Title | The role of grass tussocks in maintaining soil condition in northeast Australia |
Publication Type | Conference Proceedings |
Year of Publication | 2005 |
Authors | Northup B.K., Brown JR |
Conference Name | XXth International Grasslands Congress |
Pagination | 71 |
Date Published | July 2005 |
Publisher | Wageningen Academic Publishers |
Conference Location | Oxford, England |
ARIS Log Number | 183376 |
Keywords | Australia, grazing, heterogeneously, nutrients, tussocks |
Abstract | Soils of the grazing lands of northeastern Australia are inherently nutrient-poor. Heterogeneously distributed plants are important to the conservation of the limited amounts of nutrients, through storage in plant tissues or in soil sinks close to plants. Loss of perennial vegetation through disturbance reduces conservation of these resources, to the detriment of feedback mechanisms, and ultimately causes loss of soil condition. Large areas of north east Australia have been degraded, or threatened by degradation, through combinations of variability in precipitation and heavy grazing. This study examined the inter-related responses of plants, soil microbes and soil nutrients to management-related disturbance. |
URL | /files/bibliography/05-047Proc.pdf |