Plant damage by invertebrate herbivores and pathogens influences the dynamics of grassland ecosystems, but anthropogenic changes in nitrogen phosphorus availability can modify these relationships. Using a globally distributed experiment, we describe leaf on 153 plant taxa from 27 grasslands worldwide, under ambient conditions with experimentally elevated phosphorus. Invertebrate significantly i...

Information on different rangeland plants’ nutritive values during variousphonological stages is of importance for the rangelands management. This information helpsrangeland managers to choose proper grazing times to achieve higher animal performancewith no detrimental effects on the rangeland vegetations. Effects of various plant parts’phenological stages and vegetation types on reserve carboh...

Vegetation recovery in old fields towards mature reference states is often limited by abiotic and biotic thresholds resulting from agricultural land use legacies, as commonly highlighted using state transition models. Old-field restoration may include interventions (e.g. planting of vegetation) to overcome these assist between states. However, our understanding the effectiveness limited. Using ...

a major part of the rangelands of iran are located in arid and semi-arid regions. in this climate, rainfall fluctuation is an important factor which affects vegetation and forage production. in dry years that rainfall decreases, surface vegetation and forage production is damaged. this study was conducted on semi-steppic rangelands of ardebil over nine years (1999-2007), to study of vegetation ...

rangeland shrubs may provide mechanical facilitation on their understory plants, by protecting themagainst the livestock grazing. however, such a facilitation effect may vary depending on the rangelandutilization rate. in a field research, mechanical facilitation of rangeland shrubs was compared in ahighly grazed, a moderately grazed and an enclosure site; in an arid rangeland, kakhak, gonabad,...

allergic rhinitis is the most common cause of allergic diseases. the recent guidelines of allergic rhinitis and its impact on asthma (aria) group, classified it to intermittent (less than 4 days per week and for less than 4 weeks) and persistent (more than 4 days per week or lasting more than 4 weeks regardless of the number of days per week). the present study evaluates the patients with aria ...

The order of species arrival can dramatically alter the trajectory of community development. While there is experimental evidence that priority effects can be important drivers of community structure early on, the persistence and duration of these effects is unclear. Here we report on a community assembly experiment in which a mix of four native grasses and a mix of four native forbs were plant...

Plant litter decomposition is a critical ecosystem process representing a major pathway for carbon flux, but little is known about how it is affected by changes in plant composition and diversity. Single plant functional groups (graminoids, legumes, non-leguminous forbs) were removed from a grassland in northern Canada to examine the impacts of functional group identity on decomposition. Remova...

Globally, many terrestrial ecosystems are experiencing a rapid loss of biodiversity. Continued improvements in our understanding of interrelationships between plant diversity and soil microbes are critical to address the concern over the consequences of the decline in biodiversity on ecosystem functioning and services. By removing forbs, or grasses, or, to an extreme scenario, both forbs and gr...