scholarly journals Short-term study on the yak dung seed bank on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: effects of grazing season, seed characteristics and forage preferences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shulin Wang ◽  
Fujiang Hou
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Seed Bank ◽  
Seedling Density ◽  
Seed Shape ◽  
Grazing Season ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Foraging Preferences ◽  
Seed Characteristics ◽  
Yak Dung

Abstract Aims Viable seeds in herbivore dung constitute the dung seed bank, and the contribution of livestock dung to this seed bank in grazing pastures is often overlooked. Grazing season (warm and cold), seed characteristics (size and shape), and forage preference are the main factors that affect the size and composition of the dung seed bank and ultimately affect grassland ecology. However, how these three factors interact is unclear. Methods We collected yak dung as well as seeds of the common plant species from warm- and cold-season alpine meadows in northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and explored how grazing season (warm and cold), seed characteristics (size and shape) and foraging preferences (temporary cages method) affects yak dung seedling density, richness and diversity in an alpine pasture. Results Forty-three plant species (mainly perennials) germinated from yak dung. Dung seedling density, richness, and diversity did not differ significantly between the two grazing seasons. Small to medium-sized spherical seeds (seed size < 10 mg, shape index < 0.5) had the greatest germination potential. Conclusions Yaks vary their forage preference depending on the season (phenological period), and endozoochory occurs throughout both grazing seasons. Seed shape and size directly regulate the dung seedling density, richness, and diversity. Dung seedlings increase the heterogeneity of the aboveground vegetation near the microsites of the dung pieces and therefore promote grassland patching. Our study demonstrates that grazing season, seed characteristics, and yak forage preferences affect the dung seed bank in grazing ecosystems.

scholarly journals Yak Dung Seed Bank on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: Effects of Grazing Season, Seed Characteristics and Forage Preferences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shulin Wang ◽  
Fu-Jiang Hou
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Seed Bank ◽  
Seed Mass ◽  
Seedling Density ◽  
Seed Shape ◽  
Grazing Season ◽  
Foraging Preferences ◽  
Seed Characteristics ◽  
Yak Dung

Abstract AimsViable seeds in herbivore dung constitute the dung seed bank, and the contribution of livestock dung to this seed bank in grazing pastures is often overlooked. Grazing season (warm and cold), seed characteristics (mass and shape), and forage preference are the main factors that affect the size and composition of the dung seed bank and ultimately affect grassland ecology. However, how these three factors interact is unclear. Methodswe collected yak dung as well as seeds of the common plant species from warm- and cold-season alpine meadows in northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and explored how grazing season (warm and cold), seed characteristics (size and shape) and foraging preferences (temporary cages method) affects yak dung seedling density, richness and diversity in an alpine pasture on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. ResultsForty-three plant species (mainly perennials) could germinate from yak dung. Dung seedling density, richness, and diversity did not differ significantly between the two grazing seasons. Small-to-medium-sized spherical seeds (seed mass < 10 mg, shape index < 0.5) had the greatest germination potential. ConclusionsYaks vary their forage preference depending on the season (phenological period), and endozoochory occurs throughout both grazing seasons. Seed shape and mass directly regulate the dung seedling density, richness, and diversity. Dung seedlings increase the heterogeneity of the aboveground vegetation near the microsites of the dung pieces and therefore promote grassland patching. Our study demonstrates that grazing season, seed characteristics, and yak forage preferences affect the dung seed bank in grazing ecosystems.

Effects of yak dung patch dropped in cold season on soil and pasture on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 241-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-jun Yu ◽  
Chang-lin Xu ◽  
I. Muhammad ◽  
Rui-jun Long
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Cold Season ◽  
Yak Dung

scholarly journals Evidence for herbaceous seed dispersal by small-bodied fishes in a Pantanal seasonal wetland

2014 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
RML Silveira ◽  
B Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Digestive Tract ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Fish Species ◽  
Seed Bank ◽  
Aluminum Foil ◽  
Soil Mass ◽  
Fecal Material ◽  
Sampling Area ◽  
Intestinal Contents

We analysed the germination of seeds after their passage through the digestive tract of small floodplain fishes. Samples were collected in five open flooded fields of the northern Pantanal in March 2011. All fishes were sacrificed and their intestinal contents were removed. The fecal material was weighed and stored at 4°C in a GF/C filter wrapped in aluminum foil. The material was then transferred to a receptacle containing sterilised soil from the sampling area. The fecal samples were kept in a germination chamber for 68 days and then transferred to a greenhouse for another 67 days. We collected a total of 45 fish species and 1014 individuals which produced a total amount of 32g of fresh fecal mass and 11 seedlings. We were able to identify six seedlings: two Banara arguta, two Steinchisma laxa, one Hymenachne amplexicaulis and one Luziola sp.. The fish species that produced samples with seedlings were Astyanax assuncionensis, Metynnis mola, Plesiolebias glaucopterus, Acestrorhyncus pantaneiro and Anadoras wendelli. With the exception of B. arguta the remaining plant species and all fish species were not known to be associated with the seed dispersal process of these plants. We found a ratio of 0.435 seedlings.g–1 of fresh fecal material, which is 100 times higher than the amount of seedlings encountered in fresh soil mass (92,974 grams) in seed bank studies conducted in the same study area. In particular, Astyanax assuncionensis and Metynnis mola were among the most frequent and most abundant fish taxa in the area. Together with the high seed concentration in the fish fecal material, this evidence allows us to conclude that such fish species may play an important role in seed dispersal in the herbaceous plants of the Pantanal.

