放牧对草地生态系统的影响

草地生态系统是陆地生态系统的一个重要组成部分,在全球变化和生态系统功能方面发挥着重要的作用.综述了我国草地的利用现状和问题,并就草地的主要利用方式——放牧对草地生态系统中植物、土壤和家畜的影响进行了总结,提出适度放牧可以有效促进草地生产力的提高和生物多样性的维持.在草地管理过程中,控制适宜的载畜率是当前草地畜牧业发展的关键.     

家畜的选择性采食对草地植物的反应

在放牧生态系统中,家畜和草地植物共同组成了草地放牧生态系统中的采食者与被采食者, 两者的关系是极其复杂的,家畜的选择性采食促进了植物抗牧性的发展,而植物抗牧性的发展又进一步强化了家畜的选择性采食习性,家畜和植物成为一个事物不可缺少的两个方面.     

放牧强度对土-草-畜系统的影响研究进展

针对我国草地存在严重的退化问题,重点阐述了对国内外学者关于放牧强度对草地生态系统中植物、土壤、家畜影响的研究。研究者认为,适度的放牧,有利于植物物种的延续,植物群落生产力的提高及生物多样性的增加;有利于土壤C、N的积累;有利于家畜生产性能的提高。因此,寻求当前不同退化程度草地最适放牧强度是持续利用草地,保护草地生态、提高草地经济效益的必要措施。     

草地畜牧业可持续发展刍议

维护草地生态系统的生物多样性是草地畜牧业持续发展的前提条件。放牧家畜作为草地生态系统中的一员,与牧草植物相互竞争、相互适应,协同进化,共同维持着草地生态系统的生物多样性。适度的放牧活动调节着不同植物间的相互关系,使草地维持着较高的生物多样性和一定的稳定性。过度放牧则破坏草地植被,草地的生物多样性和稳定性下降。家畜的放牧采食活动有利于某些植物的生长发育。在最优放牧强度下,由于草地植物的补偿性生长,特别是植物的超补偿性生长,家畜的放牧采食活动不仅不会导致草地初级生产力的下降,反而能够促进草地初级生产力的增长,使之高于未放牧时的初级生产力。在自然放牧生态系统中,如果牧食压力维持在未放牧前植物生产量的一半左右,植物和动物种群就会出现周期性的波动,而如果牧食压力过高,则植物种群和动物种群将会下降和崩溃。综上所述,草地畜牧业的持续发展,应立足于合理调整草地载畜量,使之与草地生产力相匹配,并大力发展季节畜牧业。     

高寒草甸放牧生态系统研究现状

综述了放牧强度对高寒草甸植物、动物和土壤的影响,说明放牧强度是影响家畜生产力、草场恢复力和稳定性的重要因素,也是影响土壤理化性质和土壤养分分布格局的关键因素;同时指出,高寒草地放牧系统受人为或气候等因素的影响而不断变化,影响的强度会改变整个系统的状态和变化趋势,即使是同一块草地,其负载能力和适宜放牧率(强度)也有所波动.因此,高寒草地放牧生态系统研究应以草场本身的条件和动态特征加以评价,应尽可能选择较多的气候和草场类型,应用动态规划和系统优化模型,对草地的持续生产和畜牧业的可持续发展进行动态模拟;建立草地放牧生态系统管理专家系统.     

家畜的选择性采食对草地植物的反应

在放牧生态系统中，家畜和草地植物共同组成了草地放牧生态系统中的采食者与被采食者，两者的关系是极其复杂的，家畜的选择性采食促进了植物抗牧性的发展，而植物抗牧性的发展又进一步强化了家畜的选择性采食习性，家畜和植物成为一个事物不可缺少的两个方面。     

放牧对阿尔伯特两种草原生态系统中枯枝落叶及有机质的影响

本文旨在评价长期牛群放牧对加拿大阿尔伯特混合普列里、Parkland羊茅草地以及Foothills羊茅草地的枯枝落叶和土壤有机质的影响。结果表明重度放牧和(或)早期放牧对枯枝落叶与土壤有机质的负作用比轻度和(或)晚期放牧的更大。     

近1O年鹿放牧生态研究进展

从鹿的放牧行为特点、季节动态、生物因素(草地植物和其他家畜)、非生物因素以及劳动生产因素(主要是放牧制度)对鹿放牧行为的影响,鹿放牧对草地植被的影响等方面,总结近10年来国内外在鹿放牧生态领域的研究进展.并对今后值得研究的方面提出建议.     

