Seedling recruitment and survival of two desert grasses in the monte of Argentina

Busso, Carlos; Bonvissuto, GL; Torres, Yanina Alejandra

doi:10.1002/ldr.1060

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Terrestrial ecologists generally define physical rangeland degradation in terms of parameters related to vegetation and soil. Irrigation (Fallahzade & Hajabbasi, ), changes in vegetation recovery (Busso et al, ), grazing (Bai et al, ) and wind erosion (Lal, ; Bai et al, ; Wang et al, ; Wang & Jia, ; Houyou et al, ) are some of the triggering processes. Although productivity in desert rangelands is one to three orders of magnitude lower than in forest ecosystems (Ludwig, ), desert rangelands cannot be viewed as either simple or unproductive systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rain Use Efficiency, Primary Production and Rainfall Relationships in Desert Rangelands of Tunisia

Gamoun

2015

Land Degrad Dev

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Desert rangelands are characterised by low and highly variable rainfall regime, low forage production and high heterogeneity in the distribution of natural resources. This study was carried out in the desert rangelands of Tunisia to evaluate the response of different rangelands to annual rainfall in terms of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) and rain use efficiency over a 10‐year period (2003–2012). In general, ANPP values were relatively low (123 kg DM ha−1 y−1) but would tend to increase with increasing annual rainfall for all rangeland types. The highest value of ANPP was observed from Stipagrostis pungens and Hammada shmittiana communities (sandy‐soil) during the wet year 2011. In contrast, rain use efficiency tends to decline with the highest annual rainfall and varies among rangeland types and with an average of 1·9 kg DM ha−1 mm−1 y−1. Rain use efficiency tended to be higher during dry years and lower during wet years and tended to be higher on S. pungens and H. shmittiana (sandy‐soils) and lower on Helianthemum kahiricum (loamy soils). Therefore, understanding how rainfall affects productivity in rangelands is critical for predicting the impact of land degradation on the functioning of these ecosystems. It can be used to explain production decline associated with desertification as well as to assess rangeland conditions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rain Use Efficiency, Primary Production and Rainfall Relationships in Desert Rangelands of Tunisia

Gamoun

2015

Land Degrad Dev

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“…In semiarid areas fire is one of the common management tools used by shepherds to enhance pasture regrowth, and this is found in many other grass-covered soils on the Earth, at any latitude (Wang et al, 2005;Li et al, 2012;Busso et al, 2012). In fact, the recovery of vegetation canopy after fire in the Mediterranean area can be quite rapid due to adaption of plant communities to the disturbances caused by fire, Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grassland fire effect on soil organic carbon reservoirs in a semiarid environment

et al. 2013

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Abstract. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of an experimental fire used for grassland management on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. The study was carried out on Hyparrhenia hirta (L.) Stapf (Hh) grassland and Ampelodesmos mauritanicus (Desf.) T. Durand & Schinz (Am) grasslands located in the north of Sicily. Soil samples were collected at 0-5 cm before and after the experimental fire, and SOC was measured. During the grassland fire, soil surface temperature was monitored. Biomass of both grasses was analysed in order to determine dry weight and its chemical composition. The results showed that SOC varied significantly with vegetation type, while it is not affected in the short term by grassland fire. Am grassland stored more SOC compared with Hh grassland thanks to lower content in the biomass of the labile carbon pool. No significant difference was observed in SOC before and after fire, which could be caused by several factors: first, in both grassland types the measured soil temperature during fire was low due to thin litter layers; second, in a semiarid environment, a higher mineralization rate results in a lower soil carbon labile pool; and third, the SOC stored in the finest soil fractions, physically protected, is not affected by fire.

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“…In the semiarid province of Monte in the North-east Patagonian region of Argentina, the vegetation is distributed in patches dominated by shrubs, with grasses, forbs and cryptogams under their canopy (Bisigato and Bertiller 1997;Busso et al 2012;Kröpfl et al 2013). Patches have been described for some areas of Monte (Bertiller et al 2004;Busso and Bonvissuto 2009) but the structural characteristics of vegetation in this ecological region have scarcely been studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of vegetation to different land-use histories involving grazing and fire in the North-east Patagonian Monte, Argentina

2013

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In arid and semiarid lands around the world, vegetation is distributed in patches within a bare soil matrix. Vegetation in the North-east Patagonian Monte, Argentina is a shrubland steppe, and patches are dominated by shrubs, with grasses, forbs and cryptogams under their canopy. It was hypothesised that grazing increases patchiness; and fires and wind erosion homogenise the distribution of vegetation. It was predicted that there would be: (1) greater cover, specific frequency and richness of shrubs in grazed sites; (2) greater cover, specific frequency and richness of herbs and preferred grasses in ungrazed sites; and (3) a random pattern of distribution in burnt areas. Aerial cover of all perennial species was measured at six sites with different land-use histories: heavily grazed, medium grazed, ungrazed, long exclosure from grazing followed by grazing, burnt and then ungrazed, and burnt and then grazed. Species were grouped into five functional types: shrubs, sub-shrubs, preferred grasses, non-preferred grasses and forbs. The results showed significant differences in the cover of preferred and non-preferred grasses, forbs and total cover with previous grazing but there was no evidence of shrub encroachment. Species frequency and richness decreased especially with increased grazing intensity. The pattern of spatial distribution changed from aggregated in grazed sites to random in ungrazed and burnt sites for all plant functional types. At the population level, the cover of the grass, Poa ligularis, was greatest on ungrazed sites whereas the cover of the shrub, Chuquiraga erinacea, was greatest on burnt sites. It is concluded that, after applying a heterogeneous patchwork of disturbance, such as grazing, or with fire, followed by periods of rest, the plant diversity is increased.

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Seedling recruitment and survival of two desert grasses in the monte of Argentina

Cited by 22 publications

References 36 publications

Rain Use Efficiency, Primary Production and Rainfall Relationships in Desert Rangelands of Tunisia

Rain Use Efficiency, Primary Production and Rainfall Relationships in Desert Rangelands of Tunisia

Grassland fire effect on soil organic carbon reservoirs in a semiarid environment

Responses of vegetation to different land-use histories involving grazing and fire in the North-east Patagonian Monte, Argentina

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