The effect of grazing abandonment on species composition and functional traits: the case of dehesa grasslands

Peco, Begoña; Pablos, Isabel de; Traba, Juán; Levassor, C.

doi:10.1016/j.baae.2005.01.002

Cited by 117 publications

(117 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The results are in line with some studies in western U.S. (Loeser et al, 2007) and in central Spain (Peco et al, 2005(Peco et al, , 2006. With regards to the duration of grazing exclusion, we found that short-term (no more than 5 years) grazing exclusion remarkably increased species richness, but the effects were not significant in the long run.…”

Section: Effects Of Grazing Exclusion On Plant Diversitysupporting

confidence: 81%

“…For plant diversity, the results are also conflicting. Several studies reported no effects of grazing exclusion on plant diversity (Milchunas and Lauenroth, 1993;Meissner and Facelli, 1999), while a number of studies reported increases (Shaltout et al,1996;Eweg et al, 1998;Shang et al, 2008;Mayer et al, 2009;Jeddi and Chaieb, 2010;Zhao et al, 2011), and others reported decreases (Proulx and Mazumder, 1998;Dullinger et al, 2003;Altesor et al, 2005;Peco et al, 2005Peco et al, , 2006Wu et al, 2009), in plant diversity in response to grazing exclusion. Generally, the effectiveness of grazing exclusion denpends on its duration (Milchunas and Lauenroth, 1993;Su et al, 2005;Wu et al, 2008;McSherry and Ritchie, 2013), environmental conditions (Conant and Paustian, 2002;Derner and Schuman, 2007;Piñeiro et al, 2010; J.S.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of grazing exclusion on carbon sequestration and plant diversity in grasslands of China—A meta-analysis

Xiong

Shi

Zhang

et al. 2016

Ecological Engineering

173

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a b s t r a c tWidespread land degradation has strengthened the urgent need to restore overgrazing grasslands. China has implemented the program 'Returning Grazing Land to Grassland' (RGLG) through grazing exclusion by fence since 2003. Despite a lot of field experiments, there is still controversy on the effects of grazing exclusion on rangeland restoration, highlighting the need for synthetic analysis. We conducted a metaanalysis of 447 entries from 78 papers to analyze the spatiotemporal effects of grazing exclusion on plant diversity, productivity and soil carbon sequestration in the major RGLG-implemented provinces of China. Our results showed that, compared with the grazed sites, grazing exclusion significantly increased carbon stored in aboveground biomass, litter mass, belowground biomass and soils by 84.7%, 111.6%, 25.5% and 14.4%, respectively. Plant coverage, soil available nitrogen, soil available phosphorus and soil microbial biomass carbon increased by 52.0%, 21.7% 22.8% and 26.3%, respectively. However, grazing exclusion had little effects on recovering plant diversity in China's grasslands. Of the factors examined, climatic factors strongly modified the effects of grazing exclusion on ecosystem carbon stocks, for example, precipitation significantly amplified the positive effects. Grazing exclusion played a positive role in soil carbon sequestration in most grassland types except in temperate desert-steppe. But annual soil carbon sequestration rates decayed rapidly over time in both alpine meadow and temperate steppe. Short-term (≤5 years) grazing exclusion remarkably increased species richness, but not significantly in the long run. The threshold from neutral to negative effects of grazing exclusion on species evenness occurs after approximately ten years. Our findings provide evidence that grazing exclusion is an effective way to restore vegetation and sequestrate carbon in degraded grasslands, but not beneficial to plant diversity maintenance. The benefits of grazing exclusion are more effective in humid area than arid area. We suggest that grazing exclusion should be ceased after about six to ten years. Additionally, grazing exclusion should integrate with other appropriate management practices instead of operating on a stand-alone basis.

