Manipulating livestock grazing to enhance native plant diversity and cover in native grasslands

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Mavromihalis ◽  
J. Dorrough ◽  
S. G. Clark ◽  
V. Turner ◽  
C. Moxham
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Perennial Grasses ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Sheep Grazing ◽  
Annual Species ◽  
Total Species Richness ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Native Plant Diversity

Temperate perennial grasslands globally have been subject to extensive biodiversity loss. Identifying livestock grazing regimes that maintain and enhance the diversity and cover of native plant species in these ecosystems remains a key challenge. The responses of vegetation to different sheep grazing regimes were assessed over 3 years in grasslands of south-eastern Australia. An open communal experimental design was used to assess the effects of varying season and duration of exclusion of grazing by sheep, replicated at three locations. Manipulation of season and duration of exclusion of grazing led to few major changes in the cover of native perennial grasses or forbs, although seasonal variation was considerable. Exclusion of grazing in the spring did increase the likelihood of occurrence of grazing-sensitive native forb species but also lead to an increase in the cover of exotic annual species. However, cover of exotic annual species tended to decline with increasing duration of exclusion, while the abundance of native, grazing-sensitive forbs and the cover of perennial grasses increased. Small-scale richness of native perennial forb species increased with a 3-month period of exclusion of grazing, but declined with year-round exclusion of sheep. Total species richness also declined in response to year-round exclusion of sheep and rates of decline were correlated with the rate at which herbage mass accumulated. While strategic grazing did not result in major vegetation changes in the short term, it is suggested that some grazing exclusion may enhance the survival of infrequent species most sensitive to sheep grazing. Caution, however, should be taken when grazing regimes implemented benefit both desirable (native forbs) and undesirable (exotic annuals) species. Having a mosaic of flexible grazing management regimes across the landscape is likely to be beneficial for native plant diversity.

Conservation of the Grassy White Box Woodlands: Relative Contributions of Size and Disturbance to Floristic Composition and Diversity of Remnants

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 349 ◽  
Author(s):  
SM Prober ◽  
KR Thiele
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
General Character ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Weed Invasion ◽  
Total Species Richness ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Native Species Richness

Before European settlement, grassy white box woodlands were the dominant vegetation in the east of the wheat-sheep belt of south-eastern Australia. Tree clearing, cultivation and pasture improvement have led to fragmentation of this once relatively continuous ecosystem, leaving a series of remnants which themselves have been modified by livestock grazing. Little-modified remnants are extremely rare. We examined and compared the effects of fragmentation and disturbance on the understorey flora of woodland remnants, through a survey of remnants of varying size, grazing history and tree clearing. In accordance with fragmentation theory, species richness generally increased with remnant size, and, for little-grazed remnants, smaller remnants were more vulnerable to weed invasion. Similarly, tree clearing and grazing encouraged weed invasion and reduced native species richness. Evidence for increased total species richness at intermediate grazing levels, as predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, was equivocal. Remnant quality was more severely affected by grazing than by remnant size. All little-grazed remnants had lower exotic species abundance and similar or higher native species richness than grazed remnants, despite their extremely small sizes (< 6 ha). Further, small, littlegrazed remnants maintained the general character of the pre-European woodland understorey, while grazing caused changes to the dominant species. Although generally small, the little-grazed remnants are the best representatives of the pre-European woodland understorey, and should be central to any conservation plan for the woodlands. Selected larger remnants are needed to complement these, however, to increase the total area of woodland conserved, and, because most little-grazed remnants are cleared, to represent the ecosystem in its original structural form. For the maintenance of native plant diversity and composition in little-grazed remnants, it is critical that livestock grazing continues to be excluded. For grazed remnants, maintenance of a site in its current state would allow continuation of past management, while restoration to a pre-European condition would require management directed towards weed removal, and could take advantage of the difference noted in the predominant life-cycle of native (perennial) versus exotic (annual or biennial) species.

scholarly journals Managing an Invasive Species While Simultaneously Conserving Native Plant Diversity

2022 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 87-95
Author(s):  
C.W. Sherrill ◽  
S.D. Fuhlendorf ◽  
L.E. Goodman ◽  
R.D. Elmore ◽  
R.G. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Native Plant Diversity

scholarly journals Native plant diversity increases herbivory to non-natives

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1794) ◽  
pp. 20141841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian S. Pearse ◽  
Andrew L. Hipp
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Native Plants ◽  
Leaf Damage ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Native Trees ◽  
Oak Trees ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Close Relatives ◽  
Native Plant Diversity ◽  
Native Host

There is often an inverse relationship between the diversity of a plant community and the invasibility of that community by non-native plants. Native herbivores that colonize novel plants may contribute to diversity–invasibility relationships by limiting the relative success of non-native plants. Here, we show that, in large collections of non-native oak trees at sites across the USA, non-native oaks introduced to regions with greater oak species richness accumulated greater leaf damage than in regions with low oak richness. Underlying this trend was the ability of herbivores to exploit non-native plants that were close relatives to their native host. In diverse oak communities, non-native trees were on average more closely related to native trees and received greater leaf damage than those in depauperate oak communities. Because insect herbivores colonize non-native plants that are similar to their native hosts, in communities with greater native plant diversity, non-natives experience greater herbivory.

Drought resistance of native and introduced perennial grasses of south-eastern Australia

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 (11) ◽  
pp. 1261 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. P. Bolger ◽  
A. R. Rivelli ◽  
D. L. Garden
Keyword(s):  
Drought Resistance ◽  
Perennial Grass ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Perennial Grasses ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Dehydration Avoidance ◽  
Leaf Survival ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Perennial grasses are the key to the economic and environmental sustainability of pastures for livestock grazing in south-eastern Australia. Mortality of perennial grasses can occur during drought periods and there is anecdotal evidence of differences in drought resistance among species, but information on the basic ecophysiological responses of these species to drought is lacking. An experiment was conducted to determine the responses of 7 native and 3 introduced perennial grass species to continuous drought. Leaf survival during severe drought varied among the species nearly 4-fold, from 11 to 40 days, and was considered a measure of their overall drought resistance. All of the species had good dehydration tolerance, so the differences in drought resistance were related more to their dehydration avoidance traits, specifically to the amount of water available to the plant at the point where plant transpiration became minimal. The native species had both the longest and shortest leaf survival periods, with the introduced species ranking intermediate. Species exhibited various morphological traits that contributed to dehydration avoidance during severe drought, including leaf folding or rolling, rapid leaf shedding, and large amounts of cuticular wax. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for perennial grass persistence in south-eastern and in south-western Australia.

scholarly journals Linking invasions and biogeography: Isolation differentially affects exotic and native plant diversity

Ecology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 863-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy D. Long ◽  
Geoffrey C. Trussell ◽  
Ted Elliman
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Native Plant Diversity
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