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,...

In arid and semi-arid ecosystems, shrubs may act as fertility islands but theireffect may vary depending on their morphology and ecological impacts. This research wasaimed to study effect of three shrubs Scariola orientalis, Astragalus heratensis, and Rosapersica on soil properties and on the microclimate conditions (temperature, luminance, andsoil moisture) of their understory in the steppe ra...

in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, shrubs may act as fertility islands but theireffect may vary depending on their morphology and ecological impacts. this research wasaimed to study effect of three shrubs scariola orientalis, astragalus heratensis, and rosapersica on soil properties and on the microclimate conditions (temperature, luminance, andsoil moisture) of their understory in the steppe ra...

Shrubs have positive (facilitation) and negative (competition) effects on understory plants, the net interaction effect being modulated by abiotic conditions. Overall shrubs influence to great extent the structure of plant communities where they have significant presence. Interactions in a plant community are quite diverse but little is known about their variability and effects at community lev...

Understory plants are important components of forest ecosystem productivity and diversity. Compared to biomass models of overstory canopy trees, few are available for understory saplings and shrubs and therefore their roles in estimation of forest carbon pools are often ignored. In this study, we harvested 24 understory species including 4 saplings, 9 tree-like shrubs and 11 typical shrubs in c...

There is less published research on ecosystems of forested rangeland in Iran. This research was conducted to investigate the forested rangeland area based on legal definition via comparison of indices species richness, diversity, and morphology of the trees and shrubs in Sabzkouh watershed, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari province, Iran. Quantitative characteristics of trees and shrubs were measured by 5...

The role of ungulate grazing in shaping rangeland ecosystems is well known relative to other important plant-animal interactions such as pollination, seed dispersal, granivory, and belowground herbivory. Successful rangeland revegetation may be enhanced by strategies that favor certain groups of animals and discourage others. Many perennial forbs and shrubs require animals for successful pollin...

Rangelands worldwide have more shrubs now, and subterranean rangeland rodents show close interaction to shrubs when choosing a burrowing site. The study was conducted in Otindag Sandy Land in Inner Mongolia, China with the objective of determining the effects of slope position on spatial pattern and interaction of shrubs; how rodents choose their habitat in different slope; and shrubs and roden...