Widely-held, untested assumptions in many prairies are that high-intensity fires conducted during droughts will decrease native herbaceous species richness and lead to rapid invasions by alien species. We compared native and exotic herbaceous species richness and aboveground herbaceous biomass one year following the application of highintensity growing-season fires in Texas coastal prairie. Fir...

Water shortage in the arid-semiarid regions of China seriously hampers ecosystem construction. Therefore, elucidation of the mechanisms by which vegetation in that area responds to drought stress may enable us to improve utilization of limited water resources and thus contend with the problem of drought and water shortage. We studied Bothriochloa ischaemum, a native grass species, conducted pot...

The effects of nitrogen (N) addition on the macro- and micronutrient concentrations, storage, and allocation of Bothriochloa ischaemum (L.) Keng, a native forage plant on the Loess Plateau in China remain unclear. We studied the effects of N addition at 0 (CK), 2.5 (N1), 5.0 (N2), and 10.0 (N3) g N m-2 y-1. N addition significantly decreased the available copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and total Cu co...

Soil moisture is the key factor controlling plant growth in semiarid grasslands. Here, we sought to evaluate effects of soil decreasing at different stages on biomass accumulation, water use efficiency, and plant-plant interaction a C3 leguminous subshrub Lespedeza davurica (L) C4 perennial grass Bothriochloa ischaemum (B) when sown singly as mix five ratios pot experiment. Results showed that ...

Altered precipitation regimes significantly affect ecosystem structure and function in arid and semi-arid regions. In order to investigate effects of precipitation changes on natural grassland community in the semi-arid Loess Plateau, the current research examined eco-physiological characteristics of two co-dominant species (i.e., Bothriochloa ischaemum and Lespedeza davurica) and community com...

Article history: Received 5 October 2015 Received in revised form 17 October 2016 Accepted 21 October 2016 Available online 28 October 2016 Elevated CO2 and drought are key consequences of climate change and affect soil processes and plant growth. This study investigated the effects of elevated CO2 and drought on themicrobial biomass and enzymatic activities in the rhizospheres of Bothriochloa ...

The objective of this study was to compare an introduced warm-season perennial grass (plains bluestem, Bothriochloa ischaemum) to native tallgrass prairie for cow-calf production. Three systems were used, two based on tallgrass prairie with two different forms of protein supplementation and one based on plains bluestem as the primary forage. The systems were as follows: 1) native tallgrass prai...

Atmospheric CO2 (Ca) concentration has increased significantly during the last 20 000 years, and is projected to double this century. Despite the importance of belowground processes in the global carbon cycle, community-level and single species root responses to rising Ca are not well understood. We measured net community root biomass over 3 years using ingrowth cores in a natural C3–C4 grassla...