Resilience of a high-conservation-value, semi-arid grassland on fertile clay soils to burning, mowing and ploughing

Austral Ecology

Volumn 35, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 464-481

  Lewis, Tom ^a,b   Reid, Nick ^b   Clarke, Peter J ^c   Whalley, Ralph D B ^c  

^a DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES   (Australia)

^b Ecosystem Management   (Australia)

^c UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND   (Australia)

Author keywords

Astrebla spp.; Bluegrass; Dichanthium sericeum; Disturbance; Fire; Mitchell grassland; Nature reserve management; Plant diversity; Species composition

Indexed keywords

CLAY SOIL; ECOSYSTEM RESILIENCE; ENVIRONMENTAL DISTURBANCE; GRASSLAND; MOWING; NATURE CONSERVATION; NATURE RESERVE; PLOWING; PRESCRIBED BURNING; RAINFALL; SOIL FERTILITY; SPECIES RICHNESS;

AUSTRALIA;

ASTREBLA; DICHANTHIUM; DICHANTHIUM SERICEUM; POA;

EID: 77954163666     PISSN: 14429985     EISSN: 14429993     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2009.02047.x     Document Type: Article

References (88)

1. Terrick Terrick National Park Management Plan 2004, Anon, Parks Victoria, Melbourne
2. Austrheim G, Olsson E G A. How does continuity in grassland management after ploughing affect plant community patterns? Plant Ecol. 1999, 145:59-74.
3. Bakker J P, Elzinga J A, de Vries Y. Effects of long-term cutting in a grassland system: perspectives for restoration of plant communities on nutrient-poor soils. Appl. Veg. Sci. 2002, 5:107-20.
4. Banerjee M J, Gerhart V J, Glenn E P. Native plant regeneration on abandoned desert farmland: effects of irrigation, soil preparation, and amendments on seedling establishment. Restor. Ecol. 2006, 14:339-48.
5. Belsky A J. Revegetation of artificial disturbances in grasslands of the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. II. Five years of successional change. J. Ecol. 1986, 74:937-51.
6. Belsky A J. Effects of grazing, competition, disturbance and fire on species composition and diversity in grassland communities. J. Veg. Sci. 1992, 3:187-200.
7. Biondini M E, Steuter A A, Grygiel C E. Seasonal fire effects on diversity patterns, spatial distribution and community structure of forbs in the northern mixed prairie, USA. Vegetatio 1989, 85:21-31.
8. Borcard D, Legendre P, Drapeau P. Partialling out the spatial component of ecological variation. Ecology 1992, 73:1045-55.
9. Bryant W G. The effect of grazing and burning on a mountain grassland, Snowy Mountains, New South Wales. J. Soil Conserv. Serv. NSW 1973, 29:29-42.
10. Campbell M C. A Review of Information Relevant to the Mitchell Grass Plain Rangelands of Western New South Wales 1989, Soil Conservation Service of NSW, Chatswood
11. Cheney P, Sullivan A. Grassfires: Fuel, Weather and Fire Behaviour 1997, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood
12. Cingolani A M, Noy-Meir I, Díaz S. Grazing effects on rangeland diversity: a synthesis of contemporary models. Ecol. Appl. 2005, 15:757-73.
13. Collins S L. Interaction of disturbances in tallgrass prairie: a field experiment. Ecology 1987, 68:1243-50.
14. Collins S L. Fire frequency and community heterogeneity in tallgrass prairie vegetation. Ecology 1992, 73:2001-6.
15. Collins S L, Adams D E. Succession in grasslands: thirty-two years of change in a central Oklahoma tallgrass prairie. Vegetatio 1983, 51:181-90.
16. Collins S L, Barber S C. Effects of disturbance on diversity in mixed-grass prairie. Vegetatio 1985, 64:87-94.
17. Collins S L, Glenn S M, Gibson D J. Experimental analysis of intermediate disturbance and initial floristic composition: decoupling cause and effect. Ecology 1995, 76:486-92.
18. Collins S L, Knapp A K, Briggs J M, Blair J M, Steinauer E M. Modulation of diversity by grazing and mowing in native tallgrass prairie. Science 1998, 280:745-7.
