The effects of sheep and rabbit grazing on fire in sandy grassland

  • Gábor Ónodi Institute of Ecology and Botany, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • Katalin Csatádi Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Ethology
  • István Németh Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Ethology
  • Olivér Váczi Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Ethology
  • Zoltán Botta-Dukát Institute of Ecology and Botany, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • Miklós Kertész Institute of Ecology and Botany, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • Vilmos Altbäcker Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Ethology
Keywords: fire, biomass, forest-stepp, land use, field experiment, NDVI

Abstract

The succession of sandy shrubland is dependent upon the disturbance pattern by herbivores. We studied how experimental grazing, either by sheep or rabbit, affects the composition of sandy grassland in a juniper shrubland. We assessed the botanical composition of study plots before and after the grazing sessions and a controlled burning session. We found that rabbit and sheep removed different parts of the vegetation, while rabbits focused on dicots, sheep ate grasses. The recovery of vegetation was also affected by the timing of treatment: grazing early in the season had negligible impact compared to grazing before the summer drought period. The extent of fire decreased due to the sheep grazing conducted before the summer, thus moderate grazing should be considered as a management tool to maintain the integrity of sandy grassland.

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Published
2008-12-31
Issue
Vol. 14 (2008)
Section
Scientific Research