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BIOEVO-Evolusjonsbiologi og økologi

The effect of sheep grazing on alpine plant communities, species and populations: what is the importance of plant life histories?

Tildelt: kr 1,8 mill.

Grazing is an important factor for plant dynamics, but it has proved difficult to generalise about grazing impact, partly because of a lack of a good mechanistic framework linking the grazing impacts on certain life stages to the dynamics of the populatio ns. A functional classification of species has been central in order to understand and predict vegetation response-to the effect of grazing, but few studies have explored the importance of plant functional traits for plant dynamics in alpine/arctic habita ts. We will study relationships between sheep grazing and plant life history on three different levels. 1) Plant community dynamics and sheep grazing: Can changes in plant community structure be related to specific life history traits within the resistanc e-tolerance mechanistic scheme? 2) Dynamics of herbivore selected herb species in different grazing regimes: Do sets of plant traits covary to an extent that general strategies can be identified that explain plant response (tolerance or lack of tolerance) to grazing? 3) Grazing and plant population dynamics: How do species with contrasting life histories (10w stature versus tall competitive) respond in their population structure and expression of plant tolerance traits at different grazing levels?

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BIOEVO-Evolusjonsbiologi og økologi

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