. the level of selection of plant species (CR >10%), were mostly graminoids (e.g. Bromus erectus, Koeleria vallesiana and Stipa pennata). Furthermore, Carex species were also noticeably selected, in particular C.humilis, whereas spiny species and those with a rosette or prostrate forms were rarely grazed. The heterogeneity of stocking density over the pasture allowed testing of the relationships between stocking density and CR. For many species, the higher the stocking density, the higher was the CR, regardless of the abundance of dominant neighbouring species. Results suggest that sheep under low-intensity grazing conditions exert a specific plantspecies selection in abandoned dry grasslands. By regulating the stocking density through the management of grazing sheep, it may be possible to condition the consumption of certain plant species, with medium-long-term effects on the botanical composition.

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Plant Species Selection by Goats Foraging on Montane Semi-Natural Grasslands and Grazable Forestlands in the Italian Alps

Cited by 25 publications

References 40 publications

A biodiversity-friendly rotational grazing system enhancing flower-visiting insect assemblages while maintaining animal and grassland productivity

A biodiversity-friendly rotational grazing system enhancing flower-visiting insect assemblages while maintaining animal and grassland productivity

Targeted grazing for the restoration of sub-alpine shrub-encroached grasslands

Plant species selection by sheep in semi-natural dry grasslands extensively grazed in the south-western Italian Alps

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