Effects of different clipping intensities on above- and below-ground production in simulated herbaceous plant communities
We studied the effect of clipping on above- and below-ground production in different plant communities through a factorial experiment. We designed five pasture systems with different species composition, perennials/annuals ratio and soil water availability, recreating different altitudinal locations...
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Published in | Plant biosystems Vol. 150; no. 3; pp. 468 - 476 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Abingdon
Taylor & Francis
03.05.2016
Taylor & Francis Ltd |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | We studied the effect of clipping on above- and below-ground production in different plant communities through a factorial experiment. We designed five pasture systems with different species composition, perennials/annuals ratio and soil water availability, recreating different altitudinal locations, and simulated a gradient of grazing intensity by clipping with different heights and frequencies. Response patterns of above- and below-ground production were similar, increasing with the higher clipping frequency and decreasing with altitude. These results suggest that high grazing intensity stimulate above-ground production, but only in certain situations of species composition, density, diversity, perennials/annuals ratio and water availability. This stimulus, however, is unsustainable over time, and the lower clipping frequencies are those that favour the maintenance of production. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1126-3504 1724-5575 |
DOI: | 10.1080/11263504.2014.965800 |