scholarly journals Restoration management of cattle resting place in mountain grassland

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249445
Author(s):  
Teowdroes Kassahun ◽  
Klára Pavlů ◽  
Vilem Pavlů ◽  
Lenka Pavlů ◽  
Jan Novak ◽  
...  

This study investigated the effect of restoration management of a weed-infested area, previously used as cattle resting place, on herbage production and nutrient concentrations in the soil and herbage. The experiment was undertaken from 2004 to 2011 at the National Park of Nízké Tatry, Slovakia. Three treatments were applied: (i) cutting twice per year, (ii) herbicide application, followed after three weeks by reseeding with a mixture of vascular plant species and then cut twice per year, and (iii) unmanaged. Treatments had significant effect on biomass production and concentration of nutrients in the soil and in herbage. Nutrient concentrations in herbage and in soil declined progressively under the cutting treatments and reached optimum ranges for dairy cattle at the end of the experiment when herbage N was less than 15 g kg-1 and herbage P was 3.4 g kg-1. There was also a strong positive relationship under the cutting treatments between soil nutrient concentrations and herbage nutrient concentrations for N, P, K, Mg and Ca. Although the cutting management as well as the combination of herbicide application with cutting management reduced nutrient concentrations in the soil and in herbage, the nutrient concentrations remained relatively high. We can conclude that restoration of grassland covered with weedy species like Urtica dioica and Rumex obtusifolius, with excessive levels of soil nutrients, cannot be achieved just by cutting and herbicide application.

2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 765-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
X.-Y. Li ◽  
P.-P. Fan ◽  
Y. Liu ◽  
G.-L. Hou ◽  
Q. Wang ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuta Takahashi ◽  
Kaori Shiojiri ◽  
Akira Yamawo

AbstractAboveground communication between plants is well known to change defense traits in leaves, but its effects on belowground plant traits and soil characteristics have not been elucidated. We hypothesized that aboveground plant-to-plant communication reduces root nodule symbiosis via induction of bactericidal chemical defense substances and changes the soil nutrient environment. Soybean plants were exposed to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from damaged shoots of Solidago canadensis var. scabra, and leaf defense traits (total phenolics, saponins), root saponins, and root nodule symbiosis traits (number and biomass of root nodules) were measured. Soil C/N ratios and mineral concentrations were also measured to estimate the effects of resource uptake by the plants. We found that total phenolics were not affected. However, plants that received VOCs had higher saponin concentrations in both leaves and roots, and fewer root nodules than untreated plants. Although the concentrations of soil minerals did not differ between treatments, soil C/N ratio was significantly higher in the soil of communicated plants. Thus, the aboveground plant-to-plant communication led to reductions in root nodule symbiosis and soil nutrient concentrations. Our results suggest that there are broader effects of induced chemical defenses in aboveground plant organs upon belowground microbial interactions and soil nutrients, and emphasize that plant response based on plant-to-plant communications are a bridge between above- and below-ground ecosystems.


2001 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir G. Onipchenko ◽  
Mikhail I. Makarov ◽  
Eddy van der Maarel

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengjiao Sun ◽  
Enqing Hou ◽  
Jiasen Wu ◽  
Jianqin Huang ◽  
Xingzhao Huang

Abstract Background: Soil nutrients play critical roles in regulating and improving the sustainable development of economic forests. Consequently, an elucidation of the spatial patterns and drivers of soil nutrients in these forests is fundamental to their management. For this study, we collected 314 composite soils at a 0-30 cm depth from a typical hickory plantation in Lin 'an, Zhejiang Province, China. We determined the concentrations of macronutrients (i.e., soil organic carbon, hydrolyzed nitrogen, available phosphorus, and available potassium) and micronutrients (i.e., iron, manganese, zinc, and copper.) of the soils. We employed random forest analysis to quantify the relative importance of soil-forming factors to predict the soil nutrient concentrations, which could then be extrapolated to the entire hickory region. Results: Random forest models explained 61%–88% of the variations in soil nutrient concentrations. The mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation were the most important predictor of soil macronutrient and micronutrient concentrations. Moreover, parent material was another key predictor of soil available phosphorus and micronutrient concentrations. Mapping results demonstrated the importance of climate in controlling the spatial distribution of soil nutrient concentrations at finer scales, as well as the effect of parent material, topography, stand structure, and management measures of hickory plantations. Conclusions: Our study highlights the biotic factors, abiotic factors, and management factors control over soil macronutrient and micronutrient concentrations, which have significant implications for the sustainability of soil nutrients in forest plantations.


