Grazing exclusion as a conservation measure in a South Australian temperate native grassland

Souter, Nicholas J.; Milne, Tim

doi:10.1111/j.1744-697x.2009.00142.x

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Globally, overgrazing is one of the most important human disturbances, causing severe degradation of grasslands (Su et al, 2005;Liang et al, 2009) and reducing both productivity and resilience of grasslands (Zhou et al, 2011). Grazing exclusion (GE) is considered to be an effective approach to restore degraded grassland ecosystems, as well as to promote C sequestration (Akiyama & Kawamura, 2007;He et al, 2009;Souter & Milne, 2009;Wu et al, 2010;Qiu et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A synthesis of the effect of grazing exclusion on carbon dynamics in grasslands in China

Guo

et al. 2016

Global Change Biology

181

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Grazing exclusion (GE) is considered to be an effective approach to restore degraded grasslands and to improve their carbon (C) sequestration. However, the C dynamics and related controlling factors in grasslands with GE have not been well characterized. This synthesis examines the dynamics of soil C content and vegetation biomass with the recovery age through synthesizing results of 51 sites in grasslands in China. The results illustrate increases in soil C content and vegetation biomass with GE at most sites. Generally, both soil C content and vegetation biomass arrive at steady state after 15 years of GE. In comparison, the rates of increase in above-and belowground biomass declined exponentially with the age of GE, whereas soil C content declined in a milder (linear) way, implying a lagged response of soil C to the inputs from plant biomass. Mean annual precipitation (MAP) and the rate of soil nitrogen (N) change were the main factors affecting the rate of soil C content change. MAP played a major role at the early stage, whereas the rate of soil N change was the major contributor at the middle and late stages. Our results imply that the national grassland restoration projects in China may be more beneficial for C sequestration in humid regions with high MAP. In addition, increased soil N supply to grasslands with GE at the latter recovery stage may enhance ecosystem C sequestration capacity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A synthesis of the effect of grazing exclusion on carbon dynamics in grasslands in China

Guo

et al. 2016

Global Change Biology

181

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“…The finding that exclusion of grazing did not produce changes in lowland grassland composition finds much support in the literature on grazing exclusion in southeastern Australian temperate grasslands; Zimmer et al (2010), Lewis et al (2008), Foreman (1996), Schultz et al (2014), McIntyre et al (2017) and Souter and Milne (2009) all found that species richness did not change significantly with grazing exclusion. By contrast, studies in more productive grasslands have shown that grazing exclusion will quickly (2–5 years) disadvantage inter‐tussock flora (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Transient shifts in composition of degraded temperate native grassland following grazing exclusion

Farmilo

Duncan

Moxham

et al. 2023

Applied Vegetation Science

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Questions Globally, grassy ecosystems are threatened and are still declining in extent in many areas. Improving the management of degraded native temperate grasslands that are grazed by livestock is important to the conservation of this critically endangered ecosystem. Questions remain about the role of grazing in the management of such grasslands, particularly in the face of climate change and given the sensitivity of these systems to inter‐annual rainfall variability. Here, we investigate the effect of livestock exclusion on grassland composition. Location Temperate grassland, Victoria, Australia. Methods Over 9 years (2009–2017), we monitored plant functional groups in plots open‐to‐grazing or ungrazed exclusion plots within five fields of degraded native temperate grassland on private land. Results In the years after grazing had been excluded, we found significant differences in cover between grazed and ungrazed plots for some functional groups (e.g. native perennial graminoids) in some years, but we did not observe long‐term divergence in cover or composition of the treatments. At the final monitoring point there were no significant differences in native or exotic species richness between the grazed and ungrazed plots. We show that the years in which differences were observed correspond with the 2010–2011 La Niña high‐rainfall event, suggesting that grazing exclusion effects are mediated by rainfall, and are likely to be evident only under certain conditions. Conclusion In grassy ecosystems already degraded by long‐term grazing, excluding grazing has limited potential to shift plant species composition in favour of native dominance. Such grasslands may persist in the medium term in a stable but degraded state with or without continued light to moderate livestock grazing pressure. Hence, managed livestock grazing need not be incompatible with the conservation of degraded temperate grasslands particularly where biomass management is important for the maintenance of faunal habitat. However, improving the function and diversity of these degraded grasslands will seemingly require additional management, including seed addition and experimentation with alternative disturbance regimes.

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“…These findings are likely due to differences in the community composition among sites, with some conservation sites tending towards native shrub-dominated communities and others dominated by native tussocks. Removal of livestock leads to the recovery of dominant tussock species in talltussock grasslands, with a corresponding decline in native inter-tussock species in New Zealand (Rose and Platt 1992;Grove et al 2002;Mark and Dickinson 2003) and elsewhere (Souter and Milne 2009). Similarly in short-tussock communities, removal of livestock can lead to the recovery of shrub and inter-tussock species (Grove et al 2002).…”

Section: Livestock Removal and Native Plant Richnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, while the effects of domesticated herbivores can be profound in the short term (Courchamp and Caut 2006), they can also take decades to play out, for example by influencing successional vegetation trajectories (Walker et al 2009). In ecosystems where domesticated herbivores have been introduced, grazing by livestock can alter community composition by reducing native plant richness (Walker and Lee 2002;Kimball and Schiffman 2003;Haarmeyer et al 2010), an effect that is often reversed with removal of livestock (Allcock and Hik 2004;Souter and Milne 2009). Also, grazing typically leads to short vegetation communities (Diaz et al 2007;May et al 2009), often with low shrub recruitment and decreased structural complexity (Lee et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Removal of livestock alters native plant and invasive mammal communities in a dry grassland–shrubland ecosystem

et al. 2013

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The impacts of domesticated herbivores on ecosystems that did not evolve with mammalian grazing can profoundly influence community composition and trophic interactions. Also, such impacts can occur over long time frames by altering successional vegetation trajectories. Removal of domesticated herbivores to protect native biota can therefore lead to unexpected consequences at multiple trophic levels for native and non-native species. In the eastern South Island of New Zealand large areas of seral grassland-shrubland have had livestock (sheep and cattle) removed following changes in land tenure. The longterm (> 10 years) outcomes for these communities are complex and difficult to predict: land may return to a native-dominated woody plant community or be invaded by exotic plants and mammals. We quantified direct and indirect effects of livestock removal on this ecosystem by comparing plant and invasive mammal communities at sites where grazing by livestock ceased c.10-35 years ago (conservation sites) with paired sites where pastoralism has continued to the present (pastoral sites). There was higher total native plant richness and reduced richness of exotic plants on conservation sites compared with pastoral sites. Further, there were differences in the use of conservation and pastoral sites by invasive mammals: rabbits and hedgehogs favoured sites grazed by livestock whereas house mice, brushtail possums and hares favoured conservation sites. Changes in the relative abundance of invasive mammal species after removal of domesticated livestock may compromise positive outcomes for conservation in successional plant communities with no evolutionary history of mammalian grazing.

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Grazing exclusion as a conservation measure in a South Australian temperate native grassland

Cited by 7 publications

References 23 publications

A synthesis of the effect of grazing exclusion on carbon dynamics in grasslands in China

A synthesis of the effect of grazing exclusion on carbon dynamics in grasslands in China

Transient shifts in composition of degraded temperate native grassland following grazing exclusion

Removal of livestock alters native plant and invasive mammal communities in a dry grassland–shrubland ecosystem

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