Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ms. Angelina Kanduvarisa
akanduvarisa@nust.na
Ecology 31 August 2021
Namibia University of Science and Technology
(RGE521S)
Assessments 2021
09 September Bites (cow feeding behavior presentation)
14 September Assignment (1) one due
21 September Test 1
30 September Start entering forage growth data
3 October Loading bus for excursion at 14h30 (some buying food earlier)
4‐8 October Farm Middelplaats excursion
14 October Test 2
19 October Take last measurements for seedlings sand tidy up Haydn house
26 October Power presentation on seedling trial
02 November Assignment 2 due (seedling trial report)
Date to be determined Quizzes and Discussions
Recap of our previous lecture
Importance of
Different rangeland
Rangelands and what Services provided by
terms (e.i palatable,
Rangeland Ecology is all Rangelands
toxic plants, orbs etc.)
about.
Difference between
Different plant types monocots & dicots Structure of a grass
and classifications _annuals vs perennial plant
species
Different structures of
rangelands(woodlands Maps
,forests and grasslands)
Discussion • Nick point, Gully & Ndongas,Erosion,Whoa boys,
“Botsosto”,capped soils and critical control points.
on the • Effects of barren soils, invasion of thorny bushes,
power of how do we improve and create healthy grasslands
for our cattle?
raindrops • How do we manage “raindrops”?
• What do you understand about how is “land cut
video up”?
• Understanding how gullies are formed
• Understanding animal hove activity on the soil2
• What is the correct way that water in the form of
raindrops should be distributed ?
1.4 Ecological classification of plants
Overgrazing
Namibia’s Top
Grasses
1. Anthephora
pubescens (wool
grass, borseltjiegras,)
2. Brachiaria nigropedata
(black‐footed brachiaria,
swartvoetjie).
3. Panicum
maximum
(guinea grass,
witbuffelgras)
• They prefer loamy, fertile soil and damp patches. In arid
southern Namibia and the Kaokoveld they only grow on
river banks and flood plains.
• They flourish in the omiramba and loamy soils of central
and northern Namibia.
• Extremely leafy and palatable, they produce masses of
good fodder during wet seasons but are not drought‐
tolerant.
• They contain plentiful protein and energy for rapid
growth (rainy season) and maintenance (dry season) of
livestock.
4.Urochloa
oligotricha (
beesgras)
Digitaria seriata
(sand finger‐
grass, sandveld
vingergras)
• is a creeping member of the finger‐grass
family Digitaria, which are all very palatable.
• The small tufts of Digitaria seriata produce
numerous long stolons with daughter plants
every 40 cm. It can cover bare ground in a
short time and is good at containing soil
erosion.
• It is a unique grass that is highly nutritious
despite growing on poor, leached soils but is
limited to sandy soils. Its protein and energy
content is sufficient to support livestock
growth in summer and maintenance in
winter.
Schmidtia
pappophoroides
(perennial sand
quick, meerjarige
sandkweek)
• is of intermediate palatability but very
tolerant of grazing.
• Its blue‐green, curly leaves and large
hairy seeds are distinctive.
• It is a very dominant generalist grass
where rainfall exceeds 200 mm/year.
• It forms huge colonies that exclude other
grasses, even killing small bushes by
intense inter‐species competition.
• It is the best foundation grass we have
for grazing livestock because it is more
tolerant of grazing than the grasses
discussed above and packed with energy,
highly digestible but with less protein
compared to other climax grasses.
Ecological classification of plants cont…
• Grasses in particular respond differently to overgrazing
• This classification is explained in Tainton’s book
• Increaser 2 species : Increaser 2 (a) Increase under slight overgrazing
• Increaser 2 (b) Increase under moderate
overgrazing
• Increaser 2 (c) Increase under heavy overgrazing
1.4 ECOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF
PLANTS
• Plants are classified into different ecological types based on their response to
overgrazed conditions
• Decreaser spp: predominate in good condition veld but their abundance
declines when veld conditions deterioration.
• ‐ climax grasses,palatable,mesophytes
• Increaser II spp:
• Increaser II(a) spp: increase in abundance under slight overgrazing
• Increaser II (b) spp: increase in abundance under moderate overgrazing
• Increaser II(c) increase in abudance under heavy overgrazing
• Grazing or browsing animals select the most palatable plants to feed on and may the only feed on
the most palatable parts of those plants.
