Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of Uruguay

Natural grasslands in the basaltic region of Uruguay are threatened by an increase in stocking rates and changes in land use. To assess the effect of grazing intensification, plant functional types are proposed as simple tools to aid the monitoring and management of vegetation. In the present study...

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Autores principales:	Jaurena,Martin, Lezama,Felipe, Cruz,Pablo
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, INIA 2012
Materias:	Natural grasslands diagnosis management stocking rate
Acceso en línea:	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-58392012000400013
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spelling	oai:scielo:S0718-583920120004000132018-10-01Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of UruguayJaurena,MartinLezama,FelipeCruz,Pablo Natural grasslands diagnosis management stocking rate Natural grasslands in the basaltic region of Uruguay are threatened by an increase in stocking rates and changes in land use. To assess the effect of grazing intensification, plant functional types are proposed as simple tools to aid the monitoring and management of vegetation. In the present study we evaluated the effect of stocking rate increase at community level taking into account plant traits of 23 dominant perennial grass species. In order to identify plant functional types, we determined the grazing response in an experiment with two wethers stocking rates (0.78 and 1.56 livestock units ha-1) quantifying species cover and traits values. Leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and specific leaf area (SLA) were the traits that best described the perennial grasses response to the stocking rate increase and therefore are suggested to be used as functional markers. Three functional types were identified. Low stocking rates were related to functional type A (tall, warm season species with low SLA and high LDMC and functional type B (tall, cool-season species, with intermediate levels of leaf traits). On the other hand, high stocking rate encouraged functional type C (prostrate, warm season species, with high SLA and low LDMC). The classification of a highly diverse community into three functional types and the selection of traits as functional markers candidates is an innovative approach to develop simple and general methods to diagnosis the state of basaltic grasslands in Uruguay and to advise on its management.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessInstituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, INIAChilean journal of agricultural research v.72 n.4 20122012-12-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-58392012000400013en10.4067/S0718-58392012000400013
institution	Scielo Chile
collection	Scielo Chile
language	English
topic	Natural grasslands diagnosis management stocking rate
spellingShingle	Natural grasslands diagnosis management stocking rate Jaurena,Martin Lezama,Felipe Cruz,Pablo Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of Uruguay
description	Natural grasslands in the basaltic region of Uruguay are threatened by an increase in stocking rates and changes in land use. To assess the effect of grazing intensification, plant functional types are proposed as simple tools to aid the monitoring and management of vegetation. In the present study we evaluated the effect of stocking rate increase at community level taking into account plant traits of 23 dominant perennial grass species. In order to identify plant functional types, we determined the grazing response in an experiment with two wethers stocking rates (0.78 and 1.56 livestock units ha-1) quantifying species cover and traits values. Leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and specific leaf area (SLA) were the traits that best described the perennial grasses response to the stocking rate increase and therefore are suggested to be used as functional markers. Three functional types were identified. Low stocking rates were related to functional type A (tall, warm season species with low SLA and high LDMC and functional type B (tall, cool-season species, with intermediate levels of leaf traits). On the other hand, high stocking rate encouraged functional type C (prostrate, warm season species, with high SLA and low LDMC). The classification of a highly diverse community into three functional types and the selection of traits as functional markers candidates is an innovative approach to develop simple and general methods to diagnosis the state of basaltic grasslands in Uruguay and to advise on its management.
author	Jaurena,Martin Lezama,Felipe Cruz,Pablo
author_facet	Jaurena,Martin Lezama,Felipe Cruz,Pablo
author_sort	Jaurena,Martin
title	Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of Uruguay
title_short	Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of Uruguay
title_full	Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of Uruguay
title_fullStr	Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of Uruguay
title_full_unstemmed	Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of Uruguay
title_sort	perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of uruguay
publisher	Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, INIA
publishDate	2012
url	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-58392012000400013
work_keys_str_mv	AT jaurenamartin perennialgrassestraitsasfunctionalmarkersofgrazingintensityinbasalticgrasslandsofuruguay AT lezamafelipe perennialgrassestraitsasfunctionalmarkersofgrazingintensityinbasalticgrasslandsofuruguay AT cruzpablo perennialgrassestraitsasfunctionalmarkersofgrazingintensityinbasalticgrasslandsofuruguay
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Perennial grasses traits as functional markers of grazing intensity in basaltic grasslands of Uruguay

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