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8 results for “grazing lawns”
Small-scale fires interact with herbivore feedbacks to create persistent grazing lawn environments
<p>Fire-herbivory feedbacks strongly influence the formation of grazing lawns in savanna ecosystems. Preliminary findings suggest that small-scale (< 25 ha) fires can engineer grazing lawns by concentrating herbivores on the post-burn green flush; however, the persistence of such grazing lawns over the longer term and without repeated fire is unknown.</p> <p>We used high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to investigate the long-term effects of fire manipulation on short grass structure (height, cover, volume, and spatial continuity) and grazing lawn establishment in Kruger National Park, South Africa. We analysed the effects of fire exclusion and experimental burns applied over a 7-year period (2013-2019) followed by a one-year cessation of burning at varying spatial scales during the early and late dry seasons.</p> <p>Fires contributed a fourfold increase in short grass cover, regardless of fire season or size. The distribution of grass height differed significantly between fire-induced grazing lawns and recently unburnt parts of the landscape where controlled fires were excluded over the experimental period. The volume (corresponding to bulk density) of short grass on the landscape responded strongly to fires, with grass volume <20 cm in height increasing with both early and late dry season fires.</p> <p>Early dry season fires caused larger and more homogeneous short grass patches. Furthermore, early dry season fires were more influential in increasing the cover of the shortest grass height class (1-5 cm).</p> <p><em>Synthesis and applications</em>. Our results demonstrate that fire-induced grazing lawns can persist over the longer-term, even when fires are no longer applied, leading to the creation of vertical and horizontal heterogeneity in the grass layer. Small-scale fires, therefore, represent a feasible management approach to expanding grazing lawn extent, potentially benefiting grazer coexistence and diversity.</p>
Grazing lawns and overgrazing in frequently grazed grass communities
<p>Frequent grazing can establish high forage value grazing lawns supporting high grazer densities, but can also produce overgrazed grass communities with unpalatable or low grass basal cover, supporting few grazers. Attempts to create grazing lawns via concentrated grazing, with a goal to increase grazer numbers, are thus risky without knowing how environmental conditions influence the likelihood of each outcome.</p> <p>We collected grass species and trait data from 33 frequently grazed grass communities across eastern South Africa (28 sites) and the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania (5 sites), covering wide rainfall (336–987 mm.yr-1) and soil (e.g. 44–93% sand) gradients. We identified four grass growth forms using hierarchical clustering on principal components analyses of trait data, and assessed trait-environment and growth form-environment relationships using fourth corner and principal components analyses.</p> <p>We distinguished two palatable grass growth forms that both attract yet resist grazers, and comprise grazing lawns: 1) 'lateral attractors' that spread vegetatively via stolons and rhizomes, and 2) 'tufted attractors' that form isolated tufts, and may have alternate tall growth forms. By contrast, 3) tough, upright, tufted 'resisters', and 4) 'avoiders' with sparse architectures or that grow appressed to the soil surface, are of little forage value and avoided by grazers.</p> <p>Grazing lawns occurred across a wide range of conditions, typically comprising lateral attractor grasses in drier, sandy environments, and tufted attractor grasses in wetter, low-sand environments. Resisters occurred on clay-rich soils in mesic areas, while avoiders were widespread but scarce.</p> <p>While grazing lawns can be established under most conditions, monitoring their composition and cover is important, as the potential for overgrazing seems as widely relevant. Tufted attractor-dominated lawns appear somewhat more vulnerable to degradation than lateral attractor-dominated lawns. Increased avoider or resister abundance both reduce forage value, although resisters may provide better soil protection.</p>
Grasshoppers, other arthropods, plant, and soil data from Konza Prairie bison grazing lawns
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Grazing lawns and overgrazing in frequently grazed grass communities
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Small-scale fires interact with herbivore feedbacks to create persistent grazing lawn environments
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Data from: A novel mechanism for grazing lawn formation: large herbivore-induced modification of the plant-soil water balance
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Data from: The role of browsers in maintaining the openness of savanna grazing lawns
<p>1. In savannas, ruminant herbivores can have divergent impacts on tree recruitment and resulting woody cover. Heavy grazing by cattle results in woody thickening, whereas intensive grazing by wildlife instead tends to be associated with lower woody cover.</p> <p>2. To disentangle why woody cover is low in areas heavily grazed by wildlife, we tested (I) whether short-grass environments attract indigenous mammalian browsers; (II) whether preference for short grass decreases with browser body mass because of differences in predator susceptibility; and (III) whether these translate into suppression of seedlings and saplings on grazing lawns, thus maintaining their openness.</p> <p> 3. This work was conducted in Kruger National Park (KNP) and Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park (HiP), South Africa. In KNP, the effect of grass height on browser abundance (estimated using dung counts), and on the utilisation of woody plants by browsers (using a bite-score approach) was tested. An exclosure experiment tested the effect of grass height and browser removal on seedling survival and sapling growth of a dominant woody plant species in a short- and tall-grass mosaic. Finally, in HiP, the effect of grass height and browser removal were tested on the growth rates of a range of woody species, monitored over ten years, across ten sites.</p> <p>4. Steenbok and impala selected short- over tall-grass as preferred browsing sites, while elephant preferred tall grass. Browser abundance on short grass decreased with browser body mass, indicating that predator avoidance might be a key factor driving small-bodied browsers to utilize grazing lawns. Grass height did not explain variation in the utilisation of woody plants by browsers.</p> <p>5. Seedling survival was lowest in short grass and when browsers were present, with mortality occurring in two out of every three seedlings. Also, sapling growth was lowest in short grass, although browser removal had no effect. Evidence for increased browser impact on grazing lawns was clearest from our long-term exclosure experiment in HiP, which demonstrated that the effect of browsers on sapling growth rates was strongly modified by the presence of short grass.</p> <p>6. <i>Synthesis</i>. These results provide support for the hypothesis that browsers, particularly small-bodied browsers and mixed feeders, are attracted to short-grass habitats, and that, they help maintain grazing lawn openness by suppressing woody seedling survival and sapling growth where grass is kept short by grazers.</p>
Data from: The role of browsers in maintaining the openness of savanna grazing lawns
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