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Identification of the environmental factors which drive the botanical and functional composition of permanent grasslands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2011

A. MICHAUD ,
S. PLANTUREUX ,
B. AMIAUD ,
P. CARRÈRE ,
P. CRUZ ,
M. DURU ,
B. DURY ,
A. FARRUGGIA ,
J. L. FIORELLI  and
E. KERNEIS
...Show all authors
A. MICHAUD*
Affiliation:
Institut de l'Elevage, Le Mourier 87900, Saint-Priest-Ligoure, France Nancy Université-INRA, UMR 1121 LAE, 2 avenue de la Forêt de Haye, 54501 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France INRA UR1213 Herbivores, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
S. PLANTUREUX
Affiliation:
Nancy Université-INRA, UMR 1121 LAE, 2 avenue de la Forêt de Haye, 54501 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France
B. AMIAUD
Affiliation:
Nancy Université-INRA, UMR 1121 LAE, 2 avenue de la Forêt de Haye, 54501 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France
P. CARRÈRE
Affiliation:
INRA UR874 Ecosystème Prairial, 234 avenue du Brezet, F-63100 Clermont-Ferrand, France
P. CRUZ
Affiliation:
INRA-ENSAT UMR1248 AGIR, chemin de Borde-Rouge, PB 52627, 31325 Castanet-Tolosan, France
M. DURU
Affiliation:
INRA-ENSAT UMR1248 AGIR, chemin de Borde-Rouge, PB 52627, 31325 Castanet-Tolosan, France
B. DURY
Affiliation:
Chambre Agriculture Saône-et-Loire, BP 522, 71010 Macon, France
A. FARRUGGIA
Affiliation:
INRA UR1213 Herbivores, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
J. L. FIORELLI
Affiliation:
INRA ASTER-Mirecourt, 662 avenue Louis-Buffet, 88500 Mirecourt, France
E. KERNEIS
Affiliation:
INRA Domaine du Bois-Maché, 545 rue Bois-Maché, 17450 Saint-Laurent-de-la-Prée, France
R. BAUMONT
Affiliation:
INRA UR1213 Herbivores, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
*
*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Email: [email protected]
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Summary

Managed grasslands provide environmental and agronomic services that can be predicted from the botanical and functional composition of the vegetation. These are influenced by management, edaphic and climatic factors. The present report set out to estimate and analyse the relative importance of management, soil and climate factors on botanical and functional characteristics of grassland vegetation. A set of 178 French grasslands having a large pedoclimatic and management gradient was selected, and information collected on botanical composition, pedoclimatic factors and management. Six vegetation characteristics were considered: two botanical (floristic composition and species dominance) and four functional (proportion of entomophilous species, number of oligotrophic species, leaf dry matter content and date of flowering). First, the links between the characteristics of the vegetation were analysed to check for any redundancy among them; all were kept. Second, it was demonstrated that botanical and functional characteristics were not driven by the same factors: functional composition was characterized by management, edaphic and climatic factors, whereas botanical composition was influenced mainly by climatic and edaphic factors plus other factors. Interactions between factors also have to be taken into consideration to predict botanical and functional composition of grasslands. Functional and botanical characteristics of vegetation help to predict ecosystem services delivered by grasslands and may be used in combination.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 150 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 219 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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