Little effect of species richness and vegetation composition on herbage production and quality in a permanent temperate grassland

摘要

Phytodivcrsity of grasslands has been shown to support production and other ecosystem services (e.g. Wcigcl et al. 2009, Tilman et al. 2012). However, in many of these studies, species richness was controlled by sowing and weeding and it was questionable to what extent the findings would also be applicable to permanent 'real world' grasslands where the species number is dependent on site and management conditions. In addition there is uncertainty about the effect of diversity on the herbage value forruminants (Wrage et al. 2011). In a new approach to biodiversity experiments, we combined experimental and observational measures and modified the vegetation of a permanent grassland by the use of herbicides (Petersen et al. 2012). We measured herbage production and quality over two full harvest years.