scholarly journals Remarks Using the SEM method Species Seeds of Gentiana occurring in Turkey

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. ALÇITEPE ◽  
S. ERKEN ◽  
F. GÜLBAG ◽  
M.E. ÖZZAMBAK
Keyword(s):  
Cell Size ◽  
Morphological Character ◽  
Seed Shape ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Seed Micromorphology ◽  
Periclinal Walls ◽  
First Time ◽  
Seed Characteristics ◽  
Wing Cell

ABSTRACT Seeds of eleven perennial Gentiana collected from Turkey were analyzed using the SEM method. Other species excluding G. septemfida, G. boissieri, G. gelida were studied for the first time. They were identified and compared in terms of seed characteristics and surface ornamentations. Major characteristics including the outer periclinal walls of testa, sculpting of inner periclinal walls, seed shape, seed and testa cell, wing cell size, thickness of testa wall and seed shape have been proposed for Turkey Gentiana. They are divided into different types, such as no wing, chalazal wing, incomplete discoid wing, complete discoid wing according to the outer periclinal walls of testa. Considering primary sculpting of seeds, irregularly striate and shallowly reticulate type is observed. Anticlinal walls of G. olivieri, G. boissieri and G. gelida are curved, while others are straight. G. lutea has the largest mean seed (4.20 x 4.40 mm), while G. cruciata (0.67 x 0.60 mm) and G. olivieri have the smallest mean seeds (0.67 x 0.67 mm). Seed micromorphology can be used together with morphological character to form classifications in studied specimens for Gentiana genus.

Yak Dung Combustion and Nutrient Loss Dataset in Northern Tibetan Plateau

GCdataPR ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zengrang XU ◽  
Shengkui CHENG
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Nutrient Loss ◽  
Northern Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Yak Dung

scholarly journals Drying out in Africa: Physical and physiological seed characteristics of selected indigenous plant species

2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.P. Erdey ◽  
S. Naidoo ◽  
N.W. Pammenter ◽  
P. Berjak
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Indigenous Plant ◽  
Seed Characteristics

The seed bank in a population of an endemic plant species and its ecological significance

1978 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry M. Baskin ◽  
Carol C. Baskin
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Seed Bank ◽  
Ecological Significance ◽  
Endemic Plant ◽  
Endemic Plant Species

Changes in the size and composition of the seed bank of medic pastures grown in rotation with wheat in north Syria

1992 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 1571 ◽  
Author(s):  
PS Cocks
Keyword(s):  
Seed Bank ◽  
Seed Banks ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
First Year ◽  
Botanical Composition ◽  
Seedling Density ◽  
Grazing Strategies ◽  
Medicago Species

A mixture of 84 accessions of 12 medic (Medicago) species were sown in two successive years into a two-course pasture/wheat rotation in north Syria. Changes in the size and botanical composition of the seed bank were monitored for two cycles of the rotation. At the end of the first year the seed bank consisted of 550 kg ha-1 (sowing 1) and 330 kg ha-1 (sowing 2) of medic seed. Subsequent grazing reduced these seed banks to 225 kg ha-1 and 255 kg ha-1 respectively, and germination in the following wheat crop further reduced it to 205 kg ha-1 and 150 kg ha-1. The seed banks reached 700 kg ha-1 and 790 kg ha-1 respectively, during the second pasture phase of the rotation. The seedling density of medics in the regenerating pasture was 750 m-2 (sowing 1) and 1120 m-2 (sowing 2). Medics comprised about 95% of the pasture by mid-spring in both phases, the remaining 5% being wheat and broad-leaved weeds. The productivity of regenerating pasture was 5 t ha-1 (sowing 1) and 8 t ha-1 (sowing 2). Only three medic species, M. rotata, M. noeana, and M. rigidula, increased as a proportion of the seedbank. The increase was greatest in the first year, though M. noeana and M. rigidula increased further in the next two years. M. littoralis and M. turbinata, initially unsuccessful, became more successful later, while M. scutellata and M. constricta continued to decline throughout the experiment. There were also appreciable differences in the seed bank of individual accessions of several species. The results are discussed in terms of (a) the grazing strategies required in pasture/wheat rotations, and (b) the use of mixtures to select medics suitable for such rotations.

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