Cattle grazing facilitates tree regeneration in a conifer forest with palatable bamboo understory
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Published source details
Darabant A., Rai P., Tenzin K., Roder W. & Gratzer G. (2007) Cattle grazing facilitates tree regeneration in a conifer forest with palatable bamboo understory. Forest Ecology and Management, 252, 73-83.
Published source details Darabant A., Rai P., Tenzin K., Roder W. & Gratzer G. (2007) Cattle grazing facilitates tree regeneration in a conifer forest with palatable bamboo understory. Forest Ecology and Management, 252, 73-83.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Use wire fencing to exclude large native herbivores Action Link |
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Use wire fencing to exclude large native herbivores
A replicated, paired-sites, before-and-after study in 1997-2005 temperate mixed conifer forest in the Bhutan Himalayas (Darabant et al. 2007) found that excluding large herbivores increased bamboo Yushania microphylla growth but decreased seedling density of all conifer trees, particularly Himalayan hemlock Tsuga dumosa and Sikkim spruce Picea spinulosa. Eight years after treatment, the percentage cover of bamboo increased by 42% in grazed and 58% in ungrazed plots. The number of all conifer tree seedlings increased by 16,333/ha in grazed and only 166/ha in ungrazed plots. The number of Himalayan hemlock seedlings increased by 14,417/ha in grazed and decreased by 167/ha in ungrazed plots. The number of Sikkim spruce seedling increased by 667/ha in grazed and decreased by 166/ha in ungrazed plots. In 1996, five pairs of 4×6 m treatment plots: grazed (unfenced) and ungrazed (fenced to keep out large herbivores) were established in each of two sites. Each was divided into six 2×2 m subplots that were sampled repeatedly in 1997 at the time of treatment and again in 2005.
