The effects of different management interventions on degraded rangelands in Iceland
Abstract Loss of vegetation and soil erosion are symptoms of widespread rangeland degradation across most of the Icelandic highlands. Areas at different stages of degradation coexist as a mosaic that includes both vegetated heathlands, and exposed gravelly deserts. Revegetation efforts have included...
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crwiley:10.1002/ldr.4057 2023-10-29T02:37:25+01:00 The effects of different management interventions on degraded rangelands in Iceland Mulloy, Tara A. Barrio, Isabel C. Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg S. Hik, David S. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ldr.4057 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ldr.4057 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ldr.4057 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Land Degradation & Development volume 32, issue 16, page 4583-4594 ISSN 1085-3278 1099-145X Soil Science General Environmental Science Development Environmental Chemistry journal-article 2021 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.4057 2023-10-02T17:17:24Z Abstract Loss of vegetation and soil erosion are symptoms of widespread rangeland degradation across most of the Icelandic highlands. Areas at different stages of degradation coexist as a mosaic that includes both vegetated heathlands, and exposed gravelly deserts. Revegetation efforts have included fertilizer applications and grazing exclusion to increase plant biomass and reduce bare ground, but their effectiveness is predicted to differ depending on the stage of degradation for a certain area. In this study, we used a 4‐year field experiment to test the predictions of a state‐and‐transition model for the Icelandic highlands. We measured the combined effects of grazing exclusion and factorial applications of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) fertilizers, on plant biomass, species richness, amount of exposed bare ground and plant community composition in a dwarf‐shrub heathland and a gravelly desert habitat. After 4 years: (1) grazing exclusion alone had no effect in either habitat; (2) fertilizers increased biomass in both habitats, especially in plots treated with NP or NK; (3) the combination of fertilizers and grazing exclusion produced the greatest amount of aboveground biomass, predominantly of forb and graminoid species. In the dwarf‐shrub heath, the increase in biomass in fertilized and fenced plots also corresponded to a loss in species richness, whereas in the gravelly desert, increased biomass reduced the amount of bare ground without reducing species richness. Our results reinforce the importance in understanding the effects of different management interventions across ecological conditions to determine the most effective revegetation approach. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) Land Degradation & Development |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Soil Science General Environmental Science Development Environmental Chemistry |
spellingShingle |
Soil Science General Environmental Science Development Environmental Chemistry Mulloy, Tara A. Barrio, Isabel C. Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg S. Hik, David S. The effects of different management interventions on degraded rangelands in Iceland |
topic_facet |
Soil Science General Environmental Science Development Environmental Chemistry |
description |
Abstract Loss of vegetation and soil erosion are symptoms of widespread rangeland degradation across most of the Icelandic highlands. Areas at different stages of degradation coexist as a mosaic that includes both vegetated heathlands, and exposed gravelly deserts. Revegetation efforts have included fertilizer applications and grazing exclusion to increase plant biomass and reduce bare ground, but their effectiveness is predicted to differ depending on the stage of degradation for a certain area. In this study, we used a 4‐year field experiment to test the predictions of a state‐and‐transition model for the Icelandic highlands. We measured the combined effects of grazing exclusion and factorial applications of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) fertilizers, on plant biomass, species richness, amount of exposed bare ground and plant community composition in a dwarf‐shrub heathland and a gravelly desert habitat. After 4 years: (1) grazing exclusion alone had no effect in either habitat; (2) fertilizers increased biomass in both habitats, especially in plots treated with NP or NK; (3) the combination of fertilizers and grazing exclusion produced the greatest amount of aboveground biomass, predominantly of forb and graminoid species. In the dwarf‐shrub heath, the increase in biomass in fertilized and fenced plots also corresponded to a loss in species richness, whereas in the gravelly desert, increased biomass reduced the amount of bare ground without reducing species richness. Our results reinforce the importance in understanding the effects of different management interventions across ecological conditions to determine the most effective revegetation approach. |
author2 |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mulloy, Tara A. Barrio, Isabel C. Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg S. Hik, David S. |
author_facet |
Mulloy, Tara A. Barrio, Isabel C. Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg S. Hik, David S. |
author_sort |
Mulloy, Tara A. |
title |
The effects of different management interventions on degraded rangelands in Iceland |
title_short |
The effects of different management interventions on degraded rangelands in Iceland |
title_full |
The effects of different management interventions on degraded rangelands in Iceland |
title_fullStr |
The effects of different management interventions on degraded rangelands in Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effects of different management interventions on degraded rangelands in Iceland |
title_sort |
effects of different management interventions on degraded rangelands in iceland |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ldr.4057 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ldr.4057 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ldr.4057 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Land Degradation & Development volume 32, issue 16, page 4583-4594 ISSN 1085-3278 1099-145X |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.4057 |
container_title |
Land Degradation & Development |
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1781062126022950912 |