Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna

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dc.contributor.advisorBond, William Jen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorStock, WDen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMasubelele, Mmoto Leonarden_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-08-13T14:05:09Z
dc.date.available2014-08-13T14:05:09Z
dc.date.issued2007en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 108-124)en_ZA
dc.description.abstractTropical and subtropical grasslands ecologists have ignored decomposition, because of the important role it plays in nutrient cycling, in terms of understanding how grass litter gets to the soil during the dry season. The major flaw is in the methods employed to investigate decomposition. In the prairies and steppes, litterbag methods employed investigate decomposition when litter is on the soil, even though the importance of carryover from standing litter is recognized. Standing litter results in high carryover which slows down decomposition thereby hindering productivity in the next growing season. I therefore decided to investigate the processes of photodegradation and microbial decomposition, as well as carryover and also how these processes differ between mesic and semi-arid grasslands. Since previous studies suggest that tallgrass prairies experience more carryover and slower decomposition than shortgrass prairies, I therefore hypothesized in this thesis that mesic grasslands will experience carryover and slower decomposition than semi-arid grasslands.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMasubelele, M. L. (2007). <i>Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6132en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMasubelele, Mmoto Leonard. <i>"Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6132en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMasubelele, M. 2007. Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Masubelele, Mmoto Leonard AB - Tropical and subtropical grasslands ecologists have ignored decomposition, because of the important role it plays in nutrient cycling, in terms of understanding how grass litter gets to the soil during the dry season. The major flaw is in the methods employed to investigate decomposition. In the prairies and steppes, litterbag methods employed investigate decomposition when litter is on the soil, even though the importance of carryover from standing litter is recognized. Standing litter results in high carryover which slows down decomposition thereby hindering productivity in the next growing season. I therefore decided to investigate the processes of photodegradation and microbial decomposition, as well as carryover and also how these processes differ between mesic and semi-arid grasslands. Since previous studies suggest that tallgrass prairies experience more carryover and slower decomposition than shortgrass prairies, I therefore hypothesized in this thesis that mesic grasslands will experience carryover and slower decomposition than semi-arid grasslands. DA - 2007 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2007 T1 - Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna TI - Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6132 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/6132
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMasubelele ML. Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences, 2007 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6132en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Biological Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherBotanyen_ZA
dc.titleDecomposition of grasses in a South African savannaen_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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