19. Daubenmire R. Ecology of fire in grasslands. Adv. Ecol. Res. 1968, 5:209-66.
20. Dorrough J, Ash J, McIntyre S. Plant responses to livestock grazing frequency in an Australian temperate grassland. Ecography 2004, 27:798-810.
21. Feldman S R, Lewis J P. Effects of fire on the structure and diversity of a Spartina argentinensis tall grassland. Appl. Veg. Sci. 2005, 8:77-84.
22. Fensham R J. Aboriginal fire regimes in Queensland, Australia: analysis of the explorers' record. J. Biogeogr. 1997, 24:11-22.
23. Fuhlendorf S D, Engle D M. Application of the fire-grazing interaction to restore a shifting mosaic on tallgrass prairie. J. Appl. Ecol. 2004, 41:604-14.
24. Fulbright T E. Disturbance effects on species richness of herbaceous plants in semi-arid habitat. J. Arid Environ. 2004, 58:119-33.
25. Fynn R W S, Morris C D, Edwards T J. Long-term compositional responses of a South African mesic grassland to burning and mowing. Appl. Veg. Sci. 2005, 8:5-12.
26. Gill A M. Adaptive responses of Australian vascular plant species to fire. Fire and the Australian Biota 1981, 243-72. Gill A MGroves R HNoble I R. eds, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra
27. Grime J P. Competitive exclusion in herbaceous vegetation. Nature 1973, 242:344-7.
28. Harden G J. Flora of New South Wales: Volume 3 1992, ed., New South Wales University Press, Kensington
29. Harden G J. Flora of New South Wales: Volume 4 1993, ed., New South Wales University Press, Kensington
30. Harden G J. Flora of New South Wales: Volume 1 2000, ed., New South Wales University Press, Sydney
31. Harden G J. Flora of New South Wales: Volume 2 2002, ed., New South Wales University Press, Sydney
32. Harrison S, Inouye B D, Safford H D. Ecological heterogeneity in the effects of grazing and fire on grassland diversity. Conserv. Biol. 2003, 17:837-45.
33. Henderson M K, Keith D A. Correlation of burning and grazing indicators with composition of woody understorey flora of dells in a temperate eucalypt forest. Austral Ecol. 2002, 27:121-31.
34. Hickman K R, Hartnett D C, Cochran R C, Owensby C E. Grazing management effects on plant species diversity in tallgrass prairie. J. Range Manage. 2004, 57:58-65.
35. Hill S J, French K. Potential impacts of fire and grazing in an endangered ecological community: plant composition and shrub and eucalypt regeneration in Cumberland Plain Woodland. Aust. J. Bot. 2004, 52:23-9.
36. Hodgkinson K C, Harrington G N, Griffin G F, Noble J C, Young M D. Management of vegetation with fire. Management of Australia's Rangelands 1984, 141-56. Harrington G N, Wilson A D, Young M D, In, eds, CSIRO Publications, East Melbourne
37. Hunter J T, Earl J. Floristic descriptions of grassland areas on the Moree plains. 1999, Draft report NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
38. Irvin M, Mooney M D, Westbrooke M. Grazing effects on a post fire regenerating mallee community, south western New South Wales. Australian Rangeland Society Centenary Symposium 2000, 201-2. Nicolson S, Noble J, In, eds, pp., Australian Rangeland Society 2000, Broken Hill
39. Keith D A. Fire-driven extinction of plant populations: a synthesis of theory and review of evidence from Australian vegetation. Proc. Linn. Soc. NSW 1996, 116:37-77.
40. Kirkpatrick J B, Gilfedder L, Bridle K, Zacharek A. The positive and negative conservation impacts of sheep grazing and other disturbances on the vascular plant species and vegetation of lowland subhumid Tasmania. Ecol. Manage. Restor. 2005, 6:51-60.
41. Knops J M H. Fire does not alter vegetation in infertile prairie. Oecologia 2006, 150:477-83.
42. Kutt A S, Woinarski J C Z. The effects of grazing and fire on vegetation and the vertebrate assemblage in a tropical savanna woodland in north-eastern Australia. J. Trop. Ecol. 2007, 23:95-106.
