Cows and rabbits change plant growth via the soil

How does grazing affect the soil? Find out in the Early View paper "Grazing-induced changes in plant–soil feedback alter plant biomass allocation" by Ciska van Veen and co-workers.

Cows and rabbits, feed on plants. With that they change plant growth directly, for example by removing leaves. In addition they may change an array of soil conditions, such as the amount of nutrients or root feeders in the soil. In this study we found that these changes in the soil from grazed grasslands influenced plant growth (photo 1).

Photo 1: greenhouse experiment where the researchers investigate the growth of different plant species in soils from grazed and ungrazed grasslands.

However, the impact of cows and rabbits on plant growth via changes in the soil, did not help us to understand the species composition of plants in the field (photo 2, on top). Thus, the direct influence of cows and rabbits on plant growth seems more important for plants in the field.

Comments