Semi-natural grasslands with traditional management are known to be very species-rich, with many plant species strongly associated with the habitat. The last century’s decline of semi-natural grasslands, as a result of land use change and abandonment, has made the remaining semi-natural grassland a high concern for conservation. Since management can be costly and the available resources often a...

Total DNA was directly extracted from microbial populations in grassland soils taken from three geographically distinct upland sites at Garrigill, Aber and Sourhope, UK. Within each site, grasslands were categorised using the National Vegetation Classification into distinct vegetation sequences, namely unimproved, semi-improved and improved. Microbial community DNA was extracted from the differ...

This paper deals with the classification of grasslands using high resolution satellite image time series. Grasslands considered in this work are semi-natural elements in fragmented landscapes, i.e., they are heterogeneous and small elements. The first contribution of this study is to account for grassland heterogeneity while working at the object level by modeling its pixels distributions by a ...

Overgrazing is considered one of the key disturbance factors that results in alpine grassland degradation in Tibet. Grazing exclusion by fencing has been widely used as an approach to restore degraded grasslands in Tibet since 2004. Is the grazing exclusion management strategy effective for the vegetation restoration of degraded alpine grasslands? Three alpine grassland types were selected in T...

Grasslands are the potential natural ecosystem type on approximately 25% (33x lo6 km2) of the land surface of the earth (Shantz 1954). Current estimates of the global extent of grasslands range from 16% (Whittaker and Likens 1973, 1975) to 30% (Ajtay et al. 1979). The difference between the estimates of the potential extent of grasslands and the current extent provides an indication of the degr...

Metabolic theory and body size constraints on biomass production and decomposition suggest that differences in the intrinsic potential net ecosystem production (NEPPOT ) should be small among contrasting C3 grasslands and therefore unable to explain the wide range in the annual apparent net ecosystem production (NEPAPP ) reported by previous studies. We estimated NEPPOT for nine C3 grasslands u...

We used a multi-method approach to analyze the spatial patterns of shrubs and cover types (plant species, litter or bare soil) in grassland-shrubland ecotones. This approach allows us to assess how fine-scale spatial heterogeneity of cover types affects the patterns of Cytisus balansae shrub encroachment into mesic mountain grasslands (Catalan Pyrenees, Spain). Spatial patterns and the spatial ...

An approach is outlined for synthesising current understanding of nitrogen dynamics in natural grasslands and extensively managed grassland systems. The increasing complexity of models is illustrated from recent literature, first conceptualising and eventually process-simulating the dynamics of nitrogen, especially in the soil sub-systems of grasslands. Some comparisons are made between New Zea...

In the Neotropics the predominant pathway to intensify productivity is generally thought to be to convert grasslands to sown pastures, mostly in monoculture. This article examines how above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) in semi-natural grasslands and sown pastures in Central America respond to rainfall by: (i) assessing the relationships between ANPP and accumulated rainfall and indice...

Like all grasslands across North America, the distribution of desert grasslands has been reduced markedly, and remnants have been altered extensively by humans. In Arizona, NewMexico, Texas, USA, and in Mexico, desert grasslands have been invaded by dozens of non-native plants, especially perennial grasses that evolved in arid systems with similar climate and disturbance regimes. In desert gras...