43. Landsberg J, Stol J. Spatial distribution of sheep, feral goats and kangaroos in woody rangeland paddocks. Aust. Rangel. J. 1996, 18:270-91.
44. Landsberg J, James C D, Maconochie J, Nicholls A O, Stol J, Tynan R. Scale-related effects of grazing on native plant communities in an arid rangeland region of South Australia. J. Appl. Ecol. 2002, 39:427-44.
45. Leigh J H, Holgate M D. The responses of the understorey of forests and woodlands of the southern tablelands to grazing and burning. Aust. J. Ecol. 1979, 4:25-45.
46. Lewis T. Management for conservation of plant diversity in native grasslands of the Moree Plains, NSW. 2006, PhD Thesis). University of New England, Armidale
47. Lewis T, Clarke P J, Reid N, Whalley R D B. Perennial grassland dynamics on fertile plains: is co-existence mediated by disturbance? Austral Ecol. 2008, 33:128-39.
48. Lewis T, Clarke P J, Whalley R D B, Reid N. What drives plant biodiversity in the clay floodplain grasslands of NSW? Aust. Rangel. J. 2009, 31:329-51.
49. Lunt I D. Impact of an autumn fire on a long-grazed Themeda triandra (Kangaroo Grass) grassland: implications for management of invaded, remnant vegetations. Vic. Natur. 1990, 107:45-51.
50. Lunt I D. Turner Review No. 13. A framework to predict the effects of livestock grazing and grazing exclusion on conservation values in natural ecosystems in Australia. Aust. J. Bot. 2007, 55:401-15.
51. McIntyre S, Lavorel S, Trémont R M. Plant life history attributes: their relationships to disturbance response in herbaceous vegetation. J. Ecol. 1995, 83:31-44.
52. McIntyre S, Heard K M, Martin T G. How grassland plants are distributed over five human-created habitats typical of eucalypt woodlands in a variegated landscape. Pac. Conserv. Biol. 2002, 7:274-89.
53. Mackey R L, Currie D J. A re-examination of the expected effects of disturbance on diversity. Oikos 2000, 88:483-93.
54. Mackey R L, Currie D J. The diversity-disturbance relationship: is it generally strong and peaked? Ecology 2001, 82:3479-92.
55. Maron J L, Jefferies R L. Restoring enriched grasslands: effects of mowing on species richness, productivity and nitrogen retention. Ecol. Appl. 2001, 11:1088-100.
56. Meers T, Adams R. The impact of grazing by Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) on vegetation recovery after fire at Reef Hills Regional Park, Victoria. Ecol. Manage. Restor. 2003, 4:126-32.
57. Milchunas D G, Sala O E, Lauenroth W K. A generalized model of the effects of grazing by large herbivores on grassland community structure. Am. Nat. 1988, 132:87-106.
58. Milchunas D G, Lauenroth W K, Burke I C. Livestock grazing: animal and plant biodiversity of shortgrass steppe and the relationship to ecosystem function. Oikos 1998, 83:65-74.
59. Montalvo J, Casado M A, Levassor C, Pineda F D. Species diversity patterns in Mediterranean grasslands. J. Veg. Sci. 1993, 4:213-21.
60. Morgan J W. Comparative germination responses of 28 temperate grassland species. Aust. J. Bot. 1998, 46:209-19.
61. Morgan J W, Lunt I D. Effects of time-since-fire on the tussock dynamics of a dominant grass (Themeda triandra) in a temperate Australian grassland. Biol. Conserv. 1999, 88:379-86.
62. Morrison D A, Le Brocque A F, Clarke P J. An assessment of some improved techniques for estimating the abundance (frequency) of sedentary organisms. Vegetatio 1995, 120:131-45.
63. Mulham W E. Vegetation changes after fire on two land systems in arid north-west New South Wales. Aust. Rangel. J. 1985, 7:80-7.
64. Noble I R, Slatyer R O. The use of vital attributes to predict successional changes in plant communities subject to recurrent disturbances. Vegetatio 1980, 43:5-21.
65. Noy-Meir I. Interactive effects of fire and grazing on structure and diversity of Mediterranean grasslands. J. Veg. Sci. 1995, 6:701-10.
