The place of C4 grasses in temperate pastures in Australia

Abstract This paper explores the potential role of summer‐active C4 grasses in temperate areas in Australia from an ecological perspective. The main functional differences between C3 and C4 plants are briefly outlined. Taken together, the characteristics and environmental requirements of introduced C3 perennial pasture cultivars lessen their natural competitive ability except in well‐watered and cool habitats. C4 plants are more competitive under conditions of high temperature and solar radiation. Within the C4 group, grasses belonging to the subfamily Panicoideae usually prefer humid, wet environments and generally decline in importance with increasing grazing pressure and increased soil nitrogen (N) levels. Genera of Eragrostoideae generally prefer hot, dry habitats; they increase in dominance with increased grazing pressure and N availability. These responses give the C4 group as a whole a wider adaptive range and at the community level provide versatility in responses to changed conditions such as gra...

[1]  P. Kramer,et al.  Responses of Plants to Environmental Stresses , 1973 .

[2]  John A. Taylor,et al.  General effects of management and grazing by domestic livestock on the rangelands of the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales. , 1976 .

[3]  D. Wheeler,et al.  Grasses of New South Wales , 1990 .

[4]  A. Lazenby,et al.  Nitrogen fertilizer responses and seasonal production of temperate and warm climate grasses on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales , 1974 .

[5]  K. Hutchinson.  The persistence of perennial species under intensive grazing in a cool temperate environment. , 1970 .

[6]  R. G. Smith,et al.  Seasonal trends and variability of soil moisture under temperate pasture on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales , 1975 .

[7]  P. Gillard.  THE EFFECT OF STOCKING RATE ON BOTANICAL COMPOSITION AND SOILS IN NATURAL GRASSLAND IN SOUTH AFRICA , 1969 .

[8]  R. L. Davidson.  THE INFLUENCE OF EDAPHIC FACTORS ON THE SPECIES COMPOSITION OF EARLY STAGES OF THE SUBSERE , 1962 .

[9]  A. Lenssen,et al.  Forage yield, quality, compatibility, and persistence of warm-season grass-legume mixtures , 1993 .

[10]  A. Lazenby,et al.  Effect of superphosphate, white clover and stocking rate on the productivity of natural pastures, Northern Tablelands, New South Wales , 1976 .

[11]  R. Groves.  Growth of Themeda australis tussock grassland at St. Albans, Victoria , 1965 .

[12]  J. Simpson,et al.  Effects of management on soil fertility under pasture. 1. Influence of experimental grazing and fertilizer systems on growth, composition and nutrient status of the pasture , 1974 .

[13]  K. Edwards,et al.  Agricultural climatology of the Upper Murrumbidgee River Valley, New South Wales , 1978 .

[14]  R. F. Parsons.  The Significance of Growth-Rate Comparisons for Plant Ecology , 1968, The American Naturalist.

[15]  D. Peake,et al.  Leaf water potentials of pasture plants in a semi-arid subtropical environment , 1975 .

[16]  F. Dunin,et al.  Evaporation from a Themeda Grassland. I. Controls Imposed on the Process in a Sub-Humid Environment , 1978 .

[17]  A. Lazenby,et al.  Grass-white clover relationships during pasture development. 2. Effect of nitrogen fertilizer with superphosphate , 1973 .

[18]  G. G. Robinson,et al.  Agronomic potential of native grass species on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales. II. Nutritive value , 1988 .

[19]  K. Winter.  C4 plants of high biomass in arid regions of asia-occurrence of C4 photosynthesis in Chenopodiaceae and Polygonaceae from the Middle East and USSR , 1981, Oecologia.

[20]  K. Mclachlan,et al.  The residual effect of phosphorus on soil fertility and pasture development on acid soils , 1951 .

[21]  T. Talsma,et al.  Soil water extraction by a mixed eucalypt forest during a drought period , 1986 .

[22]  J. Begg.  Annual pattern of soil moisture stress under sown and native pastures , 1959 .

[23]  P. Dowling,et al.  Management of natural pastures on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales - A Survey. , 1976 .

[24]  R. Tremont.  Life-History Attributes of Plants in Grazed and Ungrazed Grasslands on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales , 1994 .

[25]  C. Osmond,et al.  Functional Significance of Different Pathways of CO 2 Fixation in Photosynthesis , 1982 .

[26]  D. G. Boyer,et al.  Resistance to water loss from warm and cool-season forage canopies in a growth chamber , 1985 .

[27]  D. Hedges,et al.  Effects of fertilizer and grazing sheep on pasture heterogeneity in a small-scale grazing experiment , 1985 .

