Variation in Grazing Tolerance Among Tallgrass Prairie Plants PDF Download

Author: Said Ahmad Damhoureyeh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 264

View

Book Description

Author: Stephen Packard
Publisher: Science and Practice of Ecolog
ISBN: 9781597260343
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

View

Book Description
TheTallgrass Restoration Handbook is a hands-on manual that provides a detailed account of what has been learned about the art and science of prairie restoration and the application of that knowledge to restoration projects throughout the world. Chapters provide guidance on all aspects of the restoration process, from conceptualization and planning to execution and monitoring. Appendixes present hard-to-find data on plants and animals of the prairies, seed collection dates, propagation methods, sources of seeds and equipment, and more. Also included is a key to restoration options that provides detailed instructions for specific types of projects and a comprehensive glossary of restoration terms. Written by those whose primary work is actually the making of prairies, The Tallgrass Restoration Handbook explores a myriad of restoration philosophies and techniques and is an essential resource for anyone working to nurture our once vibrant native landscapes back to a state of health.

Author: Kimberly O'Keefe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

View

Book Description
Water availability is a key driver of many plant and ecosystem processes in tallgrass prairies, yet we have a limited understanding of how grassland plants utilize water through space and time. Considering that tallgrass prairies experience tremendous heterogeneity in soil resources, identifying spatiotemporal variation in plant ecohydrology is critical for understanding current drivers of plant responses to water and for predicting ecosystem responses to future changes in climate. Here, I investigated the patterns, drivers, and ecological consequences of plant water use (e.g., water uptake, water redistribution, and water loss) in a native tallgrass prairie located in northeastern Kansas, USA. Using a combination of leaf gas exchange, sap flow, and isotopic techniques, I addressed four main questions: 1) How does fire and grazing by bison impact use of water from different sources and niche overlap for common grasses, forbs, and shrubs? 2) Does hydraulic lift occur in grazed and ungrazed tallgrass prairie, and does this impact facilitation for water within grassland communities? 3) What are the patterns and drivers of nocturnal transpiration in common grassland species? 4) How does diel stem sap flow and canopy transpiration vary among common grassland species? I found that bison grazing increased the depth of water uptake by Andropogon gerardii and Rhus glabra, reducing niche overlap with co-occurring species. Conversely, grazing did not affect hydraulic lift, which was generally uncommon and likely limited by nocturnal transpiration. Further, leaf gas exchange measurements indicated that nocturnal transpiration occurred commonly in tallgrass prairie plants and was greatest among grasses and early in the growing season. Nocturnal transpiration was not driven by vapor pressure deficit or soil moisture, as commonly observed in other systems, but was regulated by nocturnal stomatal conductance in most species. Finally, I found that daytime sap flow rates were variable among species and functional types, with larger flux rates among woody species. Nocturnal sap flow rates were more consistent across species, which caused nighttime sap flow and transpiration to account for a larger proportion of daily flux rates in grasses than in forbs or shrubs. These results show that water uptake, water redistribution, and water loss are all influenced by different biotic and abiotic drivers and have varying ecological impacts across a heterogeneous landscape. Additionally, extensive differences in water flux exist among co-occurring species and plant functional groups, which likely reflect varying strategies to tolerate water limitation. These results suggest that shifts in the abundance of these species with future climate changes, or with ecosystem state changes, will likely impact ecosystem-level water balance.

Author: Umberto Quattrocchi
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1420003224
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 2402

View

Book Description
2008 NOMINEE The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Annual Award for a Significant Work in Botanical or Horticultural Literature now we have easier and better access to grass data than ever before in human history. That is a marked step forward. Congratulazioni Professor Quattrocchi!-Daniel F. Austin, writing in Economic Botany &n

Author: Maipelo N'Guessan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

View

Book Description
Herbivory is one of the major biotic interactions shaping the structure and dynamics of grassland plant populations and community structure. The two major grass growth forms, rhizomatous and caespitose species, may show different grazing tolerance and short-term overcompensation may offset long-term reductions in plant performance and fitness. The objectives of this study were to assess 1) the effects of long-term ungulate grazing on plant architecture, population structure, and life history traits of the caespitose perennial grass, Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), and the rhizomatous Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama) in tallgrass prairie, and 2) the effects of grazing intensity (frequency of defoliation) on growth responses of little bluestem. Long-term bison grazing decreased the cover, frequency, tiller height, and proportion of tillers producing seed in little bluestem, but caused no changes in tiller density and total genet size. Grazed little bluestem plants maintained a significantly larger below ground bud bank. Bison grazing had no long-term effect on the abundance, bud bank densities, or rhizome growth of the rhizomatous side-oats grama grass. Biomass, tiller density, relative growth rates, and proportion of tillers flowering in little bluestem all decreased with increasing frequency of defoliation. However, even an intense grazing regime (9 defoliations over a 12 month period) caused no plant mortality and no changes in new tiller emergence rates, or bud bank densities. Increasing defoliation frequency did result in shifts in plant architecture, as an increasing proportion of extravaginal tillers led to a more lateral, decumbent growth form. These results show that the rhizomatous side-oats grama grass has a significantly higher grazing tolerance than does little bluestem, and/or that bison selectively graze little bluestem. Results from responses to the experimental defoliation regimes suggest that little bluestem shows lower tolerance to high frequency of defoliation, and its maintenance of a reserve below ground bud bank may be its primary tolerance mechanism, allowing tiller populations to recover following severe defoliation.

Author: Rodney Keith Heitschmidt
Publisher: Timber Press (OR)
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 268

View

Book Description
An ecological perspective; Range animal nutrition; Foraging behavior; Developmental morphology and physiology of grasses; Ecosystem-level processes; Hydrology and erosion; Livestock production; Wildlife; Social and economic influences on grazing management; The decision-making environment and planning paradigm.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120

View

Book Description

Author: David J. Gibson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107195268
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 363

View

Book Description
A comprehensive assessment of the effects of climate change on global grasslands and the mitigating role that ecologists can play.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertations, Academic
Languages : en
Pages : 652

View

Book Description

Author: David D. Briske
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319467093
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 664

View

Book Description
This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. This book provides an unprecedented synthesis of the current status of scientific and management knowledge regarding global rangelands and the major challenges that confront them. It has been organized around three major themes. The first summarizes the conceptual advances that have occurred in the rangeland profession. The second addresses the implications of these conceptual advances to management and policy. The third assesses several major challenges confronting global rangelands in the 21st century. This book will compliment applied range management textbooks by describing the conceptual foundation on which the rangeland profession is based. It has been written to be accessible to a broad audience, including ecosystem managers, educators, students and policy makers. The content is founded on the collective experience, knowledge and commitment of 80 authors who have worked in rangelands throughout the world. Their collective contributions indicate that a more comprehensive framework is necessary to address the complex challenges confronting global rangelands. Rangelands represent adaptive social-ecological systems, in which societal values, organizations and capacities are of equal importance to, and interact with, those of ecological processes. A more comprehensive framework for rangeland systems may enable management agencies, and educational, research and policy making organizations to more effectively assess complex problems and develop appropriate solutions.