The influence of fire-grazer interactions on forb communities in a highveld grassland

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dc.contributor.advisorArchibald, Sallyen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorMidgley, Jeremy Jen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorParrish, Margaret Dorisen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-09T12:51:25Z
dc.date.available2018-02-09T12:51:25Z
dc.date.issued2017en_ZA
dc.description.abstractIn southern Africa, disturbance contributes to the heterogeneity of grassland and savanna ecosystems. Fire and grazing act as the primary disturbances in these systems, and interactions between the two are common. As such, an understanding of the relationship between fire and grazing is essential for the conservation of biotic diversity and the production of high-quality forage for game and livestock. Frequent fires followed by concentrated grazing have been shown to facilitate patches of short, palatable grasses ("grazing lawns") within grassland and savanna landscapes. The effects of grazing lawn management on other aspects of biodiversity have received little attention. Forbs (non-graminoid, herbaceous plants) are an important component of grassland ecosystems, but how they respond to disturbance is largely unknown. This study compared changes in forb communities on and off of firebreaks (an extreme example of a grazing lawn) in a high altitude mesic grassland. Native herbivore biomass was significantly higher on firebreaks than in the surrounding lightly grazed matrix and the firebreaks, while more compacted, did not show significant signs of degradation. There were no significant differences in forb abundance or richness between annually burned and intermittently burned plots, and there was no species turnover associated with the annually burned, heavily grazed treatment. Speciesspecific differences in functional traits on annually burned and intermittently burned plots were likely a function of light limitation, as mammalian palatability scores were nominal. Ultimately, ten years of intensive fire and grazing have had minimal impact on forb communities in a high altitude mesic grassland. The results indicate that in this type of Highveld grassland, heavily grazed and annually burned patches are not detrimental to the forb community and clearly enhance habitat diversity for grazers.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationParrish, M. D. (2017). <i>The influence of fire-grazer interactions on forb communities in a highveld grassland</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27482en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationParrish, Margaret Doris. <i>"The influence of fire-grazer interactions on forb communities in a highveld grassland."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27482en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationParrish, M. 2017. The influence of fire-grazer interactions on forb communities in a highveld grassland. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Parrish, Margaret Doris AB - In southern Africa, disturbance contributes to the heterogeneity of grassland and savanna ecosystems. Fire and grazing act as the primary disturbances in these systems, and interactions between the two are common. As such, an understanding of the relationship between fire and grazing is essential for the conservation of biotic diversity and the production of high-quality forage for game and livestock. Frequent fires followed by concentrated grazing have been shown to facilitate patches of short, palatable grasses ("grazing lawns") within grassland and savanna landscapes. The effects of grazing lawn management on other aspects of biodiversity have received little attention. Forbs (non-graminoid, herbaceous plants) are an important component of grassland ecosystems, but how they respond to disturbance is largely unknown. This study compared changes in forb communities on and off of firebreaks (an extreme example of a grazing lawn) in a high altitude mesic grassland. Native herbivore biomass was significantly higher on firebreaks than in the surrounding lightly grazed matrix and the firebreaks, while more compacted, did not show significant signs of degradation. There were no significant differences in forb abundance or richness between annually burned and intermittently burned plots, and there was no species turnover associated with the annually burned, heavily grazed treatment. Speciesspecific differences in functional traits on annually burned and intermittently burned plots were likely a function of light limitation, as mammalian palatability scores were nominal. Ultimately, ten years of intensive fire and grazing have had minimal impact on forb communities in a high altitude mesic grassland. The results indicate that in this type of Highveld grassland, heavily grazed and annually burned patches are not detrimental to the forb community and clearly enhance habitat diversity for grazers. DA - 2017 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2017 T1 - The influence of fire-grazer interactions on forb communities in a highveld grassland TI - The influence of fire-grazer interactions on forb communities in a highveld grassland UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27482 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/27482
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationParrish MD. The influence of fire-grazer interactions on forb communities in a highveld grassland. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, 2017 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27482en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentPercy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherConservation Biologyen_ZA
dc.subject.othergrazing lawnen_ZA
dc.subject.otherfire-grazer interactionsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherforben_ZA
dc.subject.othergrasslanden_ZA
dc.subject.otherbiodiversityen_ZA
dc.titleThe influence of fire-grazer interactions on forb communities in a highveld grasslanden_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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