Theme 1-2: Rangeland/Grassland Ecology--Poster Sessions

Description

This trial aims to evaluate floristic composition of most abundant species in three soil typical of Pampa biome on Brazil. The survey was held at Maronna Fundation located on southern Alegrete municipality, on Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s state. Regional climate belongs to Koeppen’s Cfa class. Soil types were shallow basalt (Psamments e Orthents), deep basalt (Vertisols) and sandy soil (Acrisols or Ultisols). Floristic composition were evaluated by visual ranking of aerial biomass of the major species (transformed to kg of dry matter per hectare), calibrated by cuts at ground level, according to field procedures of BOTANAL method. Grasses were clustered according to functional groups based on its leaf traits as proposed by Cruz et al. (2010). This approach proposed a ranking of grasses that ranges from its increasing leaf dry matter, and decreasing specific leaf area, from A to C groups. Total forage mass varied according to soil type. Contribution of A, B and C groups on total forage mass range from 40 to 60 %. Paspalum notatum, from B group, were found on the three soils, being more abundant on sandy and shallow basalt soils. Andropogon lateralis, from C group, was dominant on deep basalt soils, while Axonopus affinis, from A group, has higher biomass contribution on the same soil. We concluded that soil type affected floristic composition, even with this simplified diagnosis criteria.

Download

Share

COinS
 

An Approach to Evaluate Soils Influence on Floristic Composition of Natural Grasslands

This trial aims to evaluate floristic composition of most abundant species in three soil typical of Pampa biome on Brazil. The survey was held at Maronna Fundation located on southern Alegrete municipality, on Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s state. Regional climate belongs to Koeppen’s Cfa class. Soil types were shallow basalt (Psamments e Orthents), deep basalt (Vertisols) and sandy soil (Acrisols or Ultisols). Floristic composition were evaluated by visual ranking of aerial biomass of the major species (transformed to kg of dry matter per hectare), calibrated by cuts at ground level, according to field procedures of BOTANAL method. Grasses were clustered according to functional groups based on its leaf traits as proposed by Cruz et al. (2010). This approach proposed a ranking of grasses that ranges from its increasing leaf dry matter, and decreasing specific leaf area, from A to C groups. Total forage mass varied according to soil type. Contribution of A, B and C groups on total forage mass range from 40 to 60 %. Paspalum notatum, from B group, were found on the three soils, being more abundant on sandy and shallow basalt soils. Andropogon lateralis, from C group, was dominant on deep basalt soils, while Axonopus affinis, from A group, has higher biomass contribution on the same soil. We concluded that soil type affected floristic composition, even with this simplified diagnosis criteria.