Markó, Gábor and Ónodi, Gábor and Kertész, Miklós and Altbäcker, Vilmos (2011) Rabbit grazing as the major source of intercanopy heterogeneity in a juniper shrubland. ARID LAND RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT, 25 (2). pp. 176-193. ISSN 1532-4982
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Abstract
Semi-arid shrublands are prone to wildfires especially if there are no firebreaks separating shrubs to reduce the spread of fire. The accumulated grass vegetation is a potential combustion source which also contributes to the spread of wildfires. We present a field study conducted in a semi-arid community, where the fire risk is high and the grass density surrounding the Juniperus communis shrubs is highly varied. We tested simultaneously the relative significance of the main factors contributing to plant cover around shrubs: allelopathy, shading, and herbivory. Grass cover was compared around junipers which were either currently occupied by rabbits or were unoccupied. We visually estimated plant cover and measured the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Both sides of the shrubs were sampled at various distances to see if allelopathy and/or shading reduced grass density. The allelopathy effect was also tested by lettuce bioassay. We found that the vegetation was open only around occupied junipers and that the effect of occupation decreased by distance from the shrub. The spatial distribution of plant cover showed that, although we could detect significant allelopathic effect of juniper by bioassay, neither the shading nor the allelopathy were as important as herbivory. We also compared the rabbit diet composition with plant availability for each occupied patch and found that the consumed species were under represented due to selective grazing. Our findings indicate that local herbivore activity could affect the spatial heterogeneity of combustible material, therefore, moderate rabbit grazing can be considered as a management tool to reduce the spread of fire.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | allelopathy; fire; grassland; herbivore; Juniperus communis; NDVI; semi-arid environment; shading Megjegyzés-22041863 Megjegyzés-21546892 : FN Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge Megjegyzés-26244411 allelopathy; fire; grassland; herbivore; Juniperus communis; NDVI; semi-arid environment; shading Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány P. stny. 1/C, Budapest H-1117, Hungary Institute of Ecology and Botany, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary Cited By :3 Export Date: 6 January 2020 CODEN: ALRMC Correspondence Address: Markó, G.; Department of Ethology, Eötvö s Loránd University, Pázmány P. stny. 1/C, Budapest H-1117, Hungary; email: magvacska@hotmail.com Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány P. stny. 1/C, Budapest H-1117, Hungary Institute of Ecology and Botany, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary Cited By :3 Export Date: 24 November 2020 CODEN: ALRMC Correspondence Address: Markó, G.; Department of Ethology, Eötvö s Loránd University, Pázmány P. stny. 1/C, Budapest H-1117, Hungary; email: magvacska@hotmail.com |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | allelopathy, fire, grassland, herbivore, Juniperus communis, NDVI, semi-arid environment, shading |
| Subjects: | Q Science / természettudomány > Q1 Science (General) / természettudomány általában S Agriculture / mezőgazdaság > S1 Agriculture (General) / mezőgazdaság általában |
| SWORD Depositor: | MTMT SWORD |
| Depositing User: | MTMT SWORD |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Sep 2026 09:00 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Sep 2026 09:00 |
| URI: | https://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/247112 |
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