Impact of herbivores on nitrogen cycling: contrasting effects of small and large species

Herbivores are reported to slow down as well as enhance nutrient cycling in grasslands. These conflicting results may be explained by differences in herbivore type. In this study we focus on herbivore body size as a factor that causes differences in herbivore effects on N cycling. We used an exclosure set-up in a floodplain grassland grazed by cattle, rabbits and common voles, where we subsequently excluded cattle and rabbits. Exclusion of cattle lead to an increase in vole numbers and a 1.5-fold increase in net annual N mineralization at similar herbivore densities (corrected to metabolic weight). Timing and height of the mineralization peak in spring was the same in all treatments, but mineralization in the vole-grazed treatment showed a peak in autumn, when mineralization had already declined under cattle grazing. This mineralization peak in autumn coincides with a peak in vole density and high levels of N input through vole faeces at a fine-scale distribution, whereas under cattle grazing only a few patches receive all N and most experience net nutrient removal. The other parameters that we measured, which include potential N mineralization rates measured under standardized laboratory conditions and soil parameters, plant biomass and plant nutrient content measured in the field, were the same for all three grazing treatments and could therefore not cause the observed difference. When cows were excluded, more litter accumulated in the vegetation. The formation of this litter layer may have added to the higher mineralization rates under vole grazing, through enhanced nutrient return through litter or through modification of microclimate. We conclude that different-sized herbivores have different effects on N cycling within the same habitat. Exclusion of large herbivores resulted in increased N annual mineralization under small herbivore grazing.     

Dry grassland plant diversity conservation using low-intensity sheep and goat grazing management: case study in Prague (Czech Republic)

After abandonment, dry grassland (Festuco-Brometea) areas decline due to gradual overgrowing by woody species and the expansion of perennial tall grass species. Dry grassland vegetation was formed by extensive livestock grazing, thus grazing is considered one of the most natural methods for managing this type of vegetation. Six years after introducing low-intensity sheep and goat grazing in seven nature reserves in Prague (Czech Republic), the following impact of this management on dry grassland vegetation was observed: The cover of expansive woody species, particularly Ligustrum vulgare, and to a smaller extent Cornus sanguinea and Prunus spinosa declined. In addition, a significant, long-term declining trend of the expansive species Arrhenatherum elatius was also observed. Also the cover of Pimpinella saxifraga and Allium senescens declined significantly with regard to statistical evaluation. On the contrary, the cover of Achillea millefolium, Centaurea stoebe, Securigera varia, Elytrigia repens, Erysimum crepidifolium, Falcaria vulgaris, Fallopia convolvulus and Verbascum lychnitis increased. The cover of species characteristic of dry grasslands (Festuco-Brometea) increased significantly. No changes were observed in the number and cover of the Red List species. In addition, the presence of nitrophilous and ruderal species increased. Species diversity also significantly increased. From our findings we can conclude that managing dry grasslands with low-intensity grazing can help to keep dry grassland vegetation in good condition and conserve its plant diversity. Nomenclature: Kubát et al. (2002) for taxa and Moravec et al. (1995) for syntaxa.     

小麦-玉米轮作体系多年定位试验中作物氮肥利用率计算方法探讨

近年来,国内学者针对氮肥利用率的概念、内涵和计算方法进行了深入的思考与探讨,在提出质疑的同时也给出了一些改进的计算方法.本文结合5年试验数据,以小麦-玉米轮作体系多年定位试验为研究对象,初步探讨了这些改进方法在农田氮肥利用状况评价中的适用性.结果表明: 利用常规差减法分两季作物分别计算当季氮肥利用率时存在小区土壤肥力不均一的弊端,且计算值逐年增大,已不能很好地反映田间实际情况;将小麦 玉米轮作体系作为整体计算体系累计氮肥利用率,可以确保计算建立在小区土壤肥力均一的基础上,且计算值较低,变异较小;基于比值法计算的体系氮肥利用率较累计计算法数值偏大,年际间变异最小,数值最稳定;土壤氮素平衡法计算体系氮肥利用率时,考虑了土壤养分在作物种植前后的盈亏和环境养分的输入,计算值最大,年际间变异也最大.
     

