Using Leaf Traits to Rank Native Grasses According to Their Nutritive Value

Khaled, Raounda Al HAj; Duru, Michel; Decruyenaere, Virginie; Jouany, Claire; Cruz, Pablo

doi:10.2458/azu_jrm_v59i6_khaled

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Leishman et al ), both SLA and LDMC clearly distinguished between faster growing exotic annuals and the more conservative growth of native perennials. We found LDMC was a superior predictor, also able to distinguish among perennial native grass species, concurring with other studies where LDMC was found to be less variable than SLA as a predictor of grassland species response to fertility (Garnier et al ; Khaled et al ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

A plant traits approach to managing legacy species during restoration transitions in temperate eucalypt woodlands

Cole

Prober

Lunt

et al. 2016

Restoration Ecology

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Degraded communities often contain a subset of the species that comprised the predisturbance community. These represent an important legacy of the predisturbance state, yet restoration treatments may be detrimental to them. This study examined the potential of leaf traits and life form to predict whether restoration treatments can maintain legacy swards of Austrostipa bigeniculata (hereafter Austrostipa) while controlling exotic annuals in temperate eucalypt woodlands. Treatments included carbon addition to reduce soil nitrate, both with and without burning or pulse grazing to deplete exotic seed pools. We compared leaf traits of Austrostipa with a native grass (Themeda triandra) known to be advantaged, and 8 exotic annual species known to be disadvantaged by these treatments. Leaf traits indicated potentially greater negative impacts of carbon addition on exotic annuals compared to Austrostipa, and on Austrostipa compared to Themeda, suggesting a net restoration benefit. Similarly, burning or pulse grazing is expected to have little negative impact on perennial resprouting grasses (hemicryptophytes; Austrostipa and Themeda) compared with annual exotics (therophytes) with short-lived seed banks. Treatment responses were largely consistent with predictions: treatments that significantly reduced exotic annuals had no net disadvantage to Austrostipa swards despite significant reductions in Austrostipa seedling growth with carbon addition. Indeed by Year 3, Austrostipa mortality in untreated plots led to 46% lower Austrostipa abundance than in treated plots at one site, potentially due to litter build-up or other mechanisms. We conclude that plant traits provide a useful framework for designing restoration transitions that retain native legacy species while controlling exotics.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

A plant traits approach to managing legacy species during restoration transitions in temperate eucalypt woodlands

Cole

Prober

Lunt

et al. 2016

Restoration Ecology

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“…We also measured five key leaf traits (leaf C, leaf N and leaf P concentration, SLA: specific leaf area, LDMC: leaf dry matter content) to assess digestibility and rangeland quality. Plant digestibility is generally positively correlated with leaf N and SLA, but negatively correlated with LDMC and leaf C (Al Haj Khaled et al, 2006;Pontes et al, 2007;Duru et al, 2008;Gardarin et al, 2014) due to the high digestible biomass fraction in plant tissues associated with low structural carbohydrate content in cell walls together with a low degree of lignification (Choong et al, 1992;Bruinenberg et al, 2002). Additionally, forage quality depends not only on digestibility but also N and P concentration in aboveground biomass (Van Soest, 1994;Owensby et al, 1996;Grant et al, 2000;Danger et al, 2013) as well as forage C:N:P stoichiometry and nutritional diversity (Sterner and Elser, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Tradeoffs between forage quality and soil fertility: Lessons from Himalayan rangelands

Niu

Zhang

et al. 2016

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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A B S T R A C TPastoralists on Eurasian rangeland often believe that traditional management practices involving moderate rotational grazing ensure sustainable yield, increase plant digestibility and promote biodiversity. To assess the generality of these suppositions we compared biomass production, community leaf C, N and P stoichiometry, leaf trait diversity and carbon and nutrient pools in root and soil for moderately grazed vs. ungrazed plots in Tibetan alpine meadows. We used five leaf traits (leaf C, leaf N and leaf P concentrations; SLA: specific leaf area, and LDMC: leaf dry matter content) as indicators of plant digestibility and rangeland quality. We measured these foliar traits and the ramet numbers for component species in moderately grazed plots as well as in exclosures (3-11 years) at five sites across the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Community weighted mean (CWM) trait values and functional dispersion (FDis) were used to quantify the mean and the variance in the distribution of trait values, respectively. Both the leaf P CWM and leaf P FDis generally increased under grazing and the LDMC CWM decreased, leading to improved plant digestibility and rangeland quality (e.g. high, community-wide leaf nutrients). The leaf C CWM , leaf N CWM and SLA CWM increased under grazing but the FDis of these traits tended to decrease. Grazing generally increased species diversity but decreased aboveground biomass, organic carbon, and nutrient concentrations in soil and root, especially decreasing root nitrogen and soil available phosphorus. Both root biomass and the leaf C:N CWM decreased in grazed plots at wet sites, but increased at dry sites. The community-wide increase and greater interspecific diversity in leaf nutrient concentrations coupled with decreasing LDMC CWM show that grazing induced an increase in plant digestibility, nutrient concentrations, and nutrient diversity in these alpine meadows. However, this increase in forage quality comes at the cost of losses in both carbon stock and nutrient availability that depress biomass production. Our findings and a review of related literature suggest that traditional grazing practices involve a trade-off between short-term yield and sustainability, a management challenge that must be addressed on rangelands with low soil fertility.

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“…Indeed, OMD for a wide range of grass species from semi-natural grasslands correlates negatively with leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and positively with specific leaf area (SLA) (Al Haj Khaled et al 2006;Pontes et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Seasonal Development Enables Late Defoliation Without Loss of Forage Quality in Semi-natural Grasslands

et al. 2010

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Agri-environmental measures often require postponing of grassland defoliation until summer months. We investigated how this affects agronomic characteristics, i.e., biomass production and forage quality, in species-rich grasslands in the White Carpathian Mountains, Czech Republic. Three distinct grasslands (vegetation alliances Bromion erecti, Cynosurion cristati, Violion caninae) were selected for biomass sampling in three dates: mid-May, early June and end of June. Proportions of individual species from total biomass, biomass production, crude fibre concentration, organic matter digestibility and community functional properties (forage value, leaf dry matter content, specific leaf area) were determined. Dry matter standing biomass at the end of June was highest in Bromion with 3.5 t/ha, followed by Violion with 2.7 t/ha and Cynosurion with 2.3 t/ha. A steep decline in forage quality (increase in crude fibre and decrease in organic matter digestibility) during accumulation of aboveground biomass was recorded in formerly unmanaged Bromion grassland but remarkably not in formerly grazed Cynosurion and Violion grasslands where early spring dominants were partly replaced by later developing species, Agrostis capillaris and Trifolium spp. Abundance-weighted community functional properties were consistent with results obtained from biomass chemical analyses, thus the 'trait approach' can be used as a suitable surrogate of costly and labor-intensive laboratory procedures. Finally, we assume that the high degree of community seasonal development in Cynosurion and Violion, indicated here by a new community seasonal development index and by development in community specific leaf area, was accountable for the stabilization of forage quality later in the vegetation season.

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Using Leaf Traits to Rank Native Grasses According to Their Nutritive Value

Cited by 6 publications

References 28 publications

A plant traits approach to managing legacy species during restoration transitions in temperate eucalypt woodlands

A plant traits approach to managing legacy species during restoration transitions in temperate eucalypt woodlands

Tradeoffs between forage quality and soil fertility: Lessons from Himalayan rangelands

Community Seasonal Development Enables Late Defoliation Without Loss of Forage Quality in Semi-natural Grasslands

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