亚热带中山地区不同放牧强度与草地植物产量和放牧家畜生产性能之间的关系研究

研究了亚热带中山地区草地不同放牧强度与草地植物产量和放牧家畜生产性能之间的关系,试验结果表明,不同放牧强度对草地植物产量和放牧家畜生产性能的影响不同。在A组放牧强度的载畜量水平,草地植物利用率高,植物产量和畜产品产量低;在C组放牧强度的载畜量水平,草地植物利用率低,老草残留,植物再生力降低;在B组放牧强度的载畜量水平,草地植物的利用率为60～70％,对植物生长和利用有利。     

放牧对草地生态系统结构与功能影响的研究进展

放牧是草地生态系统最主要的利用方式之一，不同的草地类型、放牧强度、放牧家畜种类、草地利用方式以及气候变化等因素均会影响草地生态系统结构与功能。深入揭示放牧活动及气候变化对草地生态系统的影响机制对其可持续发展具有重要意义。本文系统综述了放牧对草地生态系统结构与功能的影响机制，并对该领域几个重要研究方向进行了展望，未来相关研究需重点关注的问题包括：(1)提升放牧草地生态系统中的空间耦合分析；(2)注重草地生态系统多功能性研究；(3)完善全球变化背景下的放牧地多因素嵌套试验；(4)开展不同种类放牧家畜混牧试验；(5)规范草地生态试验方法。以期为草地生态系统的适应性管理和可持续发展提供理论参考依据。     

放牧生态系统枯落物及其作用

草地枯落物是连接放牧生态系统中“土—草”界面的主要媒介,是调控地上-地下生态过程的关键因子,对草地物种多样性、生产力、退化草地恢复等具有重要意义。一方面,家畜的采食、践踏、排泄物等减少枯落物积累和加速其分解,且与放牧强度、制度、季节、家畜种类联合响应;另一方面,枯落物影响家畜的选择性采食、蹄压等行为,为微生物和小草食动物生命活动提供有利场所及能量,进而影响草地生态系统结构及功能。枯落物也能够改变土壤理化性质和物质循环,产生化感物质,影响种子发芽、幼苗生长,导致草地群落构建和演替。本研究综述了国内外相关文献,探讨放牧生态系统中的枯落物及其作用,旨在明确草地生态系统中“放牧-枯落物-土壤-绿色植物”之间的相互作用机制,为后续草地可持续性管理研究提供理论依据。     

Livestock Grazing Impacts on Desert Vegetation,Khirthar National Park,Pakistan

The impact of livestock grazing on desert vegetation in Khirthar National Park, Pakistan, was investigated by comparing dry and wet season plant species composition, richness, cover, and a grazing index for quadrats outside (“open”) and inside (“exclosed”) native mammal breeding enclosures that had excluded livestock for 6 years. A total of 93 plant species were recorded in the dry season, 88 species in exclosed quadrats and 50 in open quadrats. While only 5 species were unique to open quadrats, 43 species were found only in the exclosed quadrats. Species richness was higher in the exclosures because of the presence of more grass and herb species, while grazing was higher in the open. After rain, species richness and cover were significantly higher than in the dry season because of the growth of summer ephemeral herbs and grasses, but richness was no longer different between the exclosure and open treatments. Although some herbaceous species may have been adversely affected by livestock grazing, overall species richness suggests strong ecosystem resilience to grazing, with levels no different after seasonal rains regardless of grazing level. Many grass and herb species absent from open sites during the dry season reappeared after rain, which suggests that livestock grazing may eliminate them as the dry season proceeds, but that a soil seed or bud bank persists.     

Land Manager Perceptions of Opportunities and Constraints of Using Livestock to Manage Invasive Plants

The ecological impacts of rangeland invasive plants have been widely documented, but the social aspects of how managers perceive their impacts and options for control have been relatively understudied, and successful, long-term invasive plant management programs are limited. In particular, though a growing body of research has identified livestock grazing as the most practical and economical tool for controlling invasive rangeland plants, to date there has not been a systematic assessment of the challenges and opportunities producers and other land managers see as most important when considering using livestock to manage invasive plants. In-depth, semistructured interviews with California annual grass and hardwood rangeland ranchers, public agency personnel, and nongovernmental organization land managers were used to address this need. Although interviewees broadly agreed that grazing could be an effective management tool, differences emerged among the three groups in how they prioritized invasive plant control, the amount of resources devoted to control, and the grazing strategies employed. Interviewees identified key challenges that hinder broad-scale adoption of control efforts, including the potential incompatibility of invasive plant management and livestock production; a lack of secure, long-term access to land for many ranchers; incomplete or insufficient information, such as the location or extent of infestations or the economic impacts to operations of invasive plants; and the temporal and spatial variability of the ecosystem. By identifying key socioecological drivers that influence the degree to which livestock are used to manage invasive plants, this study was able to identify potential pathways to move our growing understanding of the science of targeted grazing into practice. Research, extension, and grazing programs that address these barriers should help increase the extent to which we can effectively use livestock to slow and perhaps reverse the spread of some of our most serious rangeland weeds.     