农田氮肥利用率计算方法研究进展

氮肥利用率是农学和环境科学等领域普遍关注的焦点,合理计算氮肥利用率是实现农田氮素优化管理的重要前提和基础. 近年来,鉴于我国农田氮肥利用率测定值偏低,且存在很大变幅的事实,国内学者针对传统氮肥利用率的概念和计算方法进行了深入的思考和探讨,并提出了一些改进的尝试. 本文首先综述了传统氮肥利用率在概念和计算方法上存在的种种缺陷,然后较为系统地介绍了目前学者提出的计算农田氮肥利用率的几种常见的替代方法,并对今后的研究方向进行了展望.建议在正确理解氮肥用量、作物产量、氮肥利用和损失之间辩证关系的基础上,逐步建立起符合现阶段我国农业生产现状的农田氮肥利用状况评价体系.     

Combined effects of nitrogen addition and litter manipulation on nutrient resorption of Leymus chinensis in a semi‐arid grassland of northern China

Plant growth in semi‐arid ecosystems is usually severely limited by soil nutrient availability. Alleviation of these resource stresses by fertiliser application and aboveground litter input may affect plant internal nutrient cycling in such regions. We conducted a 4‐year field experiment to investigate the effects of nitrogen (N) addition (10 g N·m^?2·year^?1) and plant litter manipulation on nutrient resorption of Leymus chinensis, the dominant native grass in a semi‐arid grassland in northern China. Although N addition had no clear effects on N and phosphorus (P) resorption efficiencies in leaves and culms, N fertilisation generally decreased leaf N resorption proficiency by 54%, culm N resorption proficiency by 65%. Moreover, N fertilisation increased leaf P resorption proficiency by 13%, culm P resorption proficiency by 20%. Under ambient or enriched N conditions, litter addition reduced N and P resorption proficiencies in both leaves and culms. The response of P resorption proficiency to litter manipulation was more sensitive than N resorption proficiency: P resorption proficiency in leaves and culms decreased strongly with increasing litter amount under both ambient and enriched N conditions. In contrast, N resorption proficiency was not significantly affected by litter addition, except for leaf N resorption proficiency under ambient N conditions. Furthermore, although litter addition caused a general decrease of leaf and culm nutrient resorption efficiencies under both ambient and enriched N conditions, litter addition effects on nutrient resorption efficiency were much weaker than the effects of litter addition on nutrient resorption proficiency. Taken together, our results show that leaf and non‐leaf organs of L. chinensis respond consistently to altered soil N availability. Our study confirms the strong effects of N addition on plant nutrient resorption processes and the potential role of aboveground litter, the most important natural fertiliser in terrestrial ecosystems, in influencing plant internal nutrient cycling.     

Differential Indirect Effects of Excluding Livestock and Rabbits from Chalk Heath on the Associated Leafhopper (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) Fauna

Preliminary results are presented of sampling the leafhopper assemblages on a field experiment designed to examine the differential effects of rabbits and livestock (mainly sheep) on the vegetation of chalk heath in southern England. Experimental plots that excluded livestock either allowed entry by rabbits or excluded them. Results were compared with those from plots grazed by both livestock and rabbits. After 7 years, exclusion of grazing herbivores had resulted in predictable increases in vegetation height, but no major changes were detected in the species composition of the vegetation. As expected, ungrazed plots had higher species richness and greater abundances of several individual leafhopper species. However, plots grazed only by rabbits had a leafhopper assemblage that was distinct from either ungrazed or mixed grazing plots. It is suggested that rabbit grazing may have subtle effects on grassland invertebrate assemblages that are not necessarily predictable from an examination of the species composition of the vegetation. Chalk heath vegetation contains an unusual mixture of calcicole and calcifuge plant species, but the leafhopper assemblage included a restricted number of calcareous grassland specialist species and only one species strongly associated with acidic grasslands; most leafhoppers recorded were generalist grassland species.     

