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The Effects of Timing of Grazing on Plant and Arthropod Communities in High-Elevation Grasslands

Livestock grazing can be used as a key management tool for maintaining healthy ecosystems. However, the effectiveness of using grazing to modify habitat for species of conservation concern depends on how the grazing regime is implemented. Timing of grazing is one grazing regime component that is les...

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Autores principales: Davis, Stacy C., Burkle, Laura A., Cross, Wyatt F., Cutting, Kyle A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4206520/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25338008
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110460
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author Davis, Stacy C.
Burkle, Laura A.
Cross, Wyatt F.
Cutting, Kyle A.
author_facet Davis, Stacy C.
Burkle, Laura A.
Cross, Wyatt F.
Cutting, Kyle A.
author_sort Davis, Stacy C.
collection PubMed
description Livestock grazing can be used as a key management tool for maintaining healthy ecosystems. However, the effectiveness of using grazing to modify habitat for species of conservation concern depends on how the grazing regime is implemented. Timing of grazing is one grazing regime component that is less understood than grazing intensity and grazer identity, but is predicted to have important implications for plant and higher trophic level responses. We experimentally assessed how timing of cattle grazing affected plant and arthropod communities in high-elevation grasslands of southwest Montana to better evaluate its use as a tool for multi-trophic level management. We manipulated timing of grazing, with one grazing treatment beginning in mid-June and the other in mid-July, in two experiments conducted in different grassland habitat types (i.e., wet meadow and upland) in 2011 and 2012. In the upland grassland experiment, we found that both early and late grazing treatments reduced forb biomass, whereas graminoid biomass was only reduced with late grazing. Grazing earlier in the growing season versus later did not result in greater recovery of graminoid or forb biomass as expected. In addition, the density of the most ubiquitous grassland arthropod order (Hemiptera) was reduced by both grazing treatments in upland grasslands. A comparison of end-of-season plant responses to grazing in upland versus wet meadow grasslands revealed that grazing reduced graminoid biomass in the wet meadow and forb biomass in the upland, irrespective of timing of grazing. Both grazing treatments also reduced end-of-season total arthropod and Hemiptera densities and Hemiptera biomass in both grassland habitat types. Our results indicate that both early and late season herbivory affect many plant and arthropod characteristics in a similar manner, but grazing earlier may negatively impact species of conservation concern requiring forage earlier in the growing season.
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spelling pubmed-42065202014-10-27 The Effects of Timing of Grazing on Plant and Arthropod Communities in High-Elevation Grasslands Davis, Stacy C. Burkle, Laura A. Cross, Wyatt F. Cutting, Kyle A. PLoS One Research Article Livestock grazing can be used as a key management tool for maintaining healthy ecosystems. However, the effectiveness of using grazing to modify habitat for species of conservation concern depends on how the grazing regime is implemented. Timing of grazing is one grazing regime component that is less understood than grazing intensity and grazer identity, but is predicted to have important implications for plant and higher trophic level responses. We experimentally assessed how timing of cattle grazing affected plant and arthropod communities in high-elevation grasslands of southwest Montana to better evaluate its use as a tool for multi-trophic level management. We manipulated timing of grazing, with one grazing treatment beginning in mid-June and the other in mid-July, in two experiments conducted in different grassland habitat types (i.e., wet meadow and upland) in 2011 and 2012. In the upland grassland experiment, we found that both early and late grazing treatments reduced forb biomass, whereas graminoid biomass was only reduced with late grazing. Grazing earlier in the growing season versus later did not result in greater recovery of graminoid or forb biomass as expected. In addition, the density of the most ubiquitous grassland arthropod order (Hemiptera) was reduced by both grazing treatments in upland grasslands. A comparison of end-of-season plant responses to grazing in upland versus wet meadow grasslands revealed that grazing reduced graminoid biomass in the wet meadow and forb biomass in the upland, irrespective of timing of grazing. Both grazing treatments also reduced end-of-season total arthropod and Hemiptera densities and Hemiptera biomass in both grassland habitat types. Our results indicate that both early and late season herbivory affect many plant and arthropod characteristics in a similar manner, but grazing earlier may negatively impact species of conservation concern requiring forage earlier in the growing season. Public Library of Science 2014-10-22 /pmc/articles/PMC4206520/ /pubmed/25338008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110460 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration, which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose.
spellingShingle Research Article
Davis, Stacy C.
Burkle, Laura A.
Cross, Wyatt F.
Cutting, Kyle A.
The Effects of Timing of Grazing on Plant and Arthropod Communities in High-Elevation Grasslands
title The Effects of Timing of Grazing on Plant and Arthropod Communities in High-Elevation Grasslands
title_full The Effects of Timing of Grazing on Plant and Arthropod Communities in High-Elevation Grasslands
title_fullStr The Effects of Timing of Grazing on Plant and Arthropod Communities in High-Elevation Grasslands
title_full_unstemmed The Effects of Timing of Grazing on Plant and Arthropod Communities in High-Elevation Grasslands
title_short The Effects of Timing of Grazing on Plant and Arthropod Communities in High-Elevation Grasslands
title_sort effects of timing of grazing on plant and arthropod communities in high-elevation grasslands
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4206520/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25338008
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110460
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