Grazing Impact on Plant Seed Production in Southern Mongolia
Nomadic livestock husbandry practices have a long history in Mongolia and still represent the main form of land use. Because of increasing livestock numbers, the danger of overgrazing and steppe degradation is on the rise. Nevertheless, studies on the in fl uence of herbivores a...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
National University of Mongolia
2008-06-01
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| Series: | Mongolian Journal of Biological Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://mjbs.num.edu.mn/uploads/files/MJBS%20Volume%206%20Number%201-2%20December%202008/pdf/mjbs006-01-02-01.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818027465089482752 |
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| author | Christine Bläß Katrin Ronnenberg Isabell Hensen Karsten Wesche |
| author_facet | Christine Bläß Katrin Ronnenberg Isabell Hensen Karsten Wesche |
| author_sort | Christine Bläß |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nomadic livestock husbandry practices have a long history in Mongolia and still represent the
main form of land use. Because of increasing livestock numbers, the danger of overgrazing and steppe
degradation is on the rise. Nevertheless, studies on the in
fl
uence of herbivores are rather rare in southern
Mongolia and existing studies focus mainly on biomass production rather than on the consequences to
reproduction of key steppe plants. We tested the effect of grazing by livestock and small mammals on
the production and related seed abundance of three of the most dominant steppe plant species of the
Mongolian desert steppes:
Agropyron cristatum
,
Stipa krylovii
and
Artemisia frigida
. The
fi
eldwork took
place in summer 2006 in the Gobi Gurvan Saykhan National Park, during which we estimated the extent
of granivory and compared the abundance of in
fl
orescences on grazed/ungrazed sites and the harvesting
preferences of small mammals. Herbivory has a tremendous impact on
fl
ower and, subsequently, seed
production of the three studied species. Flowers and fruits are browsed at levels of up to 100%. However,
grazing pressure is plant-speci
fi
c; both livestock and small mammals have feeding preferences, and
pikas (
Ochotona pallasi
)
prefer taxa such as
Stipa
spp. Granivory, in contrast does not seem to play any
role for the three studied species growing in the southern Mongolian steppes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T04:48:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fe1f0f38df2c4c93810aadc37b4bbf35 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1684-3908 2225-4994 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T04:48:19Z |
| publishDate | 2008-06-01 |
| publisher | National University of Mongolia |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Mongolian Journal of Biological Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-fe1f0f38df2c4c93810aadc37b4bbf352022-12-22T02:01:41ZengNational University of MongoliaMongolian Journal of Biological Sciences1684-39082225-49942008-06-0161-23910.22353/mjbs.2008.06.01Grazing Impact on Plant Seed Production in Southern MongoliaChristine Bläß0Katrin Ronnenberg1Isabell Hensen2Karsten Wesche3Institute of Biology - Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, 06108 Halle, GermanyInstitute of Biology - Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, 06108 Halle, GermanyInstitute of Biology - Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, 06108 Halle, GermanyPlant Ecology and Ecosystems Research, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Georg-August- University Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, GermanyNomadic livestock husbandry practices have a long history in Mongolia and still represent the main form of land use. Because of increasing livestock numbers, the danger of overgrazing and steppe degradation is on the rise. Nevertheless, studies on the in fl uence of herbivores are rather rare in southern Mongolia and existing studies focus mainly on biomass production rather than on the consequences to reproduction of key steppe plants. We tested the effect of grazing by livestock and small mammals on the production and related seed abundance of three of the most dominant steppe plant species of the Mongolian desert steppes: Agropyron cristatum , Stipa krylovii and Artemisia frigida . The fi eldwork took place in summer 2006 in the Gobi Gurvan Saykhan National Park, during which we estimated the extent of granivory and compared the abundance of in fl orescences on grazed/ungrazed sites and the harvesting preferences of small mammals. Herbivory has a tremendous impact on fl ower and, subsequently, seed production of the three studied species. Flowers and fruits are browsed at levels of up to 100%. However, grazing pressure is plant-speci fi c; both livestock and small mammals have feeding preferences, and pikas ( Ochotona pallasi ) prefer taxa such as Stipa spp. Granivory, in contrast does not seem to play any role for the three studied species growing in the southern Mongolian steppes.http://mjbs.num.edu.mn/uploads/files/MJBS%20Volume%206%20Number%201-2%20December%202008/pdf/mjbs006-01-02-01.pdfAgropyron cristatumArtemisia frigidagrazinglivestockMongoliaOchotona pallasi |
| spellingShingle | Christine Bläß Katrin Ronnenberg Isabell Hensen Karsten Wesche Grazing Impact on Plant Seed Production in Southern Mongolia Mongolian Journal of Biological Sciences Agropyron cristatum Artemisia frigida grazing livestock Mongolia Ochotona pallasi |
| title | Grazing Impact on Plant Seed Production in Southern Mongolia |
| title_full | Grazing Impact on Plant Seed Production in Southern Mongolia |
| title_fullStr | Grazing Impact on Plant Seed Production in Southern Mongolia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Grazing Impact on Plant Seed Production in Southern Mongolia |
| title_short | Grazing Impact on Plant Seed Production in Southern Mongolia |
| title_sort | grazing impact on plant seed production in southern mongolia |
| topic | Agropyron cristatum Artemisia frigida grazing livestock Mongolia Ochotona pallasi |
| url | http://mjbs.num.edu.mn/uploads/files/MJBS%20Volume%206%20Number%201-2%20December%202008/pdf/mjbs006-01-02-01.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT christineblaß grazingimpactonplantseedproductioninsouthernmongolia AT katrinronnenberg grazingimpactonplantseedproductioninsouthernmongolia AT isabellhensen grazingimpactonplantseedproductioninsouthernmongolia AT karstenwesche grazingimpactonplantseedproductioninsouthernmongolia |