Track 2-2-2: Plant-Animal Interactions, Grazing Behaviour and Plant Quarantine
Description
Overgrazing is one of the most important human-induced causes for arid and semi-arid grassland degradation, which can result in widespread deterioration of biodiversity, ecosystem services and destroys soil structure (Louhaichi et al. 2012). Overgrazing is likely to reduce a plant’s individual aboveground biomass (AB) directly through influence on the phenotype plasticity of different traits and indirectly through the allometric relationships among plant that can have impacts on grassland productivity and biodiversity. Grazing can reduced nutrient cycling by inhibiting the growth of palatable and nutrient-rich species with high litter quality and promoting the dominance of those nutrient-poor or chemically defended species with low litter quality that slow rates of nutrient cycling. However, fencing and the exclusion of domestic livestock is the most common management tool used for restoring vegetation productivity in degraded grassland (Liu et al., 2007a, b). Although some previous studies have predicted that overgrazing may lead to a shift to dominant species and change soil nutrient content and nitrogen mineralization rate, the mechanisms underpinning this shift and change are very clear. We addressed the following objectives to determine the effects of overgrazing and exclusion from grazing on communities composed of dominant species (L. chinensis and S. grandis), and on soil nutrient content and nitrogen mineralization rate?
Citation
Hou, Xiangyang and Wang, Zhen, "Effect of Overgrazing and Enclosure on Ecosystem Functioning and Biological Capacity in the Typical Steppe" (2020). IGC Proceedings (1997-2023). 7.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/23/2-2-2/7
Included in
Effect of Overgrazing and Enclosure on Ecosystem Functioning and Biological Capacity in the Typical Steppe
Overgrazing is one of the most important human-induced causes for arid and semi-arid grassland degradation, which can result in widespread deterioration of biodiversity, ecosystem services and destroys soil structure (Louhaichi et al. 2012). Overgrazing is likely to reduce a plant’s individual aboveground biomass (AB) directly through influence on the phenotype plasticity of different traits and indirectly through the allometric relationships among plant that can have impacts on grassland productivity and biodiversity. Grazing can reduced nutrient cycling by inhibiting the growth of palatable and nutrient-rich species with high litter quality and promoting the dominance of those nutrient-poor or chemically defended species with low litter quality that slow rates of nutrient cycling. However, fencing and the exclusion of domestic livestock is the most common management tool used for restoring vegetation productivity in degraded grassland (Liu et al., 2007a, b). Although some previous studies have predicted that overgrazing may lead to a shift to dominant species and change soil nutrient content and nitrogen mineralization rate, the mechanisms underpinning this shift and change are very clear. We addressed the following objectives to determine the effects of overgrazing and exclusion from grazing on communities composed of dominant species (L. chinensis and S. grandis), and on soil nutrient content and nitrogen mineralization rate?
