Richness of harvested grasslands explained
05/08/09
Richness of harvested grasslands explained
The BBC and other news outlets are reporting on an experiment by Andrew Hector and colleagues, as published in Science.
Readers of this blog may already be tired by my stressing what is common knowledge amongst vegetation scientists, yet under-appreciated by most others involved with land management and biofuels: Harvesting grasslands tends to increase native biodiversity, and fertilization tends to decrease it.
The experiment in question examines why. In particular, it reveals that shading by productive overstory plants is directly responsible for reducing the diversity.
The experiment (using supplemental lighting) is clever and well-implemented. The results, I think most vegetation scientists would agree, are completely unsurprising. I find it quite refreshing to see results completely in line with expectation - it means that we are right!
Now the hard part. We need to find a way to convince those outside of the discipline that such basic, well-understood natural forces can be harnessed to produce biofuels systems that simultaneously promote biodiversity and produce fuel.
--Mike Palmer
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The Wildfuels Alternative
This blog is devoted to the promotion, development, and understanding of Wildfuels and Low-Input, High-Diversity systems for biofuels. Frequently used acronyms: HILD - High-Input, Low-Diversity systems. These include corn (maize) as well as improved switchgrass, hybrid poplar, miscanthus, rapeseed, and many others. HILD systems require high energy and agrichemical inputs. LIHD - Low-Input, High-Diversity systems. This term was coined by the ecologist David Tilman and coauthors. These include natural and seminatural grasslands, restored prairie, spontaneous succession, and other grasslands. LIHD systems require few, if any, agrichemical inputs. This list is moderated by Michael W. Palmer, Vegetation Scientist, Department of Botany, Oklahoma State University. email: mike.palmer@okstate.edu
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