Domestication effects on nitrogen allocation,internal recycling and nitrogen use efficiency in the perennial new crop Silphium integrifolium (Asteraceae)

Improvements in seed yield during domestication and breeding are frequently achieved moving plants from the conservative syndrome of the plant economic spectrum towards the more acquisitive side, changing how plants acquire, allocate, use and store C and nutrients in relation to their wild relatives. The aims were to evaluate if domestication changed the N allocation, the internal plant N recycling (N resorption efficiency and proficiency, and N storage) and N-use-efficiency, in the perennial new crop Silphium integrifolium. We compared in a field experiment repeated in two locations (Kansas and Patagonia), a Wild (W) and two improved accessions, with high- (HYI) and low-seed yield improved (LYI) accessions. HYI accessions produced more than twice the biomass and acquired twofold more N than LYI and Wild accessions. Changes in proportional N allocation were similar in both improved accessions (HYI and LYI) and locations: higher allocation to leaves and lower to the crown at pre-anthesis (growth-storage trade-off) and higher allocation to seeds and lower to the crown at maturity (reproduction-storage trade-off). HYI and LYI allocated 50% more N to seeds in average, reducing a 31% the N allocated to the crown in relation to the Wild. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and mean residence time (MRT) of N were reduced in both improved accessions. In HYI, the lower MRT was related to the lower storage of N in the crown and N removal through seed production, and in LYI was the result of the N lost through leaf senescence. HYI produced litter with lower N concentration (more proficient) that the wild accession. These could decrease the net N mineralization rate and soil N availability at long term. HYI plants should require higher external N inputs to the soil to sustain their N uptake requirements. LYI and Wild accessions, had lower resorption efficiency, but N recycled was allocated to the crown for future remobilization and uses (better internal cycling). The leaf litter type of these accessions with higher N content should sustain faster N-cycles rates and N release to the soil. If the focus is on the ecosystem services, HYI accessions could help achieve a reduction in nitrate leaching by maximizing N uptake, N resorption and N removal through seed (i.e. nitrate catch crop), and also produce crop residues that slow down biogeochemical cycling and soil nutrient retention.     

Conflicting management objectives on the Colorado Plateau: Understanding the effects of bison and cattle grazing on plant community composition

The American Bison (Bison bison Linnaeus) in the Henry Mountains are one of the last free-roaming, genetically pure herds of bison remaining in North America. Anecdotal evidence indicates that this herd is utilising a cattle winter range during the summer and fall, creating a conflict between the state agency that manages the bison, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and local ranchers. In theory, the addition of bison grazing pressure could reduce forage availability in the short term and lead to undesired changes in the plant community in the long term. Our objective was to determine whether bison have altered the plant species composition of the cattle winter range. We characterised plant species composition, percent cover, and grazing intensity on three adjacent, geomorphologically similar mesas. Grazing regimes were different on the three mesas, one with bison and cattle present, one with cattle only present, and the third with neither cattle nor bison present. Vegetation surveys were accompanied by a 28-year remote sensing time series to test for temporal shifts in an index of primary productivity. We found a higher grazing intensity on two dominant forage species on the bison plus cattle grazed mesa in fall, before the cattle were turned out to winter pasture. Despite this difference in grazing intensity, we found few differences in species composition, percent cover, or NDVI across the three grazing regimes. Our results suggest that high intensity summer bison grazing, while likely creating short-term reductions in forage availability, has not caused differences in plant community composition or productive potential. Shifts in community composition can take years to unfold and just as long to correct; therefore, continued monitoring of the combined effects of cattle and bison is needed.     

