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Lack of intraspecific variation in resistance to defoliation in a grass that evolved under light grazing pressure

Plant Ecology volume 157, pages 197–204 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Grass species frequently show marked intraspecific variation inmorphology and tolerance to defoliation. Remarkably, most of this evidencecomesfrom grasslands with long evolutionary history of grazing. Here, we explore theintraspecific variation in grazing tolerance and morphometric traits associatedwith grazing avoidance of Paspalum dilatatum (Poir.), agrass from the Flooding Pampa (Argentina), where grazing is a novel disturbancein evolutionary time. We performed a clipping experiment in a greenhouse withtwo populations from sites with contrasting short term grazing regime:continuous grazing and 20 year-old grazing exclosure. The populations did notdiffer in their tolerance to clipping, and showed minor differences in the wayclipping affected plant height, a trait associated with grazing avoidance. Ourresults indicate that there are exceptions to the generalized findings of highlevels of intraspecific variation in grazing resistance among populations ofgrasses. These exceptions may be associated to evolutionary history of grazing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IFEVA, Cátedra de Ecología, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires/Conicet, Av. San Martín 4453, Buenos Aires, 1417, Argentina

    Juan Loreti, Martín Oesterheld & Osvaldo Sala

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  1. Juan Loreti
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  2. Martín Oesterheld
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  3. Osvaldo Sala
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Loreti, J., Oesterheld, M. & Sala, O. Lack of intraspecific variation in resistance to defoliation in a grass that evolved under light grazing pressure. Plant Ecology 157, 197–204 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013976316924

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013976316924

  • Defoliation tolerance
  • Ecotype
  • Evolutionary history of grazing
  • Grazing avoidance