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Section: Effects Of Grazing Exclusion On Plant Diversitysupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of grazing exclusion on carbon sequestration and plant diversity in grasslands of China—A meta-analysis

Xiong

Shi

Zhang

et al. 2016

Ecological Engineering

173

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These results are also in agreement with the few papers describing functional studies of grazing intensity response in grassland communities of South America dominated by C4 warm season plants (Leoni et al, 2009;Cruz et al, 2010). Leaf dry matter content emerges as an easily recorded functional marker that could explain the grazing impact at the agro ecosystem level but it should be validated on other spatial-temporal scales, since several trait responses are only significant when are examined on one vegetation type as detailed by Peco et al (2005) and Kahmen and Poschlod (2008).…”

Section: Attributessupporting

confidence: 77%

Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of Uruguay

Jaurena

Lezama²,

Cruz

2012

Chilean J. Agric. Res.

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Natural grasslands in the basaltic region of Uruguay are threatened by an increase in stocking rates and changes in land use. To assess the effect of grazing intensification, plant functional types are proposed as simple tools to aid the monitoring and management of vegetation. In the present study we evaluated the effect of stocking rate increase at community level taking into account plant traits of 23 dominant perennial grass species. In order to identify plant functional types, we determined the grazing response in an experiment with two wethers stocking rates (0.78 and 1.56 livestock units ha -1 ) quantifying species cover and traits values. Leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and specific leaf area (SLA) were the traits that best described the perennial grasses response to the stocking rate increase and therefore are suggested to be used as functional markers. Three functional types were identified. Low stocking rates were related to functional type A (tall, warm season species with low SLA and high LDMC and functional type B (tall, cool-season species, with intermediate levels of leaf traits). On the other hand, high stocking rate encouraged functional type C (prostrate, warm season species, with high SLA and low LDMC). The classification of a highly diverse community into three functional types and the selection of traits as functional markers candidates is an innovative approach to develop simple and general methods to diagnosis the state of basaltic grasslands in Uruguay and to advise on its management.

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“…The grazing of red deer influence productive grasslands more than unproductive ones on the Isle of Rum in Scotland [27], and tall plants decrease richness and height even by weak deer browsing on a riparian deciduous forest in central Japan [17]. Livestock grazing increases prostrate life form and clonal reproduction in Dehesa grasslands, due to trampling (Peco et al 2005), but increases short-lived plants in south-western Pyrennees [3]. The mortality of tussock grass declines by grazing [19].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Palatability is related to taxa and/or life-forms, for example, livestock-grazed sites have a higher proportion of prostrate species, early flowering, cryptophytes (plant whose growth buds survive seasons with adverse conditions below ground), etc. than ungrazed sites in grasslands, Central Spain [17,20]. Totally, moose has negative effects on vascular plants but has few effects on mosses [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pits Conserve Species Diversity in an Overgrazed Grassland

Tsuyuzaki

Takahashi²

2007

Appl Ecol Env Res

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Abstract. Decrease in species diversity by overgrazing is one of the crucial indicators for ecosystem deterioration. Sika deer (Cervus nippon Tamminck) has grazed various plants on Nakajima Island, Hokkaido, Japan, for a few decades, due to low food availability. We examined if diverse microtopography supported high species diversity by conserving specific plants on the grassland of the island where overgrazing by deer occurred. Based on TWINSPAN analysis, three plant community types were classified: grasslands represented by short seed plants, ferns, and unpalatable forbs. Grasslands dominated by short and/or unpalatable seed plants established on the flat ground, while fern species except Equisetum arvense did not establish there. Soil hardiness was higher on short-plant grasslands than on unpalatable-forb grasslands, suggesting that palatability on plants was related to plant community differentiation on the flat ground. Of 10 fern species recorded, 9 species established mostly in deep pits. Pit depth was more important than pit area to maintain high fern diversity. Those results indicated that diverse microtopography, i.e., pit development, supports fern diversity, because of the multiplier effects of predator avoidance and preferable sites for fern establishment. Diverse and/or specific microtopography must be a prerequisite to conserve rare species and high diversity in such disturbed areas.

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The effect of grazing abandonment on species composition and functional traits: the case of dehesa grasslands

Cited by 117 publications

References 27 publications

Effects of grazing exclusion on carbon sequestration and plant diversity in grasslands of China—A meta-analysis

Effects of grazing exclusion on carbon sequestration and plant diversity in grasslands of China—A meta-analysis

Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of Uruguay

Pits Conserve Species Diversity in an Overgrazed Grassland

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