The authors observe that buffel grass in Australia alters the fire regime by increasing horizontal fuel continuity and thus increase in frequency and extent of the fire. (2004) identify methods by which new plant forms introduced to an existing vegetation stand through invasion can alter the extrinsic fuel properties of the stand. ciliaris populations, and the ecological result is a conversion of native desert scrub communities to an African-type savannah with reduced native biological diversity (McCormick et al. It burns readily (even when green) and recovers quickly after fire. Buffel grass changes plant communities by encouraging and carrying wildfires through communities that are not adapted to fire. The liability is that the crossing of plants with good traits is not a one-step process since the use of the sexual clone is indispensable.\"īuffel grass alters fire regimes. It is an asset in that once we find a plant with good agronomic characteristics we can save the seed from it and it always breeds true, producing a very uniform variety.
The apomixis trait is both an asset and a liability.
ciliare ( Cenchrus ciliaris) varieties reproduce by apomixis, where the embryo of the seed develops from an unreduced vegetative (somatic) cell in the ovule of the female and receives no genetic material from the male (Bashaw and Hanna 1990), resulting in plants that are identical to their maternal origin, or in other words, varietal clones. It can also reproduce vegetatively, via rhizome or stolon sprouts.\" Ocumpaugh and Rodriguez (UNDATED) elaborate on the apomixis method of reproduction stating that, \"All P.
ciliaris can produce seed either sexually or by apomixis (asexual reproduction without fertilization or meiosis) (Van Devender et al. ciliare ( Cenchrus ciliaris) is bisexual (having both male and female flowers), with bisexual spikelets and hermaphrodite florets. Buffel grass has a robust root system its swollen stem base accumulates carbohydrate reserves, so the loss of leaf surface area after a fire or drought is not fatal to the plant and allows regrowth in favourable conditions. It burns readily and recovers quickly after fire. It changes plant communities by encouraging and carrying wildfires through communities that are not adapted to fire. It is widely distributed and is resilient to a number of harsh environmental conditions. In Australia, the south-western United States and Mexico (where it has been introduced as a pasture grass and for erosion control) Buffel grass often forms extensive dense monocultures excluding native species and promoting intense and frequent fires.
Buffel grass's dominance and resistance to fire, drought and heavy grazing on arid soils make it a suitable arid zone pasture grass. The characteristics of buffel grass which make it suitable for erosion control are rapid germination, high propogation and establishment rates on poor and infertile soils. Buffel grass has been widely introduced in the dry tropics and subtropics as a pasture grass, for erosion control and revegetation of arid areas. It is also known by its basionym Cenchrus ciliaris. Cenchrus ciliaris ( Pennisetum ciliare), commonly known as buffel grass, is a perennial bunchgrass that forms thick mats.
0 kommentar(er)