[28]  R. Moore.  Ecological effects of grazing on grasslands in south-eastern Australia. , 1965 .

[29]  C. Donald,et al.  The germination and establishment of two annual pasture grasses (Hordeum leporinum Link and Lolium rigidum Gaud.) , 1973 .

[30]  O. Bosch,et al.  Ecological status of species on grazing gradients on the shallow soils of the western grassland biome in South Africa. , 1987 .

[31]  R. Whalley,et al.  Relationship Between Diaspore Characteristics and Distribution of Grasses Around Sheep Camps on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales , 1989 .

[32]  G. Farquhar,et al.  Isotopic Composition of Plant Carbon Correlates With Water-Use Efficiency of Wheat Genotypes , 1984 .

[33]  G. Johns,et al.  Defoliation, leaf area index, and the water use of four temperate pasture species under irrigated and dryland conditions , 1973 .

[34]  C. Williams.  Soil acidification under clover pasture , 1980 .

[35]  Bruce N. Smith,et al.  THE KRANZ SYNDROME IN THE GRAMINEAE AS INDICATED BY CARBON ISOTOPIC RATIOS , 1973 .

[36]  P. Holland.  Seasonal growth of field layer plants in two stands of Mallee vegetation , 1968 .

[37]  P. Hattersley.  Characterization of C4 Type Leaf Anatomy in Grasses (Poaceae). Mesophyll: Bundle Sheath Area Ratios , 1984 .

[38]  P. Hattersley,et al.  C4 Grasses: an Anatomical Criterion for Distinguishing Between NADP-Malic Enzyme Species and PCK or NAD-Malic Enzyme Species , 1976 .

[39]  Dc Lewis,et al.  Accumulation of plant nutrients and changes in soil properties of sandy soils under fertilized pasture in southeastern South-Australia .II. Total sulfur and nitrogen, organic carbon and pH , 1987 .

[40]  M. Lazarides,et al.  C4 acid decarboxylation type in Eragrostis (Poaceae) patterns of variation in chloroplast position, ultrastructure and geographical distribution , 1986 .

[41]  J. K. Martin,et al.  phosphorus cycling in wheat-pasture rotations. III: Organic phosphorus turnover and phosphorus cycling , 1988 .

[42]  M. Sharma.  Soil water regimes and water extraction patterns under two semi‐arid shrub (Atriplex spp.) communities , 1976 .

[43]  Effects of pasture improvement with superphosphate on soil pH, nitrogen and carbon in a summer rainfall environment , 1991 .

[44]  K. Hoen.  The effect of plant size and developmental stage on summer survival of some perennial grasses , 1968 .

[45]  J. Vogel,et al.  Photosynthetic pathways and the geographical distribution of grasses in South West Africa/Namibia. , 1980 .

[46]  R. Story.  Pasture patterns and associated soil water in partially cleared woodland , 1967 .

[47]  R. Specht,et al.  Dark Island heath (Ninety-mile plain, South Australia). I. Definition of the ecosystem. III. The root nodules. , 1957 .

[48]  A. Lazenby,et al.  Grass-white clover relationships during pasture development. 1. Effect of superphosphate , 1973 .

[49]  M. Vesk,et al.  The structure of the cells of the mesophyll and parenchymatous bundle sheath of the Gramineae , 1973 .

[50]  R. Whalley,et al.  Seasonal variations in the herbage mass, crude protein and in-vitro digestibility of native perennial grasses on the north-west slopes of New South Wales. , 1983 .

[51]  A. Lazenby,et al.  Pasture Degeneration. I Effect on Total and Seasonal Pasture Production , 1978 .

[52]  J. Connell,et al.  Mechanisms of Succession in Natural Communities and Their Role in Community Stability and Organization , 1977, The American Naturalist.

[53]  P. Hattersley,et al.  Australian C4 Grasses (Poaceae) - Leaf Blade Anatomical Features in Relation to C-4 Acid Decarboxylation Types , 1987 .

[54]  G. Robinson.  Productivity and reponse to nitrogen fertilizer of the native grass Danthonia racemosa (Wallaby Grass). , 1976 .

[55]  C. Black.  Ecological Implications of dividing Plants into Groups with Distinct Photosynthetic Production Capacities , 1971 .

[56]  T. Hall.  Species associations in a grassland on a heavy cracking clay soil in north-west Queensland: their structure, soil associations and effects of flooding , 1982 .

[57]  W. J. Downton.  Adaptive and evolutionary aspects of C4 photosynthesis. , 1971 .

