期刊
JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS
卷 75, 期 3, 页码 255-264出版社
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2010.10.012
关键词
Grazing; Plant functional types; Succulent karoo
资金
- German Federal Ministry of Education and Research [01 LC 0024A]
- Mazda Wildlife Fund
Potential grazing impacts associated with the sustained heavy grazing of a communal rangeland are explored through a plant functional type approach. An informative typology is derived that shows grazing responses. An examination of plant functional types within growth forms does not provide any additional insights, whereas looking at traits alone does demonstrate a grazing response with increases in the traits of large basal and erect leafy growth forms and losses in the traits of medium height, simple leaves and few flowers. There is also evidence of a biogeographic shift, with an increase in a succulent-dominated plant functional type at higher altitudes on the heavily grazed communal rangeland. This is attributed to the fact that in adopting the proposed universal language advocated by plant functional type practitioners some of the subtleties of this particular vegetation type are lost. For example growth form height classes are too coarse for the shorter vegetation of the Succulent Karoo. In the resultant 'fuzzy groups, responses are lost. While the method adopted is informative a stronger case is made for a more simple growth form analysis traditionally adopted in rangeland analysis. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据