划区轮牧与草地可持续性利用的研究进展

划区轮牧是一种充分利用饲草生长旺季而进行的集约、区块式放牧管理系统。本文总结了近年来国内外轮牧制度的发展现状,概括了划区轮牧的优势包括:提高草地生态系统的功能性、草地生产力;降低草食动物肠胃线虫感染率;分析了其与传统连续放牧相比所具有的局限性。进一步从放牧类型的延展、放牧策略的改进、人为因素的投入、生态模型研究等多角度综合考究,提出综合协调生物因素与环境、平衡生态与经济以及优化牧企合作现状的轮牧策略,以期为轮牧对于生态恢复和草地可持续性利用的生产实践应用提供科学依据和优化管理的决策参考。     

Yak Dung Deposition Affects Litter Mixing Effects on Mass Loss in Tibetan Alpine Grassland

Plant litter and livestock excreta are two important ways of carbon and nutrient input to soil in grassland grazing systems. Grazing livestock often deposit dung on plant litter, which may affect litter decomposition through a changing microenvironment. We assessed effects of yak dung on litter mixing effects on litter decomposition in a Tibetan alpine grassland. Six common species were selected, including low-quality litter species Kobresia capillifolia, Elymus nutans, and Ligularia virgaurea and high-quality litter species Anemone rivularis, Saussurea nigrescens, and Thermopsis lanceolata. Litter bags containing each species alone and all two-species combinations were allowed to decompose with and without experimental dung addition in the field. Mass loss of the leaf litter was measured after 6 and 12 mo. High-quality litter species had significantly greater mass loss than low-quality litter species. Dung significantly accelerated litter mass loss after both 6 and 12 mo for low-quality litter species, but only after 12 mo for high-quality litter species. Litter mixtures containing both high- and low-quality species showed positive nonadditive effects (NAEs) on mass loss after 6 mo but additive effects after 12 mo. Dung increased the strength of NAEs after 6 mo and shifted litter mixing effects from positive to negative NAEs after 12 mo. Our results support previous findings that litter mixing could produce NAEs on litter decomposition and that these NAEs could change with incubation time. Most importantly, we show that dung can modify NAEs, demonstrating that litter mixing effects are dependent on the microenvironment. Our findings also demonstrate that yak dung can influence soil processes by varying both single-species litter decomposition rates and litter interactions within mixtures. Furthermore, the results suggest yak dung is closely related to material and nutrient cycling, so we believe dung should remain and not be substantially removed from this grazing ecosystem.     

草坪草屑的加工与利用

我国每年修剪草坪产生大量的草坪草屑,对草坪草屑的加工利用,可以对我国能源、饲料、肥料及蛋白资源的短缺起到一定的缓解作用,因此如何对草坪草屑进行合理利用已成为一项重要的研究课题。本文综述了草坪草屑能源化、饲料化、肥料化和深加工4种利用方式,详细介绍了草坪草屑在发酵生产能源、饲喂家畜、堆肥还坪以及加工叶蛋白等方面的研究进展,指出禾本科草坪草屑和豆科草坪草屑应采用不同的处理方式,对各加工方式的投入和产出也应进行进一步的量化核算,同时总结并展望了草坪草屑利用方式的发展前景。     

降水、氮沉降及放牧对草地生态系统凋落物分解的影响研究进展

草地生态系统对我国建设生态文明、提供生态系统服务、保障食品安全和维护边疆稳定有举足轻重的作用。全球气候变化和过度的人为干扰打破了草地生态系统原有的平衡及稳定性,造成草地退化、沙化和盐渍化现象严重。草地生态系统结构、功能与过程的稳定是保证草地生态系统稳定的基础。凋落物分解过程是草地物质循环的重要环节,对维持草地生态系统稳定性具有重要作用。草地生态系统凋落物分解对降水格局变化、大气氮沉降增加及放牧干扰的响应已有较多的研究。对目前国内外相关研究进行了梳理和总结,发现降水、氮沉降和放牧对草地生态系统凋落物分解的影响,因地理位置和气候变化以及草地类型的异质性而不同,也有针对同一地区开展的研究呈现不同结果的现象。目前对这三种干扰因素中的两因素或三因素交互作用对草地生态系统凋落物分解过程的影响研究较少,而研究气候变化及人为干扰对草地生态系统凋落物的影响对正确理解草地生态系统结构与功能,以及可持续利用与保护草地生态系统具有重要的意义。     

