Grazing exclusion affects soil and plant communities, but has no impact on soil carbon storage in an upland grassland

Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment

Volumn 149, Issue , 2012, Pages 118-123

  Medina Roldán, Eduardo ^a   Paz Ferreiro, Jorge ^a,b   Bardgett, Richard D ^a  

^a LANCASTER UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE MADRID   (Spain)

Author keywords

Calluna vulgaris; Carbon; Ecosystem services; Grass dominated ecosystems; Grazing management; Moorland; Nitrogen; Soil properties; Uplands; Yorkshire Dales

Indexed keywords

CARBON SEQUESTRATION; COMMUNITY COMPOSITION; ECOSYSTEM SERVICE; FARMING SYSTEM; GRASSLAND SOIL; GRAZING MANAGEMENT; LITTER; MICROBIAL ACTIVITY; MOISTURE CONTENT; MOORLAND; NUTRIENT CYCLING; PLANT COMMUNITY; RESTORATION ECOLOGY; SEASONAL VARIATION; SHRUB; SOIL CARBON; SOIL MICROORGANISM; SOIL NITROGEN; SOIL PROPERTY; TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE; UPLAND REGION;

ENGLAND; UNITED KINGDOM;

CALLUNA; CALLUNA VULGARIS;

EID: 84856168243     PISSN: 01678809     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2011.12.012     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. Anderson M.J. A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Austral. Ecol. 2008, 26:32-46.
2. Anderson P., Yalden D.W. Increased sheep numbers and the loss of heather moorland in the Peak District, England. Biol. Conserv. 1981, 20:195-213.
3. Augustine D.J., McNaughton S.J., Frank D.A. Feedbacks between soil nutrients and large herbivores in a managed savanna ecosystem. Ecol. Appl. 2003, 13:1325-1337.
4. Bardgett R.D., Wardle D.A. Herbivore-mediated linkages between aboveground and belowground communities. Ecol. 2003, 84:2258-2268.
5. Bardgett R.D., Wardle D.A. Aboveground-Belowground Linkages: Biotic Interactions, Ecosystem Processes, and Global Change. Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution 2010, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
6. Bardgett R.D., Marsden J.H., Howard D.C. The extent and condition of heather on moorland in the uplands of England and Wales. Biol. Conserv. 1995, 71:155-161.
7. Bardgett R.D., Jones A.C., Jones D.L., Kemmitt S.J., Cook R., Hobbs P.J. Soil microbial community patterns related to the history and intensity of grazing in sub-montane ecosystems. Soil Biol. Biochem. 2001, 33:1653-1664.
8. Bardgett R.D., Mawdsley J.L., Edwards S., Hobbs P.J., Rodwell J.S., Davies W.J. Plant species and nitrogen effects on soil biological properties of temperate upland grasslands. Funct. Ecol. 1999, 13:650-660.
9. Cebrian J. Patterns in the fate of production in plant communities. Am. Nat. 1999, 154:449-468.
10. Conant R.T., Paustian K., Elliott E.T. Grassland management and conversion into grassland: effects on soil carbon. Ecol. Appl. 2001, 11:343-355.
11. Done A., Muir R. The landscape history of grouse shooting in the Yorkshire Dales. Rural History 2001, 12:195-210.
12. Farrell M., Hill P.W., Farrar J., Bardgett R.D., Jones D.L. Seasonal variation in soluble soil carbon and nitrogen across a grassland productivity gradient. Soil Biol. Biochem. 2011, 43:835-844.
13. Garnett M.H., Ineson P., Stevenson A.C. Effects of burning and grazing on carbon sequestration in a Pennine blanket bog, UK. The Holocene 2000, 10:729-736.
14. Gordon H., Haygarth P.M., Bardgett R.D. Drying and rewetting effects on soil microbial community composition and nutrient leaching. Soil Biol. Biochem. 2008, 40:302-311.
15. Marrs R.H., Rizand A., Harrison A.F. The effects of removing sheep grazing on soil chemistry, above-ground nutrient distribution, and selected aspects of soil fertility in long-term experiments at Moor House national nature reserve. J. Appl. Ecol. 1989, 26:647-661.
16. McNaughton S.J., Ruess R.W., Seagle S.W. Large mammals and process dynamics in African ecosystems. BioSci 1988, 38:794-800.
17. Medina-Roldán E., Bardgett R.D. Plant and soil responses to defoliation: a comparative study of grass species with contrasting life history strategies. Plant Soil 2011, 344:377-388.
18. Milne J.A., Pakeman R.J., Kirkham F.W., Jones I.P., Hossell J.E. Biomass production of upland vegetation types in England and Wales. Grass Forage Sci. 2002, 57:373-388.
19. Milne R., Brown T.A. Carbon in the vegetation and soils of Great Britain. J. Environ. Manage. 1997, 49:413-433.
20. Oechel W.C., Vourlitis G.L., Hastings S.J., Ault R.P., Bryant P. The effects of water table manipulation and elevated temperature on the net CO2 flux of wet sedge tundra ecosystems. Global Change Biol. 1998, 4:77-90.
21. Oksanen, J., Blanchet, F.G., Kindt, R., Legendre, P., O'Hara, R.B., Simpson, G.L., Solymos, P., Henry, M., Stevens, H., Wagner, H. 2010. vegan: Community Ecology Package. http://cran.r-project.org/package=vegan.
22. Pinheiro, J., Bates, D., DebRoy, S., Sarkar, D., the R Core team, 2008. nlme: Linear and Nonlinear Mixed Effects Models.
23. R Development Core Team, 2010. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria. http://www.r-project.org/.
24. Simmons I.G. The Moorlands of England and Wales: An Environmental History 8000 BC to AD 2000 2003, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, UK.
25. Thompson D.B.A., MacDonald A.J., Marsden J.H., Galbraith C.A. Upland heather moorland in Great Britain: a review of international importance, vegetation change and some objectives for nature conservation. Biol. Conserv. 1995, 71:163-178.
26. Vuuren M.M., Aerts E., Berendse F., Visser W. Nitrogen mineralization in heathland ecosystems dominated by different plant species. Biogeochemistry 1992, 16:151-166.
27. Waltham T. The Yorkshire Dales: Landscape and Geology 2008, The Crowood Press Ltd., Ramsbury, UK. illustrated edition.
28. Ward S.E., Bardgett R.D., McNamara N.P., Adamson J.K., Ostle N.J. Long-term consequences of grazing and burning on northern peatland carbon dynamics. Ecosystems 2007, 10:1069-1083.
29. Ward S.E., Bardgett R.D., McNamara N.P., Adamson J.K., Ostle N.J. Plant functional group identity influences short-term peatland ecosystem carbon flux: evidence from a plant removal experiment. Func. Ecol. 2009, 23:454-462.
30. Welch D., Rawes M. The early effects of excluding sheep from high-level grasslands in the North Pennines. J. Appl. Ecol. 1964, 1:281-300.