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Canopy coverage of all vascular plant species were estimated in 20 circular 10 sq m plots for each of the topographic positions within each included watershed at Konza Prairie.
Canopy coverage of all vascular plant species were estimated in 20 circular 10 sq m plots for each of the topographic positions within each included watershed at Konza Prairie.
The effects of herbivores and their interactions with nutrient availability on primary production and plant community composition in grassland systems is expected to vary with herbivore type. Although nutrient additions are known to affect plant species diversity and primary productivity, the role of herbivores in mediating the strength of these effects also remains unclear. Herbivores may alter plant responses to nutrient additions in several ways.
Climate extremes, such as drought, are increasing in frequency and intensity, and the ecological consequences of these extreme events can be substantial and widespread. Yet, little is known about the factors that determine recovery (or resilience) of ecosystem function post-drought. Such knowledge is particularly important because post-drought recovery periods can be protracted depending on drought legacy effects (e.g., loss key plant populations, altered community structure and/or biogeochemical processes).
For more than a decade, we have compared responses of mesic (subhumid) savanna grasslands (>500 mm MAP in the tropics and >600 mm MAP outside the tropics) in North America and South Africa to alterations in both fire and grazing regimes. The long-term, comparative experiment that forms the centerpiece of this cross-continental research program is located in tallgrass prairie at the Konza Prairie Biological Station (Kansas, USA) and in knob-thorn marula savanna at the Kruger National Park (Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, South Africa).