Campbell et al.--Climate profiles of pasture species

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts

Climate profiles of temperate C3 and subtropical C4 species in New Zealand pastures

B. D. CAMPBELL

AgResearch Grasslands
Private Bag 11008
Palmerston North, New Zealand
email: campbellb@agresearch.cri.nz

N. D. MITCHELL

School of Environmental and Marine Sciences
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland, New Zealand

T. R. O. FIELD

Waiterere Beach, New Zealand

Abstract Climate profiles were developed for 14 temperate C3 and subtropical C4 pasture species using the BIOCLIM procedure and survey data from 583 pasture sites throughout New Zealand. The species profiles differed in maximum and minimum thresholds for 27 solar radiation, temperature, and rainfall parameters. A cluster analysis detected three climate profile types. Cluster 1 species (Lolium perenne, Dactylis glomerata, Trifolium repens, Agrostis capillaris) differed from the others in the tolerance of drier, cooler, and lower solar radiation environments. Cluster 2 species (Rytidosperma racemosum, Sporobolus africanus, Paspalum dilatatum) showed greater tolerance of cooler and drier environments than species in Cluster 3 (Paspalum distichum, Setaria geniculata, Pennisetum clandestinum, Eleusine indica, Digitaria sanguinalis, Cynodon dactylon, Axonopus affinis). The results confirm broad differences in climate thresholds between C3 and C4 pasture species but the climate profile of the C3 species R. racemosum was intermediate between those of the C3 and C4 species. The different climate profile groupings identified within the C4 species could not be attributed to simple life history or biochemical attributes, indicating more complex explanations for climatic tolerances. The identified groupings provide three preliminary plant functional types (PFTs) for use in analysing grassland responses to climate.

Keywords BIOCLIM; climate; C3; C4; grassland; rainfall; solar radiation; temperature

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1999, Vol. 42: 223-233

0028-8233/99/4203-0223 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1999

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (865K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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