Fine-Scale Spatial Genetic Structure in Perennial Grasses in Three Environments

Past research has shown that changes in grazing-resistance traits may be associated with genetic changes in plant populations. Little is known about spatial genetic relationships within plant populations (spatial genetic structure) and any grazing effects on these relationships. Here we present observations of the fine-scale spatial genetic structure in three grass species in semiarid environments (Arizona, Mexico, and Argentina). In each environment, populations of a dominant grass species were sampled from two sites with contrasting livestock grazing histories. Plant genotypes were described with the use of amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. In Arizona, populations of sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula var. caespitosa Gould and Kapadia) differed in that one has never experienced livestock grazing, whereas cattle have grazed the other. In the other two environments, populations exposed to long-term heavy grazing were examined, along with those that experienced either moderate grazing (Mexico, blue grama [Bouteloua gracilis {Willd. ex Kunt} Lag. ex Griffiths]) or extended exclusion of livestock (Argentina [Poa ligularis Nees ex Steud.]). Based on independent analysis of each population, we observed no differences in average gene diversity between populations of each species. With the use of analysis of molecular variance we found slight but significant genetic differentiation between populations with different grazing histories in Arizona and Argentina. Significant genetic structure was present in all populations and indicated an inverse relationship between spatial and genetic distance. Interestingly, this relationship was most pronounced in the cattle-free sideoats grama population, suggesting larger genetic neighborhood areas in the absence of livestock. Less distinct differences in spatial genetic structure associated with grazing history were evident in the other two species. We hypothesize that livestock grazing may lead to increased homogeneity in genetic structure at the landscape scale. Effectively examining this hypothesis presents many experimental challenges.     

云贵高原石漠化地区人工草场营养价值评价研究

人工草地是云贵高原石漠化地区的主要放牧地。本研究通过放牧试验、饲喂试验和消化代谢试验相结合的方法,评价了云贵高原石漠化地区2个人工草场的营养价值和转化效率。放牧试验结果表明,相同放牧压力下,永善试验地的土壤养分、微量元素和牧草产量显著低于寻甸试验地,但两地人工草地中牧草的营养成分没有显著差异。饲喂试验结果表明,绵羊对永善试验地牧草的利用效率要高于寻甸试验地,绵羊对永善试验地牧草中Mg、Fe、Cu、Mn等元素的消化率和沉积率均显著高于寻甸试验地。消化代谢试验结果表明,寻甸试验地粗蛋白、粗脂肪、粗灰分、粗纤维、无氮浸出物等牧草养分的含量高于永善试验地,绵羊的消化率也高;采食量和体增重2个指标的各自变化趋势也和以上研究结果基本相同。上述结果表明,虽然永善试验地牧草土壤相对贫瘠,牧草产量低,但家畜转化效率高,因此高原石漠化地区应在牧草成熟期后放牧绵羊,并补饲一定的微量元素。     

Impacts of non-selective grazing on cover,composition, and productivity of Nama-karoo grassy shrubland

The non-selective rotational grazing system has undergone a long and controversial development. The merits of this grazing system, where relatively large numbers of livestock are herded into numerous small paddocks for short timespans with long rests between grazings, have not been formally evaluated in a long-term monitoring experiment in the Karoo. In this study we used exclosures (controls) on a 7 000 ha farm in the Central Lower Karoo, camped into approximately 50-ha paddocks, to evaluate the impact of this grazing system on certain vegetation parameters. We report on the first four years of monitoring, after each of four replicate paddocks had received four treatments (one treatment = 40 - 60 Large Stock Unit grazing days per hectare over a period of 2 - 16 days). Concentrated defoliation with concomitant trampling, dunging, and urinating did not influence the perennial species composition, and cover of this grassy, semi-arid shrubland. Changes over time in plant composition, and cover are explained by annual, and short-term (e.g. quarterly) rainfall rather than by grazing impacts. Ephemerals were not favoured by this grazing system, but litter was more abundant in the treatment than the control areas. The dominant grass, Eragrostis lebmanniana, and shrub, Pentzia incana, are resilient to this defoliation regime, and show signs of compensatory growth. As yet there is no evidence that non-selective grazing increases diversity, but the severe defoliation and trampling may enhance the biomass turnover rate, resulting in more vigorous, and productive plants in the grazed areas. Diversity is unlkely to change rapidly in response to grazing, largely because of the persistence of grazing-tolerant perennials. Concentrating mixed herds of livestock onto small areas with lengthy rests can be a useful tool for 'kick-starting' moribund karoo veld into greater productivity. Several of the impacts hold potential for restoring the rangeland quality of degraded areas, but this needs to be tested.