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- aggregation classification "D1".
- aggregation creator person.
- aggregation date "2008".
- aggregation format "application/pdf".
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- aggregation language "eng".
- aggregation publisher "Ghent University. Faculty of Sciences".
- aggregation rights "I have transferred the copyright for this publication to the publisher".
- aggregation subject "Biology and Life Sciences".
- aggregation title "Grazer induced changes in dry, low-productive grassland plant communities".
- aggregation abstract "Grazing by larger herbivores is widely used as a management tool to preserve and enhance plant diversity of the vegetation and structural heterogeneity of the landscape. In the late 1990s, different large herbivores species were introduced in several dune reserves along the Belgian coast to avoid further expansion of dominant grasses and woody species. Given the scarcity of information of grazing effects in nutrient-poor grasslands systems and in order to generate generalisations on plant community development in the grazed areas, it is important to have insight into the effects of grazing on the abundance of plant functional types. Although, there is a rich literature on the effects of grazing on vegetation, much controversy still exists on the (likely) effects of the introduction of larger herbivores on plant species composition and diversity in different environmental conditions. The main objective of this study is to investigate the large herbivore effects on plant community composition and diversity among dry coastal dune grasslands. Since the dune grasslands treated in the present study occurred in a gradient of soil conditions (i.e. nutrient availability), the interaction between grazing effect and soil conditions on plant community composition and diversity was investigated at different spatial scales. Furthermore, the mechanisms involved in shifts in plant community composition was also assessed by analyzing tolerance ability of different plant species under both greenhouse and field conditions. In the greenhouse experiment, we tested whether difference in herbivory tolerance of plant species (Arrhenatherum elatius, Holcus lanatus, Lotus corniculatus and Prunella vulgaris) can be related to their abundance in grassland communities and how herbivory and nutrient availability affect competitive balances among plant species through changes in their tolerance. In the field, we tested whether variation in response of four dominant grass species (Festuca arundinacea, Holcus lanatus, Agrostis stolonifera and Poa pratensis) to a high grazing intensity by large herbivores can be attributed to different responses of their vegetative and reproductive components. The results showed that grazing was responsible for important and significant shifts in plant community composition in dune grasslands. Grazing caused a shift in plant composition towards an annual life history, seasonal regeneration by seed, small size, early reproduction strategy and an increasing relative abundance of forbs and annual grasses in dune grasslands. The impact of grazing on plant diversity depended both on the spatial scale and soil conditions. Grazed plots had an overall higher local species richness than the ungrazed plots within the entire pH range. In contrast, site species richness(8× 8 m²) was influenced by grazing and its interaction with soil acidity. Site species richness increased with pH at grazed sites while the opposite pattern was observed in ungrazed situations. This resulted in larger differences in the species richness between grazed and ungrazed sites at higher soil pH compared to sites with a lower pH. Results on the greenhouse experiment showed that species replacement in function of herbivory is partially depending on the individual plant tolerance to herbivory and on competitive relations between competitive plant species and subordinate species and that both were different under different environmental conditions. Although grazing disturbance significantly influenced competitor-non-competitor relations in favour of less competitive species, increasing nutrient levels (expressed in pH-differences) contract the effect of grazing on dominant competitive plant species. The increased investment in vegetative biomass by A. stolonifera and P. pratensis under grazing ensures their persistence. Stimulatory effects of grazing resulted in a dense population of smaller plants of A. stolonifera and P. pratensis. However, for all species studied grazing had negative effects on the reproductive outputs. Vegetative reproduction may hence partially compensate for the loss of reproductive output of A. stolonifera and P. pratensis, but not for H. lanatus and F. arundinacea. Although grazing seems an appropriate management tool to maintain and even enhance plant biodiversity under many circumstances, it may negatively affect plant species richness, where soil resources limit plant biomass production (i.e. under more or less acid soil conditions). We may also conclude that different responses of plant species in term of their ability to have a higher tolerance to herbivory and vegetative production to the direct detrimental effect of grazing are likely to be the primary mechanisms, contributing to persistence of plant species under high grazing intensity.".
- aggregation authorList BK35731.
- aggregation aggregates 1989594.
- aggregation isDescribedBy 1989560.
- aggregation similarTo LU-1989560.