Journal
ECOSPHERE
Volume 11, Issue 8, Pages -Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3209
Keywords
aboveground biomass; forage nutritive value; Juncus effusus; Long-Term Agroecosystems Research Network; palatability; Panicum hemitomon; productivity; seasonal wetlands; wetland management
Categories
Funding
- United States Department of Agriculture CSREES [2006-35101-17204]
- USDA Department of Natural Resources Conservation Service [USDA-NRCS 68-4209-16-500]
- Mosaic Company
- Florida Cattlemen Association
- United States Department of Agriculture
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Wetlands in agroecosystems provide multiple ecosystem services, including provisioning services such as forage production. Here, we examine how pasture management intensity (semi-natural pastures vs. highly managed pastures (fertilized, heavily drained, planted with productive grasses), cattle exclusion (grazed vs. fenced), prescribed fire (burned vs. unburned), and their interactions affect provisioning services provided by small, isolated, and seasonally flooded wetlands in subtropical pastures and rangelands. We used a replicated, full-factorial experiment on 40 seasonally flooded wetlands located in Florida (USA), and measured standing plant biomass and annual net primary productivity in each wetland. Biomass was sorted by species to calculate species abundance of palatable and unpalatable plants. We used general linear mixed models to evaluate the effect of treatments and their interactions on biomass quantity, plant tissue nutrients (% C, % N, and % P), and forage nutritive value (using in vitro organic matter digestibility). Plant standing biomass and productivity were greatest in wetlands embedded in highly managed pastures, but in grazed wetlands, a large proportion of this biomass was unpalatable to cattle. Excluding cattle from wetlands in highly managed pastures increased productivity, standing biomass, and the amount of palatable species (similar to 6.3 t/ha) compared to grazed wetlands (similar to 3.3 t/ha), especially when these wetlands were also exposed to prescribed fire. Total P in plant tissue was consistently higher in wetlands within highly managed pastures, but total N responses to treatments varied between years. In vitro digestibility was higher in vegetation from wetlands within highly managed pastures, but not in fenced wetlands despite the higher amount of palatable species, suggesting that palatability and digestibility were decoupled. Subtropical wetlands in agroecosystems provide substantial provisioning services, and our study suggests that targeted management can increase these services. However, the pasture type surrounding a wetland interacts with grazing and fire management to affect provisioning services. We propose that fencing off selected wetlands (specifically in highly managed pastures) followed by low-intensity grazing with adequate resting periods could benefit ranchers and have less persistent impacts on this ecosystem.
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