Vegetation patterns maintained by cattle grazing on a degraded mountain pasture

Abstract

Jewell P.L., Güsewell S., Berry N.R., Käuferle D., Kreuzer M. and Edwards P.J. 2005. Vegetation patterns maintained by cattle grazing on a degraded mountain pasture. Bot. In southern Switzerland the use of mountain pastures for cattle has been in decline since the 19th century, promoting the dominance of unpalatable grasses and shrubs. In an attempt to improve pasture quality, 80 Scottish Highland cattle were introduced to a 73-ha grazing area on acidic soils at 1400-1800 m a.s.l. To assess how this management might affect the vegetation, we surveyed the plant species composition, soil chemistry and spatial patterns of cattle grazing. Large parts of the pasture were low-productive Nardetum grassland or Callunetum heathland. Patches of more productive and nutrient-rich grassland occurred on less acidic soils with higher total P concentration and lower C:N, C:P and N:P ratios. Grazing by cattle focused on these patches, while N. stricta grasslands and heathlands were hardly used. Historical evidence suggests that these patterns of cattle use are similar to those in the past. We conclude that the current grazing regime is unlikely to produce a significant change in vegetation composition and pasture quality.

Succession secondaire et perte de diversité végétale après réduction du broutage dans un pâturage boisé des Alpes centrales suisses

“…Lutilisation des grands herbivores permet gØnØralement dentretenir une dynamique de la mosaïque et de maintenir ou rØtablir la diversitØ de la vØgØtation (Olff et Ritchie 1998;Olff et al 1999;Dullinger et al 2003;Pykälä 2003;Bakker et al 2004). Il est cependant important dØviter que lutilisation ne se concentre sur une petite partie de lalpage (Jewell et al 2005). Un systme de pâture tournante est proposØ par Baur et al (2006) pour maintenir une mosaïque de stades successionnels et pour assurer une bonne biodiversitØ.…”

A state-and-transition approach to alpine grasslands under abandonment

“…During the 20th century alpine grasslands were involved in a general diminution of their productive importance due to social and economic forces such as the depopulation of mountain areas, marginalisation of local agriculture and the development of more remunerative activities (MacDonald et al 2000), con sequently, the abandonment of agricultural practices caused widespread changes in tra ditional land management which was di rectly related to shrub encroachment in grasslands (Jewell et al 2005), long term de crease of species and landscape biodiversity (Nösberger & Rodriguez 1996, Wallis De Vries et al 2007, hydrologic disorders and wild-fires (Romero-Calcerrada & Perry 2004) and with irreversible loss of traditional customs (Sabatini et al 2003).…”

Effect of dung deposition on small-scale patch structure and seasonal vegetation dynamics in mountain pastures

“…At large scale (100-1000 m), dung density differs among paddocks due to differences in stocking rate and range management. At medium scale (10-100 m), the spatial patterning of dung pat density is generally heterogeneous inside a paddock, especially for a large paddock with various habitats and low stocking rate (White et al, 2001;Jewell et al, 2005;Kohler et al, 2006). In case this spatial pattern persists over years, it can lead to a redistribution of nutrients over the paddock, which in turn can induce a directional drift in plant succession (Jewell et al, 2007).…”