Contrasting Effects of Long-Term Grazing and Clipping on Plant Morphological Plasticity: Evidence from a Rhizomatous Grass.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the mechanism of plant morphological plasticity in response to grazing and clipping of semiarid grassland can provide insight into the process of disturbance-induced decline in grassland productivity. In recent studies there has been controversy regarding two hypotheses: 1) grazing avoidance; and 2) growth limiting mechanisms of morphological plasticity in response to defoliation. However, the experimental evidence presented for the memory response to grazing and clipping of plants has been poorly reported. This paper reports on two experiments that tested these hypotheses in field and in a controlled environment, respectively. We examined the effects of long-term clipping and grazing on the functional traits and their plasticity for Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvelev (the domi

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4624235 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature