Microhistological estimation of grass leaf blade percentages in pastures and diets

Herbivores select plant parts to maximize the quality of their diets. However, there are few procedures available to quantify the relative consumption of leaf blades. In this study, we initially identified epidermal features that were specific of the blade in 4 grasses: Kleingrass (Panicum coloratum...

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Autores principales: Sierra, P.V., Cid, M.S., Brizuela, M.A., Ferri, C.M.
Formato: JOUR
Lenguaje:English
Materias:
Bulliform cells
Kleingrass
Prickle hairs
Salt grass
Tall fescue
Tall wheatgrass
herbivore
leaf
pasture
Distichlis scoparia
Panicum coloratum
Poaceae
Schedonorus arundinaceus
Scoparia
Thinopyrum elongatum
Thinopyrum ponticum
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_15507424_v58_n2_p207_Sierra
Aporte de:
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
id todo:paper_15507424_v58_n2_p207_Sierra
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spelling todo:paper_15507424_v58_n2_p207_Sierra2023-10-03T16:23:29Z Microhistological estimation of grass leaf blade percentages in pastures and diets Sierra, P.V. Cid, M.S. Brizuela, M.A. Ferri, C.M. Bulliform cells Kleingrass Prickle hairs Salt grass Tall fescue Tall wheatgrass herbivore leaf pasture Distichlis scoparia Panicum coloratum Poaceae Schedonorus arundinaceus Scoparia Thinopyrum elongatum Thinopyrum ponticum Herbivores select plant parts to maximize the quality of their diets. However, there are few procedures available to quantify the relative consumption of leaf blades. In this study, we initially identified epidermal features that were specific of the blade in 4 grasses: Kleingrass (Panicum coloratum L.), tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum [Podp.] Barkw. & Dewey), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), and salt grass (Distichlis scoparia L.). Then, we quantified the percentage of fragments with the blade epidermal feature for each species, evaluating whether they varied with plant maturity. We also evaluated whether those percentages were affected by digestion to determine if the procedure we propose could be used in diet analysis. Finally, by linear regression, we analyzed whether the relationships between the actual blade dry mass percentages (y) and those estimated by microanalysis (x) were 1:1 in mixes of different plant parts of the individual species as well as in mixed vegetation samples. Digestion affected the percentage of identifiable blade fragments of each species; but, after correction by digestion, all the estimates were accurate (a = 0 and b = 1 in all the regression equations) and precise (r 2 > 0.90). Results indicate that epidermal features specific to blades would make it possible to estimate by microanalysis the percentage of this plant part for each species in vegetation samples from pastures composed of few species and also in the diets of herbivores grazing them. Although the proposed procedure was tested in simple systems, it could also be used to estimate the percentage of blades of the dominant species in the diets of herbivores grazing more complex systems. JOUR English info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_15507424_v58_n2_p207_Sierra
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
language English
orig_language_str_mv English
topic Bulliform cells
Kleingrass
Prickle hairs
Salt grass
Tall fescue
Tall wheatgrass
herbivore
leaf
pasture
Distichlis scoparia
Panicum coloratum
Poaceae
Schedonorus arundinaceus
Scoparia
Thinopyrum elongatum
Thinopyrum ponticum
spellingShingle Bulliform cells
Kleingrass
Prickle hairs
Salt grass
Tall fescue
Tall wheatgrass
herbivore
leaf
pasture
Distichlis scoparia
Panicum coloratum
Poaceae
Schedonorus arundinaceus
Scoparia
Thinopyrum elongatum
Thinopyrum ponticum
Sierra, P.V.
Cid, M.S.
Brizuela, M.A.
Ferri, C.M.
Microhistological estimation of grass leaf blade percentages in pastures and diets
topic_facet Bulliform cells
Kleingrass
Prickle hairs
Salt grass
Tall fescue
Tall wheatgrass
herbivore
leaf
pasture
Distichlis scoparia
Panicum coloratum
Poaceae
Schedonorus arundinaceus
Scoparia
Thinopyrum elongatum
Thinopyrum ponticum
description Herbivores select plant parts to maximize the quality of their diets. However, there are few procedures available to quantify the relative consumption of leaf blades. In this study, we initially identified epidermal features that were specific of the blade in 4 grasses: Kleingrass (Panicum coloratum L.), tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum [Podp.] Barkw. & Dewey), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), and salt grass (Distichlis scoparia L.). Then, we quantified the percentage of fragments with the blade epidermal feature for each species, evaluating whether they varied with plant maturity. We also evaluated whether those percentages were affected by digestion to determine if the procedure we propose could be used in diet analysis. Finally, by linear regression, we analyzed whether the relationships between the actual blade dry mass percentages (y) and those estimated by microanalysis (x) were 1:1 in mixes of different plant parts of the individual species as well as in mixed vegetation samples. Digestion affected the percentage of identifiable blade fragments of each species; but, after correction by digestion, all the estimates were accurate (a = 0 and b = 1 in all the regression equations) and precise (r 2 > 0.90). Results indicate that epidermal features specific to blades would make it possible to estimate by microanalysis the percentage of this plant part for each species in vegetation samples from pastures composed of few species and also in the diets of herbivores grazing them. Although the proposed procedure was tested in simple systems, it could also be used to estimate the percentage of blades of the dominant species in the diets of herbivores grazing more complex systems.
format JOUR
author Sierra, P.V.
Cid, M.S.
Brizuela, M.A.
Ferri, C.M.
author_facet Sierra, P.V.
Cid, M.S.
Brizuela, M.A.
Ferri, C.M.
author_sort Sierra, P.V.
title Microhistological estimation of grass leaf blade percentages in pastures and diets
title_short Microhistological estimation of grass leaf blade percentages in pastures and diets
title_full Microhistological estimation of grass leaf blade percentages in pastures and diets
title_fullStr Microhistological estimation of grass leaf blade percentages in pastures and diets
title_full_unstemmed Microhistological estimation of grass leaf blade percentages in pastures and diets
title_sort microhistological estimation of grass leaf blade percentages in pastures and diets
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_15507424_v58_n2_p207_Sierra
work_keys_str_mv AT sierrapv microhistologicalestimationofgrassleafbladepercentagesinpasturesanddiets
AT cidms microhistologicalestimationofgrassleafbladepercentagesinpasturesanddiets
AT brizuelama microhistologicalestimationofgrassleafbladepercentagesinpasturesanddiets
AT ferricm microhistologicalestimationofgrassleafbladepercentagesinpasturesanddiets
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