Considering their contribution to global warming, the sources and sinks of methane (CH4) should be accounted when undertaking a greenhouse gas inventory for grazed rangeland ecosystems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the mitigation potential of current ecological management programs implemented in the main rangeland regions of China. The influences of rangeland improvement, utilization a...

The effects of grazed grass, grass silage, or concentrates on fatty acid composition and conjugated linoleic acid (cis-9, trans-11-18:2; CLA) concentrations of i.m. fat of steers fed to achieve similar carcass growth rates were investigated. Fifty steers were divided into 10 blocks based on body weight and assigned at random from within blocks to one of five dietary treatments. The experimental...

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Sward variables did not differ between the indoor grazed turves and the outdoor grazed swards (P>0.05), giving confidence that turves extracted from the plots were representative of in situ swards. Sward height was generally greater for grasses than white clover at the same maturity stage, but bulk density was greater for the clover. Reproductive swards had greater mass b...

Some seaweed species have been shown to release water-borne cues after herbivore attack, for example, to attract natural enemies of the herbivore. These cues may also be sensed by neighboring seaweeds and used to adjust their defenses in anticipation of a possible herbivore attack. Several studies indicated information transfer between seaweed individuals in the past, including the brown seawee...

A study was conducted to determine the abundance of potential foods and the feeding substrates and behaviors of the western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), in 2005, 2006, and 2007 in central Washington state. Aphid colonies with honeydew, a presumed food source for flies, were not seen on randomly selected branches of sweet cherry trees, Prunus avium L., ...

Overgrazing has been the primary cause of grassland degradation in the semi-arid grasslands of the agro-pastoral transition zone in northern China. However, there has been little evidence regarding grazing intensity impacts on vegetation change and soil C and N dynamics in this region. This paper reports the effects of four grazing intensities namely un-grazed (UG), lightly grazed (LG), moderat...

The Alps provide a high habitat diversity for plant species, structured by broadand fine-scale abiotic site conditions. In man-made grasslands, vegetation composition is additionally affected by the type of landuse. We recorded vegetation composition in 216 parcels of grassland in 12 municipalities representing an area of 170 70 km in the south-eastern part of the Swiss Alps. Each parcel was ch...

The importance of disturbance in prairie has long been recognized. Increasingly interest and research have focused on the action and interaction of multiple disturbances. The distribution of Flodman's thistle [Cirsiumflodmanii (Rydb.) Arthur] on ant mounds, badger mounds, buffalo wallows, and potholes and in a lightly and a moderately grazed pasture was compared at the Nature Conservancy's S. H...

On a Flemish sandy loam soil, cut and grazed swards were compared at different levels of mineral nitrogen (N) fertilization. Economically optimal N fertilization rates were 400 (or more) and 200 kg N ha yr on cut and grazed swards respectively. Considering the amounts of residual soil nitrate-N in autumn, these N rates also met the current Flemish legal provisions, i.e. no more than 90 kg ha ni...