New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
The importance of local processes to landscape patterns of grassland
vegetation diversity
Todd A. White*
Kenneth J. Moore
Department of Agronomy
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011
USA
David J. Barker†
AgResearch Limited
Grasslands Research Centre
Private Bag 11 008
Palmerston North, New Zealand
*Present address: AgResearch Limited, Gerald St, P.O. Box 60, Lincoln,
New Zealand.
Email: todd.white@agresearch.co.nz
†Present address: Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, The Ohio
State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Abstract This study aimed to determine the importance
of local processes to variation in plant species diversity by comparing soil
fertility/diversity relationships across and within different environments.
Vegetation diversity and soil fertility were measured in four different grassland
communities in southern North Island, New Zealand. Vegetation species richness,
Shannon diversity (H´) and evenness (J´) were significantly
negatively related to the concentration of most plant nutrients in the soil,
only phosphorus being not significantly related. Across-environment diversity/fertility
relationships generally agreed with within-environment relationships. We
suggest that local-scale processes, influenced by the availability of nutrients,
are the key determinants of landscape patterns of vegetation diversity in
grassland communities.
Keywords soil fertility; managed grasslands; scale;
New Zealand
A03046; Received 9 August 2003; accepted 19 February 2004; Online publication
date 27 May 2004
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2004, Vol. 47: 199-207
0028-8233/04/4702-0199 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2004
PDF file of entire paper: Print-quality (202K) |
screen-quality (105K)
This year's abstracts |
Journal home page |
All abstracts |
Publishing home page
