BACKGROUND Stipa grandis (Poaceae) is one of the dominant species in a typical steppe of the Inner Mongolian Plateau. However, primarily due to heavy grazing, the grasslands have become seriously degraded, and S. grandis has developed a special growth-inhibition phenotype against the stressful habitat. Because of the lack of transcriptomic and genomic information, the understanding of the molec...

Esparto grass (Stipa tenacissima), which is commonly found in the Mediterranean countries, has a wide variety of uses. Five stucco makers who had cough, dyspnea, malaise, and fever after exposure to esparto fiber used in their jobs showed a significant decrease in symptoms when they were away from work. Precipitating antibodies against an esparto extract were found in the sera of all patients. ...

Above-ground perennial phytomass of Andalusian alfa grass steppes (7755·6 ± 1482 kg of dry matter ha (95% C.I.)) is clearly higher than phytomass density measured today in most alfa grass communities of the Maghreb because of low or inexistant present-day human-induced alterations and relatively favourable annual precipitation (370 mm) existing in these Spanish steppes. Total carbon storage mea...

more than half of the area of the country are rangelands. implementing the principles of proper rangeland management and optimal use of rangeland requires proper stock grazing management. considering the quality and quantity of forage plants, palatability and preference value of species and rates of species utilization are information needed for proper management of livestock grazing in rangela...