66. Noy-Meir I, Gutman M, Kaplan Y. Responses of Mediterranean grassland plants to grazing and protection. J. Ecol. 1989, 77:290-310.
67. Olff H, Ritchie M E. Effects of herbivores on grassland plant diversity. Trends Ecol. Evol. 1998, 13:261-5.
68. Orr D M. A review of Astrebla (Mitchell grass) pastures in Australia. Trop. Grassl. 1975, 9:21-36.
69. Orr D M, Holmes W E. Mitchell grasslands. Management of Australia's Rangelands 1984, 241-54. Harrington G N, Wilson A DYoung M D. In, eds, Division of Wildlife and Rangelands Research, CSIRO, East Melbourne
70. Payne R W, Harding S A, Murray D A. The Guide to GenStat® Release 9. Part 2: Statistics 2006, VSN International, Hertfordshire
71. Prober S M, Thiele K R. Conservation of the grassy white box woodlands: relative contributions of size and disturbance to floristic composition and diversity of remnants. Aust. J. Bot. 1995, 43:349-66.
72. Prober S M, Thiele K R, Lunt I D. Fire frequency regulates tussock grass composition, structure and resilience in endangered temperate woodlands. Austral Ecol. 2007, 32:808-24.
73. Purcell D L, Lee G R. Effects of season and of burning plus planned stocking on Mitchell grass grasslands in central western Queensland: Proceedings of the XI International Grasslands Conference. 1970, In, pp. 66-9. Surfers Paradise
74. Radford I J, Nicholas D M, Brown J R. Impact of prescribed burning on Acacia nilotica seed banks and seedlings in the Astrebla grasslands of northern Australia. J. Arid Environ. 2001, 49:795-807.
75. Römermann C, Dutoit T, Poschold P, Buisson E. Influence of former cultivation on the unique Mediterranean steppe of France and consequences for conservation management. Biol. Conserv. 2005, 121:21-33.
76. Scanlan J C. Effects of spring wildfires on Astrebla (Mitchell grass) grasslands in north-west Queensland under varying levels of growing season rainfall. Aust. Rangel. J. 1980, 2:162-8.
77. Stuwe J, Parsons R F. Themeda australis grasslands on the Basalt Plains, Victoria: floristics and management effects. Aust. J. Ecol. 1977, 2:467-76.
78. ter Braak C J F, Šmilauer P. CANOCO Reference Manual and CanoDraw for Windows User's Guide: Software for Canonical Community Ordination (Version 4.5) 2002, Biometris, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen
79. Trémont R M, McIntyre S. Natural grassy vegetation and native forbs in temperate Australia: structure, dynamics and life histories. Aust. J. Bot. 1994, 42:641-58.
80. Veen G F, Blair J M, Smith M D, Collins S L. Influence of grazing and fire frequency on small-scale plant community structure and resource variability in native tallgrass prairie. Oikos 2008, 117:859-66.
81. Verrier F J, Kirkpatrick J B. Frequent mowing is better than grazing for the conservation value to lowland tussock grassland at Pontville, Tasmania. Austral Ecol. 2005, 30:74-8.
82. Vesk P A, Leishman M R, Westoby M. Simple traits do not predict grazing response in Australian dry shrublands and woodlands. J. Appl. Ecol. 2004, 44:22-31.
83. Vogl R J. Effects of fire on grasslands. Fire and Ecosystems 1974, 139-94. Kozlowski T TAhlgren C E. In, eds, pp., Academic Press, New York
84. Wheeler D J B, Jacobs S W L, Whalley R D B. Grasses of New South Wales 2002, University of New England, Armidale
85. White E M, Lewis J K. Ecological effect of a clay soil's structure on some native grass roots. J. Range Manage. 1969, 22:401-4.
86. Williams D W, Jackson L L, Smith D D. Effects of frequent mowing on survival and persistence of forbs seeded into a species-poor grassland. Restor. Ecol. 2007, 15:24-33.
87. Wright B. Fire and the conservation of Mitchell grasslands. 2001, Honours Thesis). University of Queensland, Queensland
88. Zar J H. Biostatistical Analysis 1999, 4th, edn., Prentice-Hall Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