Annual Pasture Legumes: A Vital Component Stabilizing and Rehabilitating Low-Rainfall Mediterranean Ecosystems

Ewing, Mike

doi:10.1080/089030699263221

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Nevertheless, circumstantial evidence including the frequent co‐occurrence of Chamaecrista and vigorous Pennisetum in the field, the known role of Chamaecrista as a nitrogen fixer, increased soil nitrogen near Chamaecrista in the field, and the increased ability of Pennisetum to invade Heteropogon under higher nitrogen conditions together suggest that Chamaecrista may play an important indirect role in facilitating Pennisetum invasion of Heteropogon grasslands. The growth of many legumes is phosphate limited (Dear and Virgona 1996, Ewing 1999). An intriguing but unexplored possibility is that a release of phosphate associated with soil disturbances could precipitate the decline of Heteropogon grasslands by promoting the spread of Chamaecrista, eventually facilitating Pennisetum invasion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can inconspicuous legumes facilitate alien grass invasions? Partridge peas and fountain grass in Hawai‘i

Carino¹,

Daehler

2002

Ecography

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We investigated the potential role of a nitrogen‐fixing legume in facilitating invasion by an alien grass, Pennisetum setaceum (fountain grass) into native Heteropogon contortus grasslands in Hawai‘i. Both grasses are C4 perennials. Many formerly extensive Heteropogon grasslands have been reduced to remnants surrounded by Pennisetum. An inconspicuous annual legume, Chamaecrista nictitans (partridge pea), was commonly associated with Pennisetum stands but was found at higher densities in Pennisetum‐Heteropogon mixtures. In the field, we also found higher exchangeable soil nitrogen beneath Chamaecrista‐Pennisetum‐Heteropogon mixtures than beneath neighboring pure Heteropogon stands. We then used greenhouse experiments to test the hypothesis that increased nitrogen facilitates Pennisetum's invasion of established Heteropogon. Under low nitrogen conditions, Pennisetum seedlings planted beneath established Heteropogon plants grew very little (<0.3 g biomass after 16 weeks), and their growth was not affected by high or low water treatments. In contrast, under high nitrogen conditions, in both low and high water treatments, Pennisetum seedlings grew rapidly, averaging 60 fold the biomass of seedlings in the low nitrogen treatment and exceeding the biomass of the established Heteropogon plants under which they were planted. We also compared Pennisetum‐Heteropogon seedling competition in the presence and absence of live Chamaecrista. The growth of Pennisetum was not directly facilitated by live Chamaecrista in the greenhouse pots, but the Chamaecrista did not increase available soil nitrogen until after it had died. Our results suggest that increases in soil nitrogen, like those associated with an inconspicuous alien legume, can facilitate an alien grass’ invasion of a native grassland.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can inconspicuous legumes facilitate alien grass invasions? Partridge peas and fountain grass in Hawai‘i

Carino¹,

Daehler

2002

Ecography

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“…The soil has a calcium‐rich sandy horizon (90% particle size >50 μm) that overlays a gypsum crust at a depth of about 0·4 m. This gypsum horizon was partially destroyed by deep‐ploughing during field preparations. Carbon and organic‐P contents of such soils are extremely low: C content of <0·5% and Olsen‐extractable P content of <10 ppm (Floret and Pontanier, 1982; Ewing, 1999; Visser, 2001). No fertilizer was applied.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, 2006). By contrast, ecological restoration using resource‐responsive species can boost rain‐use efficiency beyond 10 kg DM ha −1 mm −1 year −1 (Ewing, 1999; Visser, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing yield and yield stability of remnant populations of Cenchrus ciliaris L. in arid Tunisia: developing a blueprint for initiating native seed production

Visser

Mseddi

Chaïeb

et al. 2008

Grass and Forage Science

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Native seed needs to be sourced locally yet contain ample genetic variation. A blueprint is developed for assembling and assessing native plant material at one eco-geographical site prior to seed multiplication for restoring degraded drylands of North Africa. To satisfy the 'local yet ample' criterion, the feasibility of selecting a limited number of high-yielding genotypes within one starter collection of Cenchrus ciliaris L. in Presaharian Tunisia (100-200 mm annual rainfall) was tested and compared to outcomes with similar work on its ecological complement, Stipa lagascae R. & Sch. Results showed that a limited number of high-yielding genotypes can easily produce quality native seed because of the high genetic diversity of the starter material. Results also showed that there was a high potential to increase the rain-use efficiency of degraded drylands using this seed. Seven ground rules are suggested when building the starter collection: (i) carefully delimit the region for sourcing seed; (ii) work with individual plants; (iii) carefully choose the collection site; (iv) replicate plant material as much as is feasible; (v) match evaluation methods to resource constraints; (vi) wait for conditions of maximum resource availability before culling; and (vii) apply a two-tiered selection strategy.

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“…This species is currently sown on about 1 million ha year À1 in Western Australia (Ewing and Howieson, 1989;Ewing, 1999) and is increasingly grown in other countries with a Mediterranean-type climate. Yet little is known of its ecophysiology, adaptive strategies under varying environmental conditions, or range of genetic expression.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental Responses to Temperature and Photoperiod in Ecotypes of Medicago polymorpha L. Collected Along an Environmental Gradient in Central Chile

Pozo¹,

Ovalle²,

Aronson³

et al. 2000

Annals of Botany

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The phenological development of nine Chilean accessions of Medicago polymorpha, collected along a north±south aridity gradient, and of two commercial cultivars of the same species, were compared in 12 sequential outdoor sowings at Cauquenes (35858 H S, 72817 H W, elev. 177 m), in the sub-humid Mediterranean climate zone of Chile. A glasshouse experiment was also conducted to evaluate the eect of photoperiod on phenophase timing. There was a clear gradient in precocity among the Chilean accessions in both experiments: accessions MPO-9-88 and MPO-7-88, from the arid zone, were the earliest-¯owering accessions, whereas MPO-36-88 from the humid Mediterranean zone was the latest. Both experiments revealed signi®cant variation among the Chilean accessions in the response of owering time to variation in photoperiod regime. Dierences in days to¯owering between the least-(8 h) and the most-(16 h) inductive photoperiods were lower in precocious accessions from arid and semi-arid zones, than in lateowering accessions from more humid zones. Rate of progress to¯owering, de®ned as the inverse of time from emergence to ®rst¯ower appearance (1/f), was related to mean diurnal temperature, or to both mean diurnal temperature and mean photoperiod. In two early-¯owering accessions from the arid zone, and in the Australian cultivar`Circle Valley', 1/f was aected signi®cantly (P 5 0 . 05) by both temperature and photoperiod. In the remaining accessions, no signi®cant responses to temperatures were detected; 1/f was in¯uenced signi®cantly by photoperiod only.# 2000 Annals of Botany Company

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Annual Pasture Legumes: A Vital Component Stabilizing and Rehabilitating Low-Rainfall Mediterranean Ecosystems

Cited by 20 publications

References 37 publications

Can inconspicuous legumes facilitate alien grass invasions? Partridge peas and fountain grass in Hawai‘i

Can inconspicuous legumes facilitate alien grass invasions? Partridge peas and fountain grass in Hawai‘i

Assessing yield and yield stability of remnant populations of Cenchrus ciliaris L. in arid Tunisia: developing a blueprint for initiating native seed production

Developmental Responses to Temperature and Photoperiod in Ecotypes of Medicago polymorpha L. Collected Along an Environmental Gradient in Central Chile

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