The spatial pattern of vegetation in cut and grazed grass/white clover pastures |
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| Authors: | G R EDWARDS† A J PARSONS‡ J A NEWMAN‡§ I A WRIGHT¶ |
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| Institution: | NERC Unit of Ecology and Behaviour, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, North Wyke, Okehampton, Devon, UK;The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen. UK |
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| Abstract: | The spatial patterns of white clover and sward surface height (SSH) that developed In established perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne)/white clover (Trifolium repens) pastures undercutting lent every 4 weeks to 5 cm) and gracing (continuously grazed with sheep to 5 cm) were measured. While clover cover was recorded in 1000 contiguous 5 × 5-cm quadrats down 50-m permanent transects from early spring to late autumn. Measurements of SSH were made at 10-cm intervals down the same transect. Spatial pattern was analysed using two-term local quadrat variance and patch-gap analysis. At least two scales of spatial pattern existed for white clover when defoliation treatments began. White clover was not distributed at random but found in patches (mean size = 1.1 m) where it was finely intermixed with grass. Patches, separated by gaps (regions of no clover) (mean size = 2.3 m), were in turn aggregated into ‘patches of patches’, separated by larger gaps (mean size = 4.1 m). Under grazing the pattern of patches and gaps did not alter. Under cutting, patch size increased and gap size decreased, explaining in part the greater mass and cover of white clover that arose in cut than grazed swards during the experiment. No new patches of white clover due to seedling establishment or clonal growth were observed in either cut or grazed swards. The intensity of pattern increased in both cut and grazed swards, but the increase was greater m cut swards. The initial single scale of spatial pattern of SSH of tall patches (mean size = 1.2 m) separated by short patches (mean size = 2.7 m) did not change under grazing. SSH became uniform under cutting. It is suggested that the response of plants to selective (spatially heterogeneous) grazing is a crucial factor in the development and maintenance of spatial pattern in grasslands. The importance of spatial pattern to our understanding and interpretation of plant-plant and plant-animal interactions and to the composition of temperate grasslands is considered. |
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