Spatial and Temporal Abundance of Interacting Populations of White Clover and Grass Species as Assessed by Image Analyses

Anne Kjersti Bakken,Helge Bonesmo,Bård Pedersen

doi:10.1155/2015/620164

Anne Kjersti Bakken, Helge Bonesmo + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/620164

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Abstract

The dataset comprises detailed mappings of two communities of interacting populations of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) and grass species under differing experimental treatments over 4-5 years. Information from digital photographs acquired two times per season has been processed into gridded data and documents the temporal and spatial dynamics of the species that followed from a wide range of spatial configurations that arose during the study period. The data contribute a unique basis for validation and further development of previously published models for the dynamics and population oscillations in grass-white clover swards. They will be well suited for estimating parameters in spatially explicit versions of these models, like neighborhood based models that incorporate both the dispersal and the local nature of plant-plant interactions.

Highlights

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) is a clonal legume that is commonly grown in grasslands managed for grazing and forage production
The above theories suggest it is especially relevant to study the spatiotemporal dynamics of clover-grass systems under contrasting environmental conditions that differ with respect to nitrogen availability and disturbance regimes
The experiment was initiated in 2001 and undertaken at two sites in pastures/leys dominated by white clover and smooth meadow-grass

Summary

Introduction

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) is a clonal legume that is commonly grown in grasslands managed for grazing and forage production. Environmental and demographic stochasticity [10] affect dynamics of real ecological systems of interacting species Such stochastic noise may induce dynamic phenomena like oscillations, local extinctions, and spatial pattern formation, features that characterize dynamics of grass-clover systems [11, 12]. The above theories suggest it is especially relevant to study the spatiotemporal dynamics of clover-grass systems under contrasting environmental conditions that differ with respect to nitrogen availability and disturbance regimes. The management and treatments were chosen to develop environments that gave differing competitive advantages of grass and clover Both the spatial distribution and abundance of white clover and grass were recorded during four or five years by digital photography and image analyses. The results were further processed to gridded data appropriate as inputs to spatial statistical analyses as suggested by Pedersen et al [18] or simulation models for population dynamics in space and time

Methodology

Dataset Description

Findings

Concluding Remarks