氮素减施对茶树光合作用和氮肥利用率的影响

为探讨当前茶园施肥水平下氮素减施对茶树的生长与氮肥利用率的影响,在大田条件下设置不施氮(空白对照CK),纯氮16 kg·667 m^-2(减氮55.6%,处理A)、纯氮26kg·667 m^-2(减氮27.8%,处理B)、纯氮36 kg·667 m^-2(常规施氮CF)4个施氮处理,研究氮素用量减施对茶树光合作用、产量、氮素吸收及其利用效率的影响。结果表明:与CF比较,处理B能提高茶树的叶绿素含量、净光合速率(P_n)、气孔导度(G_s)、蒸腾速率(T_r),降低胞间CO₂浓度(C_i)和水分利用率(WUE);各施氮肥处理中以处理B的产量最高,氮肥农学效率最高,土壤养分剩余较少,氮素的利用效率较高;CF产量较处理B增加不显著,氮肥农学效率降低,土壤未利用养分较多。因此,减氮27.8%的施肥能保证与常规施肥的茶叶产量,氮素利用率明显提升,有利于茶业的可持续发展。     

植物的养分利用效率(NUE)及植物对养分胁迫环境的适应策略

提高养分利用效率（ＮＵＥ）是植物适应贫瘠生境的一种重要的竞争策略。养分利用效率的概念从提出到现在,曾用多个参数描述,其间经历了一个不断完善的发展过程。通过综述近年来相关的研究结果,可以初步得出以下结论：⑴不同种,不同生活型植物,乃至同株植物不同器官的ＮＵＥ存在不同程度的差异。⑵ＮＵＥ受多种因素影响。其中,养分有效性的影响研究较多,但争议较大,综合考虑,它对ＮＵＥ的影响不甚显著;叶片脱落持续时间的影     

Effect of long-term cutting versus abandonment on the vegetation of a mountain hay meadow (Polygono-Trisetion) in Central Europe

The aim of this study was to identify changes in the plant species richness, diversity and composition of a mountain hay meadow (alliance Polygono bistortae-Trisetion flavescentis) after abandonment in comparison with a control cut once per year. The experiment was carried out from 1999 to 2008 in a mountain hay meadow in the Bukovec nature reserve in the north-eastern part of the Jizera Mountains (Jizerské hory, Góry Izerskie, Isergebirge), Czech Republic.The number of vascular plants species with cover greater than or equal to 1% remained almost the same throughout the study period; however, the total number of vascular plants was higher in the cut treatment after the first four years of the study. The cover of Festuca rubra, Agrostis capillaris, Anthoxanthum odoratum, Briza media and Trifolium repens was positively affected by cutting. On the other hand, the cover of Cirsium heterophyllum, Geranium sylvaticum, Hypericum maculatum, Trisetum flavescens and Luzula luzuloides was higher on the abandoned treatment plots.The main effect of the abandonment on plant species composition was the shift in cover of the dominant species. Despite ten years of contrasting management, changes in the vegetation were relatively small with no shift to a different plant community. Therefore the cutting regime combined with several years of no management may be a suitable management strategy for the maintenance of Polygono-Trisetion grasslands and will not be detrimental to the preservation of the target vegetation.     

花期渍水逆境下氮素对油菜产量及氮肥利用效率的影响

温室盆栽试验条件下,设置渍水和对照2个水分处理,每个水分处理下设置3个施氮水平(0.05、0.2、0.3 g N·kg^-1土),研究了花后渍水逆境下氮素营养对两个氮高效基因型‘Monty’、‘湘油15’和两个氮低效基因型‘R210’、‘Bin270’油菜产量、产量性能及氮肥利用效率的影响.结果表明:与对照相比,花后渍水处理显著降低了油菜的单株角果数、千粒重、每角粒数和籽粒产量.在适宜水分条件下,增施氮肥显著增加了油菜籽粒产量,而在渍水逆境处理下,增施氮肥对油菜籽粒产量的形成贡献不大.氮高效基因型较氮低效基因型对花后渍水逆境下的籽粒灌浆充实具有一定的促进作用.在同一水分处理下,花后渍水明显降低了油菜氮肥利用率、氮肥偏生产力、氮肥农学利用率、氮素吸收效率和氮收获指数,渍水显著影响了不同基因型油菜的氮素吸收利用能力,而氮高效基因型在渍水逆境下较氮低效基因型更有利于将氮素转运、再分配到角果中,提高籽粒生产效率.油菜产量性能参数存在显著的水氮互作效应,水分、氮肥及水氮互作对油菜籽粒产量和产量性能参数的影响因基因型的不同而异.     

