Theme 07: Foraging Strategy
Description
To obtain some information about the mechanisms behind the spatially heterogeneous grazing of a pasture by large herbivores, the relationships between the spatial distributions of herbage mass, herbage consumption and ingestive behavior were investigated on a bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flügge) pasture during a 6-day grazing period with cattle. The animals almost always consumed more herbage from locations with higher pre-grazing herbage masses, which was attributed to greater bite weights. It was suggested that the high spatial heterogeneity in the rate of defoliation was caused mainly by the spatial heterogeneity in both the bite weight and the number of visits when the mean pre-grazing herbage mass of the pasture was relatively high, and by the spatial heterogeneity in the bite weight when the mean pre-grazing herbage mass was relatively low.
Included in
Relationships between Spatial Distributions of Herbage Mass and Utilization in a Pasture Progressively Grazed by Cattle
To obtain some information about the mechanisms behind the spatially heterogeneous grazing of a pasture by large herbivores, the relationships between the spatial distributions of herbage mass, herbage consumption and ingestive behavior were investigated on a bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flügge) pasture during a 6-day grazing period with cattle. The animals almost always consumed more herbage from locations with higher pre-grazing herbage masses, which was attributed to greater bite weights. It was suggested that the high spatial heterogeneity in the rate of defoliation was caused mainly by the spatial heterogeneity in both the bite weight and the number of visits when the mean pre-grazing herbage mass of the pasture was relatively high, and by the spatial heterogeneity in the bite weight when the mean pre-grazing herbage mass was relatively low.
