Vegetation Productivity/Stability and Other Possible Ecological Invariant Relationships Demonstrated in a Microplot Multispecies Pasture Sward

Scott, D.

doi:10.5402/2012/173792

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 61 publications

(117 reference statements)

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“…Livestock producers rely on sustained productivity, which might be considered an index of sward stability (Scott, ). This is likely in extensively managed hill‐land pasture where harvesting and storing forage may be problematic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designed and naturalised sward response to management: I. Patterns of herbage production

Belesky

Halvorson

Ruckle

et al. 2019

Annals of Applied Biology

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Pastures in the Appalachian region of the United States comprise a mix of grasses, legumes and forbs that tend to differ in productivity within and among years. A high degree of spatial variability in hill-land pasture creates microsite conditions that influence botanical composition of pasture. The variation in sward composition presents logistical challenges to livestock producers who rely on a dependable supply of herbage mass and nutritive value to meet production goals. Our objective was to determine if forage communities sown for specific functions, for example, superior dry matter productivity, resource patch exploitation or targeted seasonal production, adapted to changing growing conditions within and among years. Productivity of communities differed among years reflecting the cumulative influences of time, ontogenetic and environmental variations. Maximum productivity was influenced by the specific forage community and less so by simple clipping and fertiliser management.Naturalised swards clipped to emulate hay management tended to have sustained herbage productivity but lower nutritive value when compared to sown communities.Rankings of dry matter productivity of communities were similar for each year where bioactive composition, high productivity and warm season tended to produce the most, and stoloniferous-rhizomatous and naturalised pasture the least. Regardless of initial sward composition, effective number of species as an index of diversity increased when frequently clipped swards were not fertilised, and when infrequently clipped swards were fertilised. Dry matter production patterns were not influenced by the effective number of species in any forage community suggesting that key species sustained productivity with volunteer species making lesser contribution to total productivity. The species composition of forage plant communities appears to be more important than clipping or fertiliser management practices as a means to sustain forage productivity. K E Y W O R D Sdry matter productivity, grasses, legumes

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designed and naturalised sward response to management: I. Patterns of herbage production

Belesky

Halvorson

Ruckle

et al. 2019

Annals of Applied Biology

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“…The present investigations on packing models had been prompted by an allied study following the changes in composition when twenty pasture species had been seeded at randomly selected close fixed points in a small field trial and presence noted and harvested at the scale of individual plants on four occasions over a period of four months (Scott, 2012). That data gave changes in both species density and biomass.…”

Section: Comparison Between Models and Empiricalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analogue Particle and Random Packing Models of Ecological Community Formation

Scott¹

2014

JPS

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The apparent constancy of the near linear relationship between logarithm of a specie's abundance in a community and their rank order led to a brief review of existing species abundance distribution (SAD) models; a proposal of three further classes of analogue models; and an evaluation of a meta data set of empirical vegetation composition data.A new class of models is proposed considered particle packing of circles (2D) or spheres (3D) as representing individuals of species which under different scenarios of arrival, growth, displacement and mortality determine community maximum packing and SAD.Besides the existing random models treating each species as an entity, two further classes are added which considered dismantling rather than assembly models, or retaining identity of taxa species through successive stages of assembly or dismantling models.In each of the models, the resulting form of the SAD was dependent on which metric of an individual (density, area, volume etc) was used as a measure of abundance.A comparison was made between the resulting 576 different models and 432 sets of 10 species and 110 sets of 5 species empirical observations. There was a wide variation in species proportions and a lack of clustering around a particular model.In those comparisons, the particle packing models of individuals were as good as the random models treating species as an entity and did offer a functional explanation of the formation of the SAD.In most models and empirical data the species ranking is done retrospectively so there will always be a high negative correlation between abundance and rank implying a need for a revaluation of the ecological significance of the relationship.

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Vegetation Productivity/Stability and Other Possible Ecological Invariant Relationships Demonstrated in a Microplot Multispecies Pasture Sward

Cited by 2 publications

References 61 publications

Designed and naturalised sward response to management: I. Patterns of herbage production

Designed and naturalised sward response to management: I. Patterns of herbage production

Analogue Particle and Random Packing Models of Ecological Community Formation

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