Impact of Reduced Rainfall on Above Ground Dry Matter Production of Semi-natural Grassland in South Gloucestershire, UK: A Rainfall Manipulation Study

In the United Kingdom, agricultural grasslands cover 40% of the land area, make up 89% of the total agricultural area and are an important land use for ecosystem services and food security. Climate change predictions suggest that the United Kingdom will experience more frequent and severe periods of...

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Autores principales:	S. M. Ayling, Jill Thompson, A. Gray, L. J. McEwen
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	grassland climate change productivity resilience reduced rainfall Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/0c84fdd0bc4c49f6b0505008d4ff5c7e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:0c84fdd0bc4c49f6b0505008d4ff5c7e2021-11-12T06:13:32ZImpact of Reduced Rainfall on Above Ground Dry Matter Production of Semi-natural Grassland in South Gloucestershire, UK: A Rainfall Manipulation Study2296-665X10.3389/fenvs.2021.686668https://doaj.org/article/0c84fdd0bc4c49f6b0505008d4ff5c7e2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2021.686668/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/2296-665XIn the United Kingdom, agricultural grasslands cover 40% of the land area, make up 89% of the total agricultural area and are an important land use for ecosystem services and food security. Climate change predictions suggest that the United Kingdom will experience more frequent and severe periods of drought that may impact these grasslands. As part of the Drought Risk and You (DRY) project, a field experiment in which rain shelters reduced precipitation reaching the vegetation by approximately 50%, was set up in the South West of England. The experiment ran for 3 years, from October 2015 to October 2018. The study was carried out at two locations in the catchment of the Bristol River Frome. Both sites were species-rich semi-natural pastures that had received no inputs of fertilizer or herbicide for many years. Automatic weather stations recorded environmental conditions, especially rainfall, within the experimental area. The existing agricultural management regimes were approximated by cutting the vegetation in the plots, by hand, at the appropriate times of year. The effect of rainfall reduction on plant growth was assessed by biomass sampling. At both sites, the rainfall reduction treatment had only small effects on total above ground dry matter production (biomass). These effects were much smaller than the year-to-year variation in total biomass. Our results suggested that well-established permanent pastures in the South West of England were able to tolerate a 3-year period of reduced water supply. The observed year-to-year variation in biomass demonstrated how important the timing of dry weather is for biomass production, and this will be reflected in effects on yield and quality of hay.S. M. AylingJill ThompsonA. GrayL. J. McEwenFrontiers Media S.A.articlegrasslandclimate changeproductivityresiliencereduced rainfallEnvironmental sciencesGE1-350ENFrontiers in Environmental Science, Vol 9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	grassland climate change productivity resilience reduced rainfall Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	grassland climate change productivity resilience reduced rainfall Environmental sciences GE1-350 S. M. Ayling Jill Thompson A. Gray L. J. McEwen Impact of Reduced Rainfall on Above Ground Dry Matter Production of Semi-natural Grassland in South Gloucestershire, UK: A Rainfall Manipulation Study
description	In the United Kingdom, agricultural grasslands cover 40% of the land area, make up 89% of the total agricultural area and are an important land use for ecosystem services and food security. Climate change predictions suggest that the United Kingdom will experience more frequent and severe periods of drought that may impact these grasslands. As part of the Drought Risk and You (DRY) project, a field experiment in which rain shelters reduced precipitation reaching the vegetation by approximately 50%, was set up in the South West of England. The experiment ran for 3 years, from October 2015 to October 2018. The study was carried out at two locations in the catchment of the Bristol River Frome. Both sites were species-rich semi-natural pastures that had received no inputs of fertilizer or herbicide for many years. Automatic weather stations recorded environmental conditions, especially rainfall, within the experimental area. The existing agricultural management regimes were approximated by cutting the vegetation in the plots, by hand, at the appropriate times of year. The effect of rainfall reduction on plant growth was assessed by biomass sampling. At both sites, the rainfall reduction treatment had only small effects on total above ground dry matter production (biomass). These effects were much smaller than the year-to-year variation in total biomass. Our results suggested that well-established permanent pastures in the South West of England were able to tolerate a 3-year period of reduced water supply. The observed year-to-year variation in biomass demonstrated how important the timing of dry weather is for biomass production, and this will be reflected in effects on yield and quality of hay.
format	article
author	S. M. Ayling Jill Thompson A. Gray L. J. McEwen
author_facet	S. M. Ayling Jill Thompson A. Gray L. J. McEwen
author_sort	S. M. Ayling
title	Impact of Reduced Rainfall on Above Ground Dry Matter Production of Semi-natural Grassland in South Gloucestershire, UK: A Rainfall Manipulation Study
title_short	Impact of Reduced Rainfall on Above Ground Dry Matter Production of Semi-natural Grassland in South Gloucestershire, UK: A Rainfall Manipulation Study
title_full	Impact of Reduced Rainfall on Above Ground Dry Matter Production of Semi-natural Grassland in South Gloucestershire, UK: A Rainfall Manipulation Study
title_fullStr	Impact of Reduced Rainfall on Above Ground Dry Matter Production of Semi-natural Grassland in South Gloucestershire, UK: A Rainfall Manipulation Study
title_full_unstemmed	Impact of Reduced Rainfall on Above Ground Dry Matter Production of Semi-natural Grassland in South Gloucestershire, UK: A Rainfall Manipulation Study
title_sort	impact of reduced rainfall on above ground dry matter production of semi-natural grassland in south gloucestershire, uk: a rainfall manipulation study
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/0c84fdd0bc4c49f6b0505008d4ff5c7e
work_keys_str_mv	AT smayling impactofreducedrainfallonabovegrounddrymatterproductionofseminaturalgrasslandinsouthgloucestershireukarainfallmanipulationstudy AT jillthompson impactofreducedrainfallonabovegrounddrymatterproductionofseminaturalgrasslandinsouthgloucestershireukarainfallmanipulationstudy AT agray impactofreducedrainfallonabovegrounddrymatterproductionofseminaturalgrasslandinsouthgloucestershireukarainfallmanipulationstudy AT ljmcewen impactofreducedrainfallonabovegrounddrymatterproductionofseminaturalgrasslandinsouthgloucestershireukarainfallmanipulationstudy
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Impact of Reduced Rainfall on Above Ground Dry Matter Production of Semi-natural Grassland in South Gloucestershire, UK: A Rainfall Manipulation Study

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