Dataset Information

Effects of grazing patterns on grassland biomass and soil environments in China: A meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Grazing has important influences on the structures and functions of grassland ecosystems, but the effects of grazing patterns on grassland biomass and soil environments in China remain unclear.

Objective

We employed a meta-analysis to identify the response of biomass and soil environments to different grazing patterns in China.

Methods

Peer-reviewed journal articles were searched using the Web of Science and China National Knowledge to compile a database. A total of 1011 sets of sample observations satisfied the sampling standards; these were derived from 140 study sites and were obtained from 86 published articles. We conducted random effects meta-analyses and calculated correlation coefficients with corresponding 95% confidence intervals.

Results

Grazing significantly decreased the total biomass, aboveground biomass (AGB), belowground biomass (BGB), soil organic matter, soil total nitrogen, soil total phosphorus and soil water content but increased the root-to-shoot ratio, soil available nitrogen, soil pH and bulk density. Generally, increasing grazing intensity and duration significantly increased the effects of grazing on the biomass and soil environment. Additionally, the smallest effects of grazing on the biomass and soil environments were observed under light grazing and cattle grazing alone. Moreover, non-growing season grazing significantly increased AGB, while annual grazing and growing-season grazing significantly reduced AGB. Furthermore, AGB was positively correlated with soil organic matter, soil available phosphorus and bulk density, while BGB was negatively correlated with pH.

Conclusions

These findings highlight the importance of grazing patterns in the biomass and soil environment response to grazing and suggest that cattle grazing alone and grazing during the non-growing season are beneficial for improving the quality of grassland in China.

SUBMITTER: Hao Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6476490 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Effects of grazing patterns on grassland biomass and soil environments in China: A meta-analysis.

Hao Yunqing Y He Zhengwei Z

PloS one 20190422 4

<h4>Background</h4>Grazing has important influences on the structures and functions of grassland ecosystems, but the effects of grazing patterns on grassland biomass and soil environments in China remain unclear.<h4>Objective</h4>We employed a meta-analysis to identify the response of biomass and soil environments to different grazing patterns in China.<h4>Methods</h4>Peer-reviewed journal articles were searched using the Web of Science and China National Knowledge to compile a database. A total ...[more]

PMID: 31009490

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Project description:IntroductionLong-term grazing profoundly affects grassland ecosystems, whereas how the soil microbiome and multiple soil ecosystem functions alter in response to two-decades of grazing, especially how soil microbiome (diversity, composition, network complexity, and stability) forms soil multifunctionality is rarely addressed.MethodsWe used a long-term buffalo grazing grassland to measure the responses of soil physicochemical attributes, stoichiometry, enzyme activities, soil microbial niche width, structure, functions, and networks to grazing in a subtropical grassland of Guizhou Plateau, China.ResultsThe evidence from this work suggested that grazing elevated the soil hardness, available calcium content, and available magnesium content by 6.5, 1.9, and 1.9 times (p = 0.00015-0.0160) and acid phosphatase activity, bulk density, pH by 59, 8, and 0.5 unit (p = 0.0014-0.0370), but decreased the soil water content, available phosphorus content, and multifunctionality by 47, 73, and 9-21% (p = 0.0250-0.0460), respectively. Grazing intensified the soil microbial carbon limitation (+78%, p = 0.0260) as indicated by the increased investment in the soil β-glucosidase activity (+90%, p = 0.0120). Grazing enhanced the complexity and stability of the bacterial and fungal networks but reduced the bacterial Simpson diversity (p < 0.05). The bacterial diversity, network complexity, and stability had positive effects, while bacterial and fungal compositions had negative effects on multifunctionality.DiscussionsThis work is an original attempt to show that grazing lowered multifunctionality via the reduced bacterial diversity and shifted soil bacterial and fungal compositions rather than the enhanced bacterial and fungal network complexities and stability by grazing. Protecting the bacterial diversity from decreasing, optimizing the composition of bacteria and fungi, and enhancing the complexity and stability of bacterial network may be conducive to improving the soil multifunction of grazing grassland, on a subtropical grassland.

Project description:In the Palaearctic steppe zone, overgrazing was identified as one of the key drivers of declining grassland biodiversity, which underlines the necessity of the functional evaluation of increased grazing pressure on grassland vegetation. We tested the following hypotheses: (a) The effect of grazing intensity on species and functional diversity is strongly dependent on grassland type. (b) The magnitude of diet selectivity of grazers decreases with increasing grazing intensity. (c) Increasing grazing intensity increases evenness and functional evenness of the subjected grasslands. We analyzed vegetation patterns in four types of grasslands (Dry alkali short-grass steppes, Dry loess steppes, Non-alkali wet and Alkali wet grasslands) along an intensity gradient of beef cattle grazing at 73 sites in Hungary. Species richness, Shannon diversity, evenness, and four leaf traits were analyzed. We calculated community-weighted means for each single trait, and multi-trait functional richness, functional evenness, and divergence for all leaf traits. All species and functional diversity metrics were significantly affected by the grassland type, except leaf dry matter content. The effect of interaction between grazing intensity and grassland type was also significant for functional richness, functional evenness, community-weighted means of leaf area, and for species richness and evenness. An upward trend of specific leaf area was detected in all grasslands with the highest scores for the overgrazed sites, but the change was also grassland type dependent. The detected trend suggests that with increased intensity the overall selectivity of grazing decreased. We found that evenness was affected but functional evenness was not affected by grazing intensity. Functional evenness scores were more related to the grassland type than to changes in grazing intensity, and displayed a high variability. We stress that one-size-fits-all strategies cannot be recommended and actions should be fine-tuned at least at the level of grassland type.

Project description:A "grazing ban" policy has been implemented in some pastoral areas in China to fence degraded grasslands for restoration. However, fencing increased grazing pressures in unmanaged grasslands. Based on the mechanism of negative edge effect, we investigated whether overgrazing on unmanaged grassland interfered with the restoration of adjacent grazing-banned grassland by affecting soil properties and microbial community using a sample in Hulun Buir of Inner Mongolia, in order to optimize the "grazing ban" policy. Plant and soil were sampled in areas 30 m away from the fence in unmanaged grassland (UM) and in areas 30 m (adjacent to UM) and 30-60 m (not adjacent to UM) away from the fence in the grazing-banned grassland (F-30 m and F-60 m). The species richness and diversity of plant communities and the ASV number of fungal communities significantly decreased in F-30 m and UM, and the Simpson index of the bacterial community significantly decreased in F-30 m compared with F-60 m. The abundance of fungi involved in soil organic matter decomposition significantly decreased and the abundance of stress-resistant bacteria significantly increased, while the abundance of bacteria involved in litter decomposition significantly decreased in UM and F-30 m compared with F-60 m. The simplification of plant communities decreased in soil water and total organic carbon contents can explain the variations of soil microbial communities in both UM and F-30 m compared with F-60 m. The results of PLS-PM show that changes in plant community and soil microbial function guilds in UM may affect those in F-30 m by changing soil water and total organic carbon contents. These results indicate that overgrazing on unmanaged grassland interfered with the restoration of adjacent grazing-banned grassland by affecting soil properties and microbial community. The grazing-banned grasslands should be adjusted periodically in order to avoid negative edge effects.

Dataset Information

Effects of grazing patterns on grassland biomass and soil environments in China: A meta-analysis.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Effects of grazing patterns on grassland biomass and soil environments in China: A meta-analysis.

Similar Datasets

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