Effects of nitrogen and sulphur gradients on plant competition, N and S use efficiencies and species abundance in a grassland plant mixture

Sulphur (S) depletion of grassland soils has occurred in Europe for many decades. This is known to promote a decrease in ecosystem productivity and is suspected to alter plant community structure. Considering the strong links between nitrogen (N) and S metabolism in plants, these effects should depend on N availability. We tested this hypothesis in a pot experiment, considering a four grassland species plant mixture (three Poaceæs: Lolium perenne, Agrostis capillaris and Poa pratensis and one Fabaceæ: Trifolium repens), and submitted it to a double N and S gradient. We used labelled ¹⁵N-fertilizer and ³⁴S-fertilizer in order to determine both nutrient use efficiencies by each species and to analyze the influence of competition for these nutrients on plant mixture dynamics. We compared species relative physiological performance (RPP) in the monoculture and their relative ecological performance (REP) in the mixture of the four species. We analysed gradient effects at establishment and at regrowth after cutting. At establishment, grass production and S use efficiency increased along the N gradient. The S gradient slightly favoured the dominance of L. perenne, increased A. capillaris production and enhanced N use efficiency of both species. At regrowth, increased S promoted more significant effects, enhancing T. repens performance in increasing its N₂ fixation ability and maintaining this at high N. It also induced a change in grass species relative performance (dry matter production and N use efficiency) at high N, enhancing that of L. perenne and decreasing that of A. capillaris. At both establishment and regrowth, RPP did not reflect REP, meaning that species behave differently along the gradient when grown in mixture. Finally, the S gradient and the N gradient modulated relative plant species abundance. It appears that modulation of S availability could be used as a tool to drive grassland community structure.     

Effects of increased CO2 and N on CH4 efflux from a boreal mire: a growth chamber experiment

Increases in the supply of atmospheric CO₂ and N are expected to alter the carbon cycle, including CH₄ emissions, in boreal peatlands. These effects were studied in a glasshouse experiment with peat monoliths cored from an oligotrophic pine fen. The cores with living plants were kept in 720 ppm_v and 360 ppm_v CO₂ atmospheres for about 6 months under imitated natural temperature cycle. Fertilisation with NH₄NO₃ (3 g m⁻² for 25 weeks) was applied to 18 of the 36 monoliths. The rate of CH₄ flux was non-linearly dependent on the number of Eriophorum vaginatum shoots growing in the monoliths, probably due to the gas transport properties of the aerenchyma. The average CH₄ efflux rate, standardised by the number of shoots, was increased by a maximum of 10–20% in response to the raised CO₂ level. In the raised-NH₄NO₃ treatment, the increase in CH₄ release was lower. The effect of combined CO₂+NH₄NO₃ on CH₄ release was negligible and even lower than in the single treatments. Both potential CH₄ production and oxidation rates at 5, 15 and 25°C were higher near the surface than at the bottom of the core. As expected, the rates clearly depended on the incubation temperature, but the different treatments did not cause any consistent differences in either CH₄ production or oxidation. The determination of potential CH₄ production and oxidation in the laboratory is evidently too crude a method of differentiating substrate-induced differences in CH₄ production and oxidation in vivo. These results indicate that an increase in atmospheric CO₂ or N supply alone, at least in the short term, slightly enhances CH₄ effluxes from boreal peatlands; but together their effect may even be restrictive. Received: 18 June 1998 / Accepted: 25 January 1999     

