Water and phosphorus (P) are two critical resources for high nature value farming in semi-dry mountains. ey are major drivers of grassland productivity but can negatively a€ect plant diversity. Soil moisture is known to a€ect soil microbial activity and plant P nutrition but the e€ects of irrigation on soil P status, soil microbial P and plant P nutrition in semi-natural grasslands remain larg...

The revegetation of abandoned farmland significantly influences soil organic C (SOC) and total N (TN). However, the dynamics of both soil OC and N storage following the abandonment of farmland are not well understood. To learn more about soil C and N storages dynamics 30 years after the conversion of farmland to grassland, we measured SOC and TN content in paired grassland and farmland sites in...

Qinghai-Tibet Plateau grasslands are unique geographical regions and store substantial soil organic matter (SOM) in the soil surface, which make them very sensitive to global climate change. Here, we focused on three main grassland types (alpine meadow, steppe, and desert) and conducted a soil incubation experiment at five different temperatures (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25°C) to investigate SOM deco...

This study analyzes the impact of droughts, compared with average climatic conditions, on the supporting ecosystem service water provision in sub-watersheds in managed alpine grasslands in two climatically different regions of the Alps, Lautaret (French Alps) and Stubai (Austrian Alps). Soil moisture was modelled in the range of 0-0.3 m. At both sites, current patterns showed that the mean seas...

Although plant roots take up nitrogen (N) both as ammonium (NH 4 ) and nitrate (NO 3 ) ions, under most soil conditions uptake of NO 3 dominates. Once absorbed by the plant roots, the NO 3 is reduced to NH 4 , which is subsequently assimilated into organic compounds. However, when the ra te of uptake exceeds the rate of NO 3 reduction, accumulation of NO 3 in plants occurs. Ruminant animals wit...

In grasslands, overgrazing by domestic livestock, fertilization, and introduction of exotic forage species leads to plant communities consisting of a mixture of native and exotic species. These degraded grasslands present a problem for land managers, farmers, and restoration ecologists concerned with improving biodiversity while continuing to use the land for livestock production. Here we asses...

Distinguishing organic and conventional products is a major issue of food security and authenticity. Previous studies successfully used stable isotopes to separate organic and conventional products, but up to now, this approach was not tested for organic grassland hay and soil. Moreover, isotopic abundances could be a powerful tool to elucidate differences in ecosystem functioning and driving m...

Grasslands represent a significant source of biodiversity that is important to monitor over large extents. The Spectral Variation Hypothesis (SVH) assumes that the Spectral Heterogeneity (SH) measured from remote sensing data can be used as a proxy for species diversity. Here, we argue the hypothesis that the grassland’s species differ in their phenology and, hence, that the temporal variations...

—Presettlement Florida had a variety of open habitats, including grasslands and savannas. This study examined the historic distribution of the Florida grasslands using U.S. General Land Office land surveys made during the 19th century. All survey maps with areas labeled ‘‘prairie’’ or ‘‘savanna’’ were compiled into a composite map. A total of 791,140 ha of prairies and 15,820 ha of savanna were...