Palatable grasses have higher relative growth rate and competitive ability than unpalatable grasses in the Patagonian steppe
Introduction In Patagonia,sheep grazing triggered processes of desertification of different magnitude (León y Aguiar,1985).In the Patagonian shrub‐grass steppe, grazing caused substitution of palatable species by unpalatable ones.Coughenour (1985) proposed that there is an evolutionary convergence between those adaptations allowing plants to tolerate water and nutrient deficits, and those conferring tolerance against herbivores.Plant populations evolved under severe resource limitations would have low relative growth rates and adaptations against both nutrient and water deficits and also against herbivory (Chapin et al., 1993).The objective of this work was to evaluate the relative growth rate ( RGR), water consumption and competitive ability of two grass species of the Patagonia steppe with contrasting palatability.
grazing desertification arid steppe palatability
García Martínez,G.C Golluscio,R.A.
Cátedra Forrajicultura,Facultad de Agronomía,UBA Cátedra Forrajicultura,Facultad de Agronomía,UBA;CONICET
国际会议
呼和浩特
英文
2008-06-29（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）