[58]  C. Moore.  The vegetation of the south-eastern Riverina, New South Wales. II. The disclimax communities , 1953 .

[59]  R. Moore.  Ecological Observations on Plant Communities Grazed by Sheep in Australia , 1959 .

[60]  Nitrogen response of seedlings of Aristida ramosa R.Br. and Danthonia DC. Spp , 1978 .

[61]  J. Langlands,et al.  The nutrition of ruminants grazing native and improved pastures. IV.* Long-term effects of the quantity of superphosphate applied on the nutritive value of the diet selected by sheep grazing a pasture originally sown to Phalaris aquatica and Trifolium repens , 1979 .

[62]  Rw Rogers.  Selection for grasses with different carbon assimilation pathways under different sheep stocking pressures , 1993 .

[63]  E. Wolfe,et al.  Plant productivity and persistence in mixed pastures containing lucerne at a range of densities with subterranean clover or phalaris , 1980 .

[64]  Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry , 1961, Nature.

[65]  O. B. Williams.  Phenology of species common to three semi- arid grasslands , 1971 .

[66]  R. Ellis,et al.  Southern African grasses with foliage that revives after dehydration , 1974 .

[67]  Kemp,et al.  Species distribution within improved pastures over central N.S.W. in relation to rainfall and altitude , 1991 .

[68]  G. Lodge.  Establishment of Warm- and Cool-Season Native Perennial Grasses on the North-West Slopes of New South Wales. Ii. Establishment and Seedling Survival in the Field , 1981 .

[69]  E. Carter,et al.  Interrelationships of stocking rate and superphosphate rate on pasture as determinants of animal production. I. Continuously grazed old pasture land , 1970 .

[70]  J. Mcwilliam,et al.  The nature of the perennial response in Mediterranean grasses. I. Water relations and summer survival in Phalaris , 1968 .

[71]  R. G. Smith,et al.  Importance of Soil Moisture and Temperature on the Growth of Improved Pasture on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales , 1976 .

[72]  A. Lazenby,et al.  Comparative responses of Lolium perenne and Bothriochloa macra to temperature, moisture, fertility and defoliation , 1976 .

[73]  Ea Roberts,et al.  The effects of phosphorus, sulphur and stocking rate on the yield, chemical and botanical composition of natural pastures, North-West Slopes, New South Wales , 1979 .

[74]  E. Biddiscombe.  A survey of the natural pastures of the Trangie District, New South Wales, with particular reference to the grazing factor. , 1953 .

[75]  K. H. Asay,et al.  Carbon Isotope Dicrimination: Potential in Screening Cool‐Season Grasses for Water‐Limited Environments , 1990 .

[76]  E. Biddiscombe,et al.  Summer dormancy, regeneration and persistence of perennial grasses in south-western Australia , 1977 .

[77]  H. Nicol,et al.  A survey of native grasses in the Goulburn District and factors influencing their abundance. , 1991 .

[78]  R. Specht.  Water Use by Perennial Evergreen Plant Communities in Australia and Papua New Guinea , 1972 .

[79]  R. W. Snaydon,et al.  Soil water content beneath summer-dormant and summer-active swards in a seasonally semi-arid environment , 1972 .

[80]  B. Hill.  Yields of perennial grasses growing in mixtures with annual species and the effect of perennials on total yields , 1985 .

[81]  J. Vogel,et al.  The geographical distribution of kranz grasses in south africa , 1978 .

[82]  R. Whalley,et al.  The manipulation of species composition of natural pastures by grazing management on the northern slopes of New South Wales. , 1985 .

[83]  A. Lazenby,et al.  Pasture degeneration. II.* The importance of superphosphate, nitrogen and grazing management , 1978 .

[84]  Kemp,et al.  Water stress affects the productivity, growth components, competitiveness and water relations of phalaris and white clover growing in a mixed pasture , 1992 .

[85]  R. Brown,et al.  Biochemical Basis for Plant Competition , 1969, Weed Science.

[86]  H. Brownlee.  Effects of four grazing management systems on the production and persistence of dryland lucerne in central western New South Wales , 1973 .

[87]  Dc Lewis,et al.  Accumulation of plant nutrients and changes in soil properties of sandy soils under fertilized pasture in southeastern South-Australia .I. Phosphorus , 1987 .

[88]  J. R. Simpson.  Mineral nitrogen fluctuations in soils under improved pasture in Southern New South Wales , 1962 .

[89]  Sward growth of monocultures and binary mixtures of phalaris, lucerne, white clover and subterranean clover under two defoliation regimes , 1991 .