• Usually, the most palatable plants or plant parts are those that are most easily digested,
containing less fiber, and the highest nutritive value, based often on nitrogen content (crude
protein).
• Grasses tend to be generalist feeders, taking in all mineral elements, whereas forbs tend to be
Grazing and specialist feeders that concentrate a particular element in their tissue.
browsing • Weeds often use their tap roots to bring up the element that is most limiting in the topsoil, as
nature’s way of rebalancing the minerals for the benefit of grasses.
patterns • Animals may select such weeds to feed on when they need that mineral, or they may seek the
medicinal property of a particular weed, such as when requiring a deworming herb.
• Generally, annual plants tend to be more palatable than perennial plants until the flowering
stage.
• Thereafter, perennial plants tend to be more palatable, and later in the dry season only perennial
plants survive.
• Repeated grazing of a perennial grass tends to keep it in a more nutritious leafy state, delaying
the onset of flowering.
New plants normally establish from seed.
1.5.
Establishment Usually there are enough seeds in rangelands,
and growth of but what they lack is the right conditions for
germination and establishment.
plants
Different types of plants rely on different
strategies to get their seeds into the soil.
Life cycle of a perennial
grass…
1.6
Influences
on the
growth
processes
of plant
1. Grazing
• Grazing : a certain amount of grazing will stimulate some grass to
grow better, provided it is followed by sufficient rest.
‐Trees and shrubs do this by shedding their leaves
‐Grasses that are not eaten become moribund
2. Rest
• When grasses re‐grow after being grazed, they first use food from their roots
to make new leaves.
• Therefore after grazing, perennial grasses need to rest in the growing
season, to build up reserves of food again.
• They do this by photosynthesizing, and sending the extra food, not needed
immediately for growth of leaves, down to the roots where it is stored.
• If they do not get enough rest from grazing, they continue drawing on their
food reserves and do not produce sufficient reserves through
photosynthesis, as their leaves are continuously being removed (this is
overgrazing).
• Annual grasses do not need a long rest as they set seed quickly and then die.
3. Establishment of seedlings
• Plants need to ensure that their seeds Grass seeds may in some cases
need to be trampled into the soil, as they are unable to get through
the soil.
• Animal impact may therefore be helpful in order to: push the seeds
into the soil, break the soil cap to allow sufficient water to infiltrate
to allow germination, and to allow the seedling to push through the
now softened soil surface.
• However this implies that a period of trampling is followed by a
period of rest.
4. Trampling on the soil
Trampling cont…..
• 1. Sandy soil may be harmed by trampling in the dry season, because
the looseness of the soil allows grasses to be uprooted. However
sandy soils usually benefit from trampling during parts of the rainy
season.
• 2. Loamy soils on the other hand can be harmed by trampling during
the rainy season, as they can easily be compacted when wet.
However loamy soils usually benefit from some trampling during the
dry
• Fire that burns at the end of the
dry season removes dead grass
material and thus stimulates more
vigorous growth in perennial
grasses.
• Fire may therefore be a helpful
process when there is an
abundance of moribund grass, if
there are insufficient animals to
trample the grass down, or if there
is also an abundance of young
bush saplings that threaten to
encroach onto the rangeland.
• However, under most other
conditions fire causes more harm
than good. This is largely because
fire destroys the mulch cover over
the soil.
• Fire also causes grass to break
dormancy, so if they fire occurs
too early, the grass will be forced
to expose its food and water
reserves to the grazing animals
and dryness. Fire does not cause
bushes to break dormancy. Rather
5. Fire they break dormancy in response
to lengthening of the daylight,
specific for each species.
6. AERATION
• Plants need oxygen, in particular in the roots where it is not
produced through photosynthesis.
• In waterlogged soils, this is not possible as all the potential airspace
is occupied by water. Besides increases in fungal and bacterial
infections, plants may actually die if there is insufficient oxygen in the
soil, or their growth will be drastically reduced.
• Exposed soils may get compacted and lead to poor aeration. Aeration
can be helped by roots of plants, insects and many other types of
small and micro‐organisms.