Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T18:02:49.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Germination and seedling establishment of two native and one invading African grass species in the Brazilian cerrado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Carlos Augusto Klink
Carlos Augusto Klink
Affiliation:
Harvard University Herbaria, 22 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Introduced either accidentally or purposefully for the creation of cultivated pastures, African grasses are becoming major invaders of ecological reserves and national parks of the Brazilian savannas, the cerrado. African grasses are particularly good colonizers of disturbed sites. Germination in the field and laboratory, and seedling establishment in the field were studied for the African species Andropogon gayanus Kunth var. bisquamulatus (Hochst.) Hack., and for the native species Echinolaena infltxa (Poiret) Chase and Schizachyrium tenerum Nees. The African species had a higher and faster germination rate than the two native species, but its seedling mortality was higher. The main cause of seedling mortality in the field was herbivory by ants. It is suggested that the invasion of cerrado by African grasses depends on the kind of management being practised.

Keywords

biological invasionBrazilcerradogerminationgrassesseedling establishment
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 1996 , pp. 139 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Adámoli, J., Macêdo, J., Azevedo, L. G. & Netto, J. M. 1986. Caracterização da região dos cerrados. Pp. 33–74 in Goedert, W. J. (ed.). Solos dos Cerrados. EMBRAPA and Nobel Press, Sāo Paulo.Google Scholar
Andrade, R. P. & Thomas, D. 1982. Pesquisas em avaliação de pastagens e produção de sementes de forrageiras no Centro de Pesquisa Agropecuária dos Cerrados. EMBRAPA/CPAC, Brasília (DF), Brazil. Boletim de Pesquisa No. 11.Google Scholar
Baruch, Z. 1986. Comparative ecophysiology of native and introduced grasses in a neotropical savanna. Pp. 449–450 in Joss, P. J., Lynch, P. W. & Williams, O. B. (eds). Rangelands: a resource under siege. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Baruch, Z., Ludlow, M. M. & Davis, R. 1985. Photosynthetic responses of native and introduced C4 grasses from Venezuelan savannas. Oecologia 67:388–393.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bazzaz, F. A. 1986. Life history of colonizing plants: some demographic, genetic, and physiological features. Pp. 96–110 in Mooney, H. & Drake, M. (eds). Ecology of biological invasions of North America and Hawaii. Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bilbao, B. & Medina, E. 1990. Nitrogen-use efficiency for growth in a cultivated African grass and a native South American pasture grass. Journal of Biogeography 17:421–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, W. D. & Renvoize, S. A. 1982. Graminae. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.Google Scholar
Eberhardt, L. L. & Thomas, J. M. 1991. Designing environmental field studies. Ecological Monographs 61:53–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felippe, G. M., Silva, J. C. S. & Cardoso, V. J. M. 1983. Germination studies in Andropogon gayanus Kunth. Revista Brasileira de Botânica 6:41–48.Google Scholar
Fowler, N. L. 1986. Microsite requirement for germination and establishment of three grass species. American Midland Naturalist 115:131–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frasier, G. W., Cox, J. R. & Woolhiser, D. A. 1985. Emergence and survival response of seven grasses for six wet-dry sequences. Journal of Range Management 38:372–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frasier, G. W., Cox, J. R. & Woolhiser, D. A. 1987. Wet-dry cycle effects on warm-season grass seedling establishment. Journal of Range Mangement 40:2–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goedert, W. J. 1983. Management of the cerrado soils of Brazil: a review. Journal of Soil Science 34:405–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grubb, P. J. 1977. The maintenance of species-richness in plant communities: the importance of the regeneration niche. Biological Reviews 52:107–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klink, C. A. & Joly, C. A. 1989. Identification and distribution of C3 and C4 grasses in open and shaded habitats in Sāo Paulo State, Brazil. Biotropica 21:30–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klink, C. A., Moreira, A. G. & Solbrig, O. T. 1993. Ecological impact of agricultural development in the Brazilian Cerrados. Pp. 259–282 in Young, M. & Solbrig, O. T. (eds). The world's savannas. Economic driving forces, ecological constraints and policy options for sustainable land use. MAB Series Volume 12. Parthenon Publishing, London.Google Scholar
Labouriau, L. G. 1966. Revisão da situação da ecologia vegetal nos Cerrados. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 38(Suplemento):5–58.Google Scholar
Mejia, M. 1984. Andropogon gayanus Kunth: Bibliografia analítica. Centra Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), Cali, Colombia.Google Scholar
Mott, J. J. 1978. Dormancy and germination in five native grass species from savannah woodland communities of the Northern Territory. Australian Journal of Botany 26:621–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, J. J. 1972. Spread of African pasture grasses to the American tropics. Journal of Range Management 25:12–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renvoize, S. A. 1984. The grasses of Bahia. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.Google Scholar
Resck, D. V. S. 1981. Parâmetros conservacionistas dos solos sob vegetação de Cerrado. EMBRAPA/CPAC, Brasília (DF), Brazil. Circular Ténica No. 6.Google Scholar
Silva, J. C. S. & Rocha Filho, G. A. 1991. Fisiologia da germinaçāo de espécies dos Cerrados com potential forrageiro. Pp. 33–36 in EMBRAPA/CPAC (ed.). Relalório ténico anual do Centra de Pesquisa Agropecuária dos Cerrados, 1985/1987. EMBRAPA, Brasília.Google Scholar
Silva, J. F. & Ataroff, M. 1985. Phenology, seed crop and germination of coexisting grass species from a tropical savanna in Western Venezuela. Acta Oecologica, Oecologia Plantarum 6:41–51.Google Scholar
Sokal, R. R. & Rohlf, F. J. 1981. Biometry. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. & Andrade, R. P. 1984. Desempenho agronômico de cinco gramíneas tropicais sob pastejo na região dos Cerrados. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira 19:1047–1051.Google Scholar
Veenendaal, E. M. & Ernst, W. H. O. 1991. Dormancy patterns in accessions of caryopses from savanna grass species in South Eastern Botswana. Acta Botanica Neerlandica 40:297–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar