Grazing altered the plant diversity-productivity relationship in the Jianghan plain of the Yangtze River basin

Wei, Pujie; Wen-xiong, LU; Ni, Longkang; Yan, Zhaogui; Jiang, Tengyu

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120767

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Second, livestock trampling could explain the changes in diversity by physically fragmenting plant and litter materials on the ground and reducing ground coverage (Wei et al., 2023 ). This means that grazing regulation on biodiversity at the study sites might depend strongly on soil resource conditions as seen in other studies (Eldridge et al., 2017 ; Li et al., 2018 ; Zhou et al., 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of livestock grazing on plant diversity and productivity of mountainous grasslands in South America – A meta‐analysis

Sandoval‐Calderon,

Rubio Echazarra,

van Kuijk

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Mountainous grasslands in South America, characterized by their high diversity, provide a wide range of contributions to people, including water regulation, soil erosion prevention, livestock feed provision, and preservation of cultural heritage. Prior research has highlighted the significant role of grazing in shaping the diversity and productivity of grassland ecosystems, especially in highly productive, eutrophic systems. In such environments, grazing has been demonstrated to restore grassland plant diversity by reducing primary productivity. However, it remains unclear whether these findings are applicable to South American mountainous grasslands, where plants are adapted to different environmental conditions. To address this uncertainty, we conducted a meta‐analysis of experiments excluding livestock grazing to assess its impact on plant diversity and productivity across mountainous grasslands in South America. In alignment with studies in temperate grasslands, our findings indicated that herbivore exclusion resulted in increased aboveground biomass but reduced species richness and Shannon diversity. The effects of grazing exclusion became more pronounced with longer durations of exclusion; nevertheless, they remained resilient to various climatic conditions, including mean annual precipitation and mean annual temperature, as well as the evolutionary history of grazing. In contrast to results observed in temperate grasslands, the reduction in species richness due to herbivore exclusion was not associated with increased aboveground biomass. This suggests that the processes governing (sub)tropical grassland plant diversity may differ from those in temperate grasslands. Consequently, further research is necessary to better understand the specific factors influencing plant diversity and productivity in South American montane grasslands and to elucidate the ecological implications of herbivore exclusion in these unique ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of livestock grazing on plant diversity and productivity of mountainous grasslands in South America – A meta‐analysis

Sandoval‐Calderon,

Rubio Echazarra,

van Kuijk

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Considering the potential vegetation of the investigated areas, wood pastures can only be conserved through management. They represent a high landscape value formed by centuries of farming [99][100][101][102]. Since wood pastures consist of fragile ecosystems, overgrazing can cause major problems with their conservation [18,103].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Hungarian Grey Cattle or Hungarian Racka Sheep the Best Choice for the Conservation of Wood-Pasture Habitats in the Pannonian Region?

Penksza,

Saláta,

Fűrész

et al. 2024

Agronomy

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Wood pastures have been characteristic farming types in the Pannonian biogeographical region over the centuries. In the present work, we studied wood-pastures of typical geographical locations in the North Hungarian Mountain Range of Hungary characterized by similar environmental conditions but grazed by different livestock. The sample area of Cserépfalu was grazed by Hungarian Grey Cattle, while the Erdőbénye was grazed by Hungarian Racka Sheep. Coenological records of the sites were collected from 2012 to 2021 in the main vegetation period according to the Braun-Blanquet method with the application of 2 × 2 m sampling quadrats, where the coverage estimated by percentage for each present species was also recorded. To evaluate the state of vegetation, ’ecological ordering’ distribution, diversity, and grassland management values were used. Between the two areas, the grazing pressure of the two studied livestock produced different results. Based on the diversity values, woody–shrubby–grassland mosaic diversity values were high (Shannon diversity: 2.21–2.87). Cattle grazing resulted in a variable and mosaic-like shrubby area with high cover values. Based on our results, grazing by cattle provides an adequate solution for forming and conserving wood-pasture habitats in the studied areas of Hungary. However, if the purpose is to also form valuable grassland with high grassland management values, partly sheep grazing should be suggested.

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“…It implies an induced redistribution, dispersion, and changes in the area's diversity of flora and fauna [39,72,103,112]. Grazing patterns, for instance, affect the vegetation cover's structure and composition, critical in protecting the landscape from soil erosion, a driving force in land degradation [132,133]. As already discussed, the invasion of grasslands by shrubs and alien invasive plants such as the pompom weed often results in a semiarid environment characterised by a vegetation pattern that combines vegetated and bare patches with various spatial characteristics [134][135][136][137].…”

Section: Land Use and Land Cover Changes From 1990 To 2020mentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Cover and Landscape Structural Changes Using Extreme Gradient Boosting Random Forest and Fragmentation Analysis

Matyukira,

Mhangara

2023

Remote Sensing

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Land use and land cover change constitute a significant driver of land degradation worldwide, and machine-learning algorithms are providing new opportunities for effectively classifying land use and land cover changes over time. The aims of this study are threefold: Firstly, we aim to compare the accuracies of the parametric classifier Naïve Bayes with the non-parametric classifier Extreme Gradient Boosting Random Forest algorithm on the 2020 LULC dataset. Secondly, we quantify land use and land cover changes in the Cradle of Humankind from 1990 to 2020 using the Extreme Gradient Boosting Random Forest algorithm and post-classification change detection. Thirdly, the study uses landscape metrics to examine landscape structural changes occurring in the same area due to fragmentation. The classification results show that while Naïve Bayers and XGB Random Forest produce classification results of high accuracy, the XGB Random Forest Classifier produced superior results compared to the Naïve Bayers Classifier. From 1990 to 2020, bare ground/rock outcrop significantly increased by 39%, and open bush by 32%. Indigenous forests and natural grasslands lost area (26% and 12%, respectively). The results from this study indicate increasing land cover fragmentation and attest to land degradation, as shown by increases in bare ground and a reduction in indigenous forest and natural grassland. The decline in indigenous forests and natural grassland indicates the degradation of native vegetation, considered as prehistoric plant food sources. The high classification results also attest to the efficacy of the XGBRFClassifier executed in GEE. Land degradation evident in the nature reserve has long-term ecological consequences, such as loss of habitat, biodiversity decline, soil erosion, and alteration of local ecosystems, which together diminish the aesthetic value of the heritage site and negatively impact its tourism value. Consequently, it destroys crucial local economies and threatens sustainable tourism.

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Grazing altered the plant diversity-productivity relationship in the Jianghan plain of the Yangtze River basin

Cited by 7 publications

References 51 publications

The effect of livestock grazing on plant diversity and productivity of mountainous grasslands in South America – A meta‐analysis

The effect of livestock grazing on plant diversity and productivity of mountainous grasslands in South America – A meta‐analysis

Are Hungarian Grey Cattle or Hungarian Racka Sheep the Best Choice for the Conservation of Wood-Pasture Habitats in the Pannonian Region?

Land Cover and Landscape Structural Changes Using Extreme Gradient Boosting Random Forest and Fragmentation Analysis

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