Annual plant diversity decreases across scales following widespread ecosystem engineer shrub mortality

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 578-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Hoffman ◽  
Natalie de Falco ◽  
Hezi Yizhaq ◽  
Bertrand Boeken
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Ecosystem Engineer ◽  
Annual Plant

scholarly journals Water and nitrogen shape winter annual plant diversity and community composition in near‐urban Sonoran Desert preserves

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan M. Wheeler ◽  
Scott L. Collins ◽  
Nancy B. Grimm ◽  
Elizabeth M. Cook ◽  
Christopher Clark ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Sonoran Desert ◽  
Annual Plant ◽  
Winter Annual

Granivory and Competition as Determinants of Annual Plant Diversity in the Chihuahuan Desert

Oikos ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Samson ◽  
Thomas E. Philippi ◽  
Diane W. Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Chihuahuan Desert ◽  
Annual Plant

The agronomic value of annual plant diversity in crop-weed systems

2006 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 865-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony R. Szumigalski ◽  
Rene C. Van Acker
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Weed Suppression ◽  
Dry Matter Production ◽  
Annual Plant ◽  
Hordeum Vulgare L ◽  
Crop Species ◽  
Matter Production

Enhanced crop or cultivar diversity within annual cropping systems could provide important ecological and agronomic benefits. The agronomic effects of annual plant diversity from mixtures of crop species and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar types were compared using richness levels of 1, 2, 5 or 10 randomly selected taxa in a greenhouse experiment. Increasing crop richness increased overall crop dry matter production, production stability (i.e., decreased CV for dry matter production) and weed suppression. These agronomic variables tended to level off after a richness of five to six crop species, suggesting that further increases in crop diversity are redundant. Increasing barley cultivar richness increased crop production in one of two experimental runs, but no effects were observed for weed suppression. Increased light interception related to greater plant canopy height variation in diverse mixtures of species could have contributed to increased productivity in the crop richness experiment. The results of this study suggest that the ecological functions of diversity provide productivity, yield stability and weed suppression benefits for mixtures of crop species, and even perhaps for mixtures of cultivars within a given crop species. Key words: Diversity (crop), suppression (weed), stability (yield), intercropping, cultivars (barley), oat (wild)

Plant diversity and species richness of Ljubljana marsh grasslands under the influence of different cutting and fertilizing regimes

2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Sinkovč
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Grassland Management ◽  
Botanical Composition ◽  
Significant Negative Effect ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Cutting Regimes ◽  
N Rates ◽  
Exploitation Intensity ◽  
Plot Design

The botanical composition of grasslands determines the agronomic and natural values of swards. Good grassland management usually improves herbage value, but on the other hand it frequently decreases the plant diversity and species richness in the swards. In 1999 a field trial in a split-plot design with four replicates was therefore established on the Arrhenatherion type of vegetation in Ljubljana marsh meadows in order to investigate this relationship. Cutting regimes (2 cuts — with normal and delayed first cut, 3 cuts and 4 cuts per year) were allocated to the main plots and fertiliser treatments (zero fertiliser — control, PK and NPK with 2 or 3 N rates) were allocated to the sub-plots. The results at the 1 st cutting in the 5 th trial year were as follows: Fertilising either with PK or NPK had no significant negative effect on plant diversity in any of the cutting regimes. In most treatments the plant number even increased slightly compared to the control. On average, 20 species were listed on both unfertilised and fertilised swards. At this low to moderate level of exploitation intensity, the increased number of cuts had no significant negative effect on plant diversity either (19 species at 2 cuts vs. 20 species at 3 or 4 cuts). PK fertilisation increased the proportion of legumes in the herbage in the case of 2 or 3 cuts. The proportion of grasses in the herbage increased in all the fertilisation treatments with an increased numbers of cuts. Fertiliser treatment considerably reduced the proportion of marsh horsetail ( Equisetum palustre ) in the herbage of the meadows. This effect was even more pronounced at higher cut numbers. The proportion of Equisetum palustre in the herbage was the highest in the unfertilised sward with 2 cuts (26.4 %) and the lowest in the NPK-fertilised sward with 4 cuts (1.4%).

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