The major insect pest of Australian cool temperate pastures is the root-feeding insect Heteronychus arator (African black beetle, ABB). Significant pasture damage can occur even at low ABB densities (11 individuals per square meter), and often re-sowing of the whole paddock is required. Mitigation of the effects of pasture pests, and in particular subterranean species such as the larval form of...

Interactions between plants can have strong effects on community structure and function. Variability in the morphological, developmental, physiological, and biochemical traits of plants can influence the outcome of plant interactions and thus have important ecological consequences. However, the ecological ramifications of trait variability in plants are poorly understood and have rarely been te...

• Leaf gas exchange responses to elevated CO 2 and N are presented for 13 perennial species, representing four functional groups: C 3 grasses, C 4 grasses, legumes, and nonleguminous forbs. Understanding how CO 2 and N effects interact is important to predict plant community response to global change. • Plants were field-grown in monoculture under current ambient and elevated (560 μ mol mol − 1...

Feedstock crops selected for bioenergy production to date are almost exclusively perennial grasses because of favorable physiological traits that enhance growth, water use, and nutrient assimilation efficiency. Grasses, however, tend to rely primarily on physical defenses, such as silica, to deter herbivores. Silica impedes processing of feedstocks and introduces a trade-off between managing fo...

Grazing of Echinopogon spp. by livestock in Australia has caused symptoms similar to those of perennial ryegrass staggers. We observed an endophytic fungus in the intercellular spaces of the leaves and seeds of New Zealand and Australian specimens of Echinopogon ovatus. Culture of surface-sterilized seeds from New Zealand specimens yielded a slow-growing fungus. An examination in which immunobl...

Research on livestock toxicoses caused by Acremonium (endophyte)-infected grasses strongly implicate the ergopeptine alkaloids with A. coenophialum-infected fescue and paxilline and the lolitrem alkaloids with A. lolii-infected perennial ryegrass as the causative agents. Isolation, identification, and detection of these toxins involves extraction with appropriate solvents, clean-up procedures, ...

Worldwide, exotic invasive grasses have caused numerous ecosystem perturbations. Rangelands of the western USA have experienced increases in the size and frequency of wildfires largely due to invasion by the annual grass Bromus tectorum. Rehabilitation of invaded rangelands is difficult; but long-term success is predicated on establishing healthy and dense perennial grass communities, which sup...

To better understand how warming, increased precipitation and their interactions influence community structure and composition, a field experiment simulating hydrothermal interactions was conducted at an annual forb dominated desert steppe in northern China over 2 years. Increased precipitation increased species richness while warming significantly decreased species richness, and their effects ...

Field parasitism rates of the Argentine stem weevil Listronotus bonariensis (Kuschel; Coleoptera: Curculionidae) by Microctonus hyperodae Loan (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) are known to vary according to different host Lolium species that also differ in ploidy. To further investigate this, a laboratory study was conducted to examine parasitism rates on tetraploid Italian Lolium multiflorum, diploid...

Glyphosate is a nonselective foliar-applied herbicide that has been used for over 20 years for the management of annual, perennial, and biennial herbaceous species of grasses, sedges, and broadleaf weeds, as well as woody brush and tree species (Bradshaw et al. 1997). Commercialization of engineered glyphosate resistance in several crop species has further expanded the in-crop use of the herbic...