Author(s):  
Woodruff Miller

This study is the continuation of an evaluation of the trophic state of lakes located in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. The original 1995 study was motivated by concern that the water quality of the lakes within the Park may be declining due to increased human usage over the past several years. A trophic state evaluation, featuring nutrient and chlorophyll-a analyses, was chosen because it is believed to be a sound indicator of the lakes' overall water quality. In this 1996 study, a thorough evaluation was made of Jackson Lake. This summary is taken from the complete 100 page report which is available from Woodruff Miller at Brigham Young University or Hank Harlow at the University of Wyoming. In most cases water samples were taken four times during the summer of 1996, in June, July, August, and October. Jackson Lake was sampled at eight different locations on thesurface and at depths near the bottom. The lake inlet and outlet were also sampled four times. Jackson Lake was sampled from a motor boat which also provided a means to measure the lake transparency and depth. The chlorophyll-a and nutrient concentrations were analyzed by the Utah State Health Department, Division of Laboratory Services. Jackson Lake was evaluated using the models of Carlson, Vollenweider, and Larsen­Mercier. The nature of the Larsen-Mercier and Vollenweider models, based on system inflow and outflow data, is such that they yield one trophic state assessment of the lake per inflow and outflow sample set. The Carlson Trophic State Indices (TSI), on the other hand, are based on in situ properties of the water at any point in the lake. Consequently, while there are four Vollenweider and four Larsen-Mercier evaluations for Jackson Lake, individual Carlson evaluations were made for the eight sample sites around the lake at the surface and at depth, and an evaluation for the lake as a whole was constructed using averages taken from the site evaluations. This allowed us to examine the relative water quality of different portions of the lake at different time periods.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1666
Author(s):  
Silvana Pietrosemoli ◽  
Charles Raczkowski ◽  
James T. Green ◽  
Maria Jesús Villamide

This study compares four stocking rates (37, 74, 111 and 148 pigs ha−1) for growing to finishing pigs (18.4 ± 0.5 kg and 118.5 ± 2.0 kg and 35.7 ± 2.1 kg and 125.7 ± 2.3 kg initial and final BW for grazing periods 1 and 2, respectively) and their effect on ground cover and soil traits in bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon [L.] Pers) pastures, over two 14-week grazing periods (July–September and May–August). The study was conducted at the Center for Environmental Farming systems at the Cherry Research Station, Goldsboro North Carolina. A continuous stocking method was implemented to manage the pasture. The percent ground cover was estimated with a modified step point technique. Soil samples were collected in three sampling positions (center, inner and outer areas of the paddocks) and two soil sampling depths (0–30 and 30–90 cm). The experimental design was a completely randomized block with three field replicates. Data were analyzed using the PROC GLIMMIX procedure of SAS/STAT ® Version 9.4. Greater ground cover and lesser soil nutrient concentrations were registered in bermudagrass paddocks managed with 37 pigs ha−1. The results of this study also validated the existence of a spatial pattern of soil properties, which differed among sampling positions and depths.


2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 101-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron M. Ellison

Abstract Carnivorous plants are pure sit-and-wait predators: they remain rooted to a single location and depend on the abundance and movement of their prey to obtain nutrients required for growth and reproduction. Yet carnivorous plants exhibit phenotypically plastic responses to prey availability that parallel those of non-carnivorous plants to changes in light levels or soil-nutrient concentrations. The latter have been considered to be foraging behaviors, but the former have not. Here, I review aspects of foraging theory that can be profitably applied to carnivorous plants considered as sit-and-wait predators. A discussion of different strategies by which carnivorous plants attract, capture, kill, and digest prey, and subsequently acquire nutrients from them suggests that optimal foraging theory can be applied to carnivorous plants as easily as it has been applied to animals. Carnivorous plants can vary their production, placement, and types of traps; switch between capturing nutrients from leaf-derived traps and roots; temporarily activate traps in response to external cues; or cease trap production altogether. Future research on foraging strategies by carnivorous plants will yield new insights into the physiology and ecology of what Darwin called “the most wonderful plants in the world”. At the same time, inclusion of carnivorous plants into models of animal foraging behavior could lead to the development of a more general and taxonomically inclusive foraging theory.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 1282-1291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Sardans ◽  
Mireia Bartrons ◽  
Olga Margalef ◽  
Albert Gargallo-Garriga ◽  
Ivan A. Janssens ◽  
...  

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