[Home ] [Archive]   [ فارسی ]  
:: Main :: About :: Current Issue :: Archive :: Search :: Submit :: Contact ::
Main Menu
Home::
Journal Information::
About the Journal
Editorial Board
Aims& Scopes
Journal News
Abstracting and Indexing
Articles archive::
All Issues
Current Issue
For Authors::
Call for Papers
Submission Instruction
Submission Form
For Reviewers::
Reviewers Section
Registration::
Registration Information
Registration Form
Contact us::
Contact Information
Contact us
Site Facilities::
Site map
Search contents
FAQ
Top 10 contents
Inform to friends
::
Search in website

Advanced Search
..
Receive site information
Enter your Email in the following box to receive the site news and information.
..
:: Volume 1, Issue 3 ((Volume 1 - No. 3 - Autumn 2013) - Article Numbers: 7 Article(s) 2013) ::
PEC 2013, 1(3): 91-104 Back to browse issues page
Response of plant communities’ function and species diversity to grazing along a gradient of rainfall for protecting steppe and semi-steppe rangelands
Zeinab Mansoori * , Pejman Tahmasebi2 , Mostafa Seedfar3 , Hamzeh Ali Shirmardi4
Faculty of Natural Resources and Earth Science, University of Shahrekord , zmansoori182@yahoo.com
2- Faculty of Natural Resource and Earth Science,University of Shahrekord
3- Research Center of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Isfahan
4- University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources,Sari University
Abstract:   (12157 Views)
Investigating the interaction of rainfall and animal grazing, as an indicator of habitat productivity, on function and the species diversity of plant communities, is key factor that can help managers in evaluating and predicating changes in vegetation cover, so the current study was undertaken in response of the function and species diversity of plant communities to animal grazing and precitpitation in 41 regions of steppe and semi-steppe rangelands of Chahrmhal Bakhtiari and Isfahan province. Vegetation cover data of 41 regions was gathered from previous studies and classified into light and heavy grazing intensity. The plant community diversity indices (richness, evenness, Simpson, Shannon) for all areas were determined by the Pc-Ord software after calculating the RAO index (function diversity). The effect of significant changes of grazing, precipitation and their interaction were used in Spss-17 software by the general linear analysis (GLM). To do so, the general linear model in SPSS 17 was used. Finally the correlation between the diversity indices with the divercity function was calculated and shown through simple regular regression. The results of GLM illustrated that the response of evenness to the changes of precipitation and species richness to the grazing intensity were significant (p <0.05). Among the indicators of species diversity, only the evenness in plant communities had significant correlation with function diversity (P<0.05). Results revealed that only the function diversity was increased with animal grazing which was consistent with the strategy of using different food sources. The ecosystem function was mostly affected by species characteristics and evenness.
Keywords: Rainfall changes, Animal grazing, Function diversity, Species diversity, General LinearModel (GLM).
Full-Text [PDF 921 kb]   (2241 Downloads)    
Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2013/10/1 | Accepted: 2014/03/3 | Published: 2014/07/11
References
1. De Bello F., Thuiller W., Leps J., Choler P., Clement J.C., Macek P., Sebastia M.T., Lavorel S. 2009. Partitioning of functional diversity reveals the scale and extent of trait convergence and divergence. Journal of Vegetation Science, 20:475-486.
2. De Bllo F., Lepse J., Sebastia M.T. 2006. Variations in species and functional plant diversity along climatic and grazing gradients. Ecography 29:801-810.
3. Ebrahimi A. 2007. Towards an integrated framework of determining grazing capacity in low productive Spatially Heterogeneneous Landscapes. Ph.D.Thesis, University of Gent, Belgium, 205p.
4. Fukami T., Martijn Bezemer T., Mortimer S.R., Putten W.H. 2005. Species divergence and trait convergence in experimental plant community assembly.Ecology Letters, 12: 1247-1346.
5. Gholami, P. Ghorbani, J., Shokri, M. 2011. Changes in diversity, richness and functional groups of vegetation under different grazing intensities (Case Study:Mahoor, Mamasani Rangelands, Fars province). Iranian Journal of Range and Desert Reseach, 18 (4):662-675.
6. Huston M.A. 1994. Biological Diversity: The Coexistence of Species in Changing Landscapes, Cambridge University Press.
7. Lavorel S., Grigulis K., McIntyre S., Garden D., Williams N., Dorrough J., Berman S., Quétier F., Thébault A., Bonis A. 2008. Assessing functional diversity in the field – methodology matters!, Functional Ecology, 22:134-147.
8. Leps J., De Bello F., Lavorel S., Berman S. 2006. Quantifying and interpreting functional diversity of natural communities: practical considerations matter.Preslia, 78: 481–50.
9. Loreau M., Naeem S., Inchausti P. 2002. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning:Synthesis and Perspectives, Oxford University Press 304 p.
10. Metzger K.L., Coughenour M.B., Reich R.M., Boone R.B. 2005. Effects of seasonal grazing on plant species diversity and vegetation structure in a semiarid ecosystem. Arid Environments, 61: 147-160
11. Milchunas D.G., Lauenroth W.K., Burke I.C. 1993. A quantitative assessment of the effects of grazing on vegetation and soils over a global range of environments. Ecological Monographs, 63: 327-366.
12. Olff H., Ritchie M.E. 1998. Effects of herbivores on grassland plant diversity.Trends Ecol., 13: 261-265.
13. Petchey O.L., Gaston K.J. 2006. Functional diversity (FD), back to basic and looking forward. Ecology Letters, 9:741-758.
14. Raunkiær C. 1904. Om biologiske Typer, med Hensyn til Planternes Tilpasninger til at overleve ugunstige Aarstider, Botanisk Tidsskrift 26, p. XIV. Also as Ch.1: Biological types with reference to the adaption of plants to survive the unfavourable season, in: The Life Forms of Plants and Statistical Plant Geography, Oxford University Press, pp: 1-14.
15. Tahmasebi Kohyani P., Ebrahimi A. 2012. Plant Animal Interaction. Shahrekord University Publications, (In Persian).
16. Tahmasebi Kohyani P. 2009. Analysis of Range Ecosystems. Pelk Publications, (In Persian).
17. Tahmasebi Kohyani P., Bossuyt B., Bonte D., Hoffmann, M. 2008. The importance of grazing and soil acidity for plant community composition and community wide trait characterization in coastal dune grasslands. Applied Vegetation Science, 11:179-186.
18. Tilman D.D., Downing J.A. 1994. Biodiversity and stability in grasslands. Nature,367: 363-365.
19. Walker B., Kinzing A., Langridge J. 1999. Plant attributes diversity, resilience, and ecosystem function: the nature and significance of dominant and minor species.Ecosystems, 2: 95-113.
Send email to the article author

Add your comments about this article
Your username or Email:

CAPTCHA

XML   Persian Abstract   Print

Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
Mansoori Z, Tahmasebi P, Seedfar M, Shirmardi H A. Response of plant communities’ function and species diversity to grazing along a gradient of rainfall for protecting steppe and semi-steppe rangelands. PEC 2013; 1 (3) :91-104
URL: http://pec.gonbad.ac.ir/article-1-72-en.html
Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Volume 1, Issue 3 ((Volume 1 - No. 3 - Autumn 2013) - Article Numbers: 7 Article(s) 2013) Back to browse issues page
مجله حفاظت زیست بوم گیاهان Journal of Plant Ecosystem Conservation
Persian site map - English site map - Created in 0.07 seconds with 37 queries by YEKTAWEB 4645