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- Title
Response of plant community abundance and diversity during 10 years of cattle exclusion within silvopasture systems.
- Authors
Lindgren, Pontus M.F.; Sullivan, Thomas P.
- Abstract
The effects of cattle ( L.) grazing on upland plant communities in forested rangelands are poorly understood. Cattle interactions with plant communities were studied in intensively managed (precommercially thinned (PCT) and repeatedly fertilized) silvopasture systems in young lodgepole pine ( Dougl. ex Loud. var. Engelm.) forests. We investigated the response of plant community abundance and diversity to cattle grazing and how these responses were affected by PCT and repeated fertilization. The study was conducted inside and outside cattle exclosures over 10 years in two regional replicates in south-central British Columbia, Canada. PCT and repeated fertilization increased both the amount and quality of forage. Effects of cattle grazing on plant community abundance and diversity were variable and significantly influenced by the nutrient status of the site. In fertilized stands, cattle grazing increased species richness and diversity, particularly for the herb layer, although these treatment effects often took several years to be expressed. In unfertilized stands, cattle grazing did not significantly reduce herb or shrub volumes; however, species richness and, to a lesser extent, diversity of the shrub layer declined. In a landscape context, management strategies for silvopasture should promote heterogeneity for conservation of plant diversity through a variety of grazing pressures, as well as forest enhancement treatments such as PCT and repeated fertilization.
- Subjects
BRITISH Columbia; SILVOPASTORAL systems; PLANT communities; PLANT diversity conservation; EFFECT of grazing on plants; CATTLE herding; LODGEPOLE pine
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 2012, Vol 42, Issue 3, p451
- ISSN
0045-5067
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1139/x2012-003