Claim · model-written summary
Foliage biomass of herbaceous plants near a grass plant did not influence the number of tillers grazed or the probability of the plant being grazed.
- Taxon
- Grassest0
- Treatment
- foliage biomass of herbaceous plantse5
- Interactor
- Sheep
Ovis ariest0herbivore - Outcome
- number of tillers grazede5
- Direction
- did not influencee5
- Qualifier
- nor the probability of the plant being grazede5
Not reportedMaterialGeneCompoundOrgan / stageSecond interactorSecond interactor roleComparatorSettingValue
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Grazing of Grasses by Sheep”
e5“The foliage biomass of herbaceous plants in the immediate vicinity of a grass plant did not influence the number of tillers grazed nor the probability of the plant being grazed”
Title
Spatial and Temporal Pattern in the Grazing of Grasses by Sheep Within a Semi-Arid Wooded Landscape.
KC Hodgkinson; JW Terpstra; WJ Muller The Rangeland Journal 1995. doi:10.1071/rj9950154
Other claims from this paper (9)
- Association Sheep showed no preference for previously ungrazed grass plants.
- Association Previously grazed grass plants were only occasionally preferred by sheep.
- Association Thyridolepis mitchelliana plants were slightly preferred over E. eriopoda plants.
- Association Landscape zones receiving water and nutrients from elsewhere were preferred for grazing, but the effect was weak.
- Association Defoliation of individual grass plants by sheep was weakly determined by landscape location, stocking level, plant species and prevailing forage.
- Observation The influence of spatial and temporal variation on grazing was small.
- Observation Grazing of grass plants was random, the rule rather than an exception.
- Observation Grazing pressure on palatable perennial grasses in semi-arid woodland paddocks is suggested to be similar across wooded landscapes.
- Mechanism Spatial variability in plant mortality could be due to the combined effect of plant water stress and grazing pressure.