Driscoll et al. (1) have recently drawn attention to the risk of new pasture plants becoming invasive, because the same biological traits that promote pasture productivity may also facilitate the invasion of natural areas. The authors indicate some aspects that could mitigate the risk of invasion: namely, the use of native species to develop new pasture plants, the avoidance of new characterist...

Vegetation was sampled in kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides)-dominant forest fragments having different recovery periods since grazing ceased in the Waikato region, North Island, New Zealand. Changes in vegetation were modeled against recovery periods ranging from 0–74 y and in relation to position within fragment (edge or interior). Indigenous plant species richness increased and adventive p...

Seedling establishment is a critical phase in pasture management. Knowledge of the seedling development of new forages is necessary to develop management practices and recommend species mixtures for pasture seedings. We compared seedling growth and development of prairiegrass (Bromus willdenowii Kunth = B. catharticus Vahl), grazing bromegrass (B. stamineus Desv.), and orchardgrass (Dactylis gl...

The literature on the importance of Epichloë grass endophytes during pasture renewal is reviewed. Perennial ryegrass endophyte strains such as AR1, NEA2, and Standard Endophyte (SE) well tall fescue meadow endophytes, significantly increase seedling survival at establishment under insect pressure, for example from adult Argentine stem weevil, grub, African black beetle. However, in endophyte-in...

Over a 3-year period, 1183 brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) were live-trapped in 125 ha of mixed hardwood forest and adjacent pasture in Westland, and 50 were radio-tracked for up to 14 months. Foraging movements between forest and pasture were much longer than previously reported. Twenty-eight percent of males and 18% of females denning c. 1000 m into forest were trapped on pasture at...

Severe declines in biodiversity have been well documented for many taxonomic groups due to intensification of agricultural practices. Establishment and appropriate management of arable field margins can improve the diversity and abundance of invertebrate groups; however, there is much less research on field margins within grassland systems. Three grassland field margin treatments (fencing off t...

Scientists call pasture a natural eco-system and range is an agricultural eco-system. In this point of view although pasture that was full of plants growing by itself and not growing by human being (Pirdashti, 2007; Mohgadam, 2005) and two groups of living beings such as human being, plants, domesticated, and not living being like weather, Wind, gradient which are effective in making of pasture...

Dairy cows fed on perennial-ryegrass pasture produce higher-quality milk in terms of fatty-acid composition; however, they produce much less milk compared to dairy cows under other systems. The low dry-matter intake (DMI) has been identified as the main factor responsible for the lower milk production in pasture-based systems. To maximize milk production from those systems it is important to ma...

New Zealand Journal of Ecology (1998) 22(2): 189-196 ©New Zealand Ecological Society limitation on the sustainability of pastoral land use in New Zealand and this issue has been heightened by recent resource management legislation (Blaschke et al., 1992). In contrast, there have been few investigations on the effects of forest removal on the New Zealand soil fauna (Yeates, 1991). Contraction in...