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Can edaphic factors demonstrate landscape-scale differences in vegetation responses to grazing?

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Abstract

We focused on land units as landscape characteristics and selected seven typical land units on a land catena comprising two areas of southern Mongolia. Hierarchical analysis was used to test the hypothesis that a land unit’s edaphic factors could explain the differences in vegetation responses to grazing. We established the survey sites at increasing distances from a livestock camp or water point within each land unit, then analysed patterns of change in floristic and functional compositions, vegetation volume and soil properties within each land unit to reveal differences in vegetation responses to grazing. We also examined the variations in floristic and functional compositions across land units to identify the edaphic factors that may underlie these differences. Changes in vegetation and soil properties at increasing distances from a camp or water point within each land unit were into three different patterns. Ordination techniques consistently indicated that land unit groups categorised using edaphic factors corresponded to those categorised using response patterns. Our study revealed that edaphic factors were responsible for the observed landscape-scale differences in vegetation responses to grazing in the study areas. In addition, the mechanisms underlying vegetation responses to grazing may have been primarily determined by edaphic factors.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the project members for their kindness in helping with the field survey, and especially A. Mori, University of Tokyo; and Y. Yamaguchi, University of Okayama. J. F. Cahill and two anonymous referees contributed significantly to the clarity of the manuscript. This work was carried out under a JSPS research fellowship to T. Sasaki, with additional support from the Global Environmental Research Fund of Japan’s Ministry of the Environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecosystem Studies, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Takehiro Sasaki, Tomoo Okayasu, Satoru Okubo & Kazuhiko Takeuchi

  2. National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8064, Japan

    Yasuhito Shirato

  3. Center for Ecosystem Study, Mongolian State University of Agriculture, Ulaanbaatar, 210153, Mongolia

    Undarmaa Jamsran

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  1. Takehiro Sasaki
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  2. Tomoo Okayasu
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Correspondence to Takehiro Sasaki.

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Sasaki, T., Okayasu, T., Shirato, Y. et al. Can edaphic factors demonstrate landscape-scale differences in vegetation responses to grazing?. Plant Ecol 194, 51–66 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-007-9274-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-007-9274-0

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