种植密度对冬小麦根系时空分布和氮素利用效率的影响

在大田条件下,以大穗型品种泰农18和中穗型品种山农15为材料,研究不同种植密度(泰农18:每公顷135、270、405万株;山农15:每公顷172.5、345、517.5万株)对冬小麦根系时空分布和氮素利用效率的影响.结果表明:在整个生育期,随种植密度的增加,泰农18的根长密度、根系总吸收面积和活跃吸收面积均显著增加;在生育后期,山农15的根长密度、根系总吸收面积和活跃吸收面积在种植密度为每公顷345万株时最大.泰农18的籽粒产量、氮肥吸收利用效率、氮肥偏生产力和氮素利用效率在种植密度为每公顷405万株时最高,山农15在种植密度为每公顷345万株时最高,但与种植密度为每公顷517.5万株的处理差异不显著.随种植密度的增加,冬小麦成熟期土壤硝态氮、铵态氮和无机态氮在不同土层的积累量均降低.泰农18和山农15种植密度分别为每公顷405万株和345万株时,是兼顾高产和高效利用氮素的适宜种植密度.     

Effects of water and temperature stresses on radiation use efficiency in a semi-arid grassland

Accurate estimation of radiation use efficiency (RUE) is essential in modeling plant productivity, but little information on RUE is available for dry grassland. To quantify the RUE, aboveground biomass (AGB) and photosynthetically active radiation intercepted by plants (IPAR) were measured under different conditions of soil water and air temperature in a Mongolian field for 2 years. A wide range of RUE (0.23–1.06 g AGB/MJ IPAR) was found in negative association with variations in soil water and low temperature stresses. Compared with the temperature stress, the water stress was a strong down-regulator on RUE, verifying that drought is the major concern on radiation utilization in the study area. The maximum RUE was then found to be 2.34±0.16 g AGB/MJ IPAR by excluding the effects of water and temperature stresses. This study is one of the few assessments on RUE for natural grasslands under various levels of seasonally varying water and temperature conditions.     

Plant biodiversity in a larch plantation from the view point of photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency in northeast China

Forest floor of larch species often provides growth habitat for many kinds of understory species because of relatively sparse structure in a larch canopy. A rich flora of forest understory species may play an essential role in maintaining fertility of a larch stand. An attempt was made to evaluate photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE) of many understory and overstory species according to their Raunkiaer lifeform. By studying 72 perennial deciduous species in a larch plantation in northeast China, marked photosynthetic differences between phanerophytes (Ph) and other three lifeforms of chamaephytes (Ch), hemicryptophytes (He), and cryptophytes (Cr) were found, with marginal differences found among Ch, He, and Cr. Ph species had much lower PNUE, and much lower values of rate of nitrogen allocation to chlorophyll (Chl./N) and nitrogen allocation to carboxylation processes (V _cmax/N) were concurrently observed in Ph compared with the other three lifeforms. Ph had much lower leaf nitrogen per unit of projection area (N _area) and specific leaf area (SLA, cm² g^–1). At lower SLA, for Ph species the change of PNUE with SLA was small, but these changes became very large at higher SLA for Ch, He, and Cr species. Our findings indicate that leaf morphological change is important for clarifying photosynthesis differences among species with different lifeform.     

The influence of hydrological regime and grazing management on the plant communities of a karst wetland (Skealoghan turlough) in Ireland

Question: What is the influence of hydrological regime, soils and management on the plant community composition and species richness of Skealoghan turlough (groundwater dependent calcareous wetland). Location: Skealoghan turlough, County Mayo, Ireland. Methods: Percentage cover of vascular plants and bryophytes were recorded, and data on hydrological regimes, soils and management were collected. Data were analysed using multivariate statistical techniques. Results: A total of 69 species of vascular plants and mosses were recorded. Cluster analysis grouped the samples into two separate communities, the Cirsio‐Molinietum and the Ranunculo‐Potentilletum anserinae plant communities. The plant community composition and species richness followed a main gradient down into the turlough basin, but also varied with microtopography, resulting in a mosaic of vegetation types. Conclusions: The biodiversity and conservation value of the site is linked to the heterogeneity in its physical environment in which hydrology, soils and grazing management all play critical roles.