Management factors affecting densities of common grassland birds of high elevation grasslands of eastern South Africa:Ingula as a case study

Background: World?wide grassland birds are in decline due to habitat loss and degradation resulting from inten?sive agricultural practices. Understanding how key grassland habitat attributes determine grassland bird densities is required to make appropriate conservation decisions. We examine drivers of bird densities in a South African grass?land area that has been managed for biodiversity conservation with reduced grazing pressure.Methods: We estimated the density of the eight most common grassland bird species encountered in our area to evaluate the effects of recent grassland management changes on the avifauna. We collected data on birds and habitat from the austral summers of 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2010/2011. We used hierarchical distance sampling methods to estimate density of birds relative to two main habitat variables, i.e., grass cover and height. In addition, we used regression splines within these distance sampling models as a more flexible description of suitable ranges of grass height and cover for each species.Results: For most species, density is related to grass height and cover as expected. The African Quailfinch(Ortygospiza atricollis) and Common Quail(Coturnix coturnix) preferred relatively short and open grass. The Yellow?breasted Pipit(Anthus chloris), African Pipit(Anthus cinnamomeus) and Red?capped Lark(Calandrella cinerea) preferred short and relatively dense grass, while the Wing?snapping Cisticola(Cisticola ayresii) preferred grass of intermediate height and cover. The Cape Longclaw(Macronyx capensis) and Zitting Cisticola(Cisticola juncidis) preferred tall and dense grass. Our results agree with previous studies that grass height combined with grass cover are the most important habitat features that managers should manipulate in order to increase the density of target species. The regression splines show that the effect of these two habitat variables on density is well described by linear relationships for most species.Conclusions: This study supports previous studies suggesting that grazing and fire are important tools for manage?ment to use in order to create a mosaic of grass height and cover that would support high densities of desired spe?cies. We suggest that conservation managers of these grasslands combine fire and grazing as management tools to create suitable habitats for grassland birds in general.

Laboratory and numerical modelling of irrigation infiltration and nitrogen leaching in homogeneous soils

Nitrogen (N) plays a key role in crop growth and production;however,data are lacking especially regarding the interaction of biochar,grass cover,and irrigation on N leaching in saturated soil profiles.Eighteen soil columns with 20-cm diameter and 60-cm height were designed to characterize the effects of different grass cover and biochar combinations,i.e.,bare soil+0%biochar (control,CK),perennial ryegrass+0%biochar (C1),Festuca arundinacea+0%biochar (C2),perennial ryegrass+1%biochar (C3),perennial ryegrass+2%biochar (C4),perennial ryegrass+3%biochar (C5),F.arundinacea+1%biochar (C6),F.arundinacea+2% biochar (C7),and F.arundinacea+3%biochar (C8),on periodic irrigation infiltration and N leaching in homogeneous loess soils from July to December 2020.Leachates in CK were 10.2%–35.3%higher than those in C1 and C2.Both perennial ryegrass and F.arundinacea decreased the volumes of leachates and delayed the leaching process in the 1%,2%,and 3%biochar treatments,and the vertical leaching rate decreased with biochar addition.The N leaching losses were concentrated in the first few leaching tests,and both total N (TN) and nitrate (NO_(3)^(-))-N concentrations in CK and C1–C8 decreased with increasing leaching test times.Biochar addition (1%,2%,and 3%) could further reduce the leaching risk of NO_(3)^(-)-N and the NO_(3)^(-)-N loss decreased with biochar addition.However,compared to 1%biochar,2% biochar promoted the leaching of TN under both grass cover types.The N leaching losses in CK,C1,C2,C3,C4,C6,and C7 were primarily in the form of NO_(3)^(-)-N.Among these treatments,CK,C1,and C2had the highest cumulative leaching fractions NO_(3)^(-)-N (>90%),followed by those in C3,C4,C6,and C7 (>80%).The cumulative leaching fraction of NO_(3)^(-)-N decreased with increasing leaching test times and biochar addition,and 3%biochar addition (i.e.,C5 and C8) reduced it to approximately 50%.The one-dimensional advective-dispersive-reactive transport equation can be used as an effective numerical approach to simulate and predict NO_(3)^(-)-N leaching in saturated homogeneous soils.Understanding the effects of different biochar and grass combinations on N leaching can help us design environmentally friendly interventions to manage irrigated farming ecosystems and reduce N leaching into groundwater.

Effects of Different Covering Ways on Emergence Rate of Sophora japonica L.Afforested by Direct Seeding

In order to maintain higher emergence rate with direct seeding in Shandong rocky mountain, effects of different covering ways on emergence rate of Sophora japonica L. direct seeding were studied. The results showed that both mulching film and grass cover could effectively increase the moisture content of the soil at the depth of 0-30 cm, contributing to soil moisture conservation and the inhibition of soil evaporation, which created favorable moisture environment for the growth of S. japonica seeds. Both the emergence rate and the seedling height under mulching film had greater improvement and partly enhanced by 26.65% and 6.85 cm respectively, and mulching film also helped S. japonica seeds emerge and ensured the seedling growth. The emergence rate and the seedling height under grass cover had been also raised in some degree, but they were much worse than those under mulching film. The emergence rate and the seedling height under block cover were not significantly increased. So when sowing S. japonica seeds in the spring, mulching film is the best covering way.