Latest news with #grasslands
BBC News
11-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Cows move to Hetton-le-Hole's Elemore Park to aid biodiversity
Cows are set to move into a park to help increase the biodiversity of some of its Hereford cows will be placed in a fenced off area at Elemore Country Park in Hetton-le-Hole, south of Sunderland, next animals, which will be brought in from a farm, will live in the park for six months, Durham Wildlife Trust official Anne Gladwin said."Over the last year we've been putting in fencing, putting in troughs for grazing… and so this is the next step," she explained. She said the trust, along with Sunderland City Council, had been trying to figure out the best way to manage the habitat of the park which was converted from a former golf course at an old colliery in are adept at grazing tough, faster growing vegetation, said Ms Gladwin."You want to graze down the standing vegetation to allow the slower growing, more sensitive plants to grow," she said."Also, with their hooves and the way they kind of tear up the grass, they actually create bare patches in the soil... so that seeds in the soil can germinate." This leads to a mix in the vegetation which would otherwise not occur as grasslands can easily become dominated by one particular species, she said. Such variety can support a wider range of public will still be able to walk through the part of the park where the cows live, but Ms Gladwin advised people to keep their dogs on on the outcome of the trial, more cows could be introduced to the park in future. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
16-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Birds listen in on prairie dog calls to stay safe
If we told you that some birds listen in on the calls of prairie dogs, you might think they should keep their beaks what if we told you that they are doing it to stay safe?Prairie dogs, which are rodents and are closely related to squirrels, bark to let each other know if there are predators have found that these calls are being picked up and used by long-billed curlews too. Prairie dogs are hunted by a long list of predators from birds of prey to foxes and even large curlews are vulnerable to some of these predators too. Research, which was published in the journal Animal Behaviour, found the birds listen to the sounds of the rodents to find out if predators are on the gives them more time to react to the nearby danger. Long-billed curlews nest their eggs in short grass on the ground, and when they hear the prairie dog call, they get as low as possible and try to camouflage part of the research, a team made a fake predator, in the form of a stuffed badger on a remote controlled was then driven towards nests in Montana in the US, sometimes while playing the calls of prairie dogs, sometimes in silence. When the birds could hear the fake barks from the remote-controlled badger, theyducked down into the grass to hide when it was more than three times the distance away, compared to when no barks were played.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Imported flower escalating $5 billion threat in Australia: 'Massive problems'
Invasive species experts are sounding the alarm over a nasty weed continuing to sting the Australian economy, that outcompetes native vegetation, is extremely difficult to remove and is even still being sold at nurseries. The South African native flower gazania has proven far more adaptable than once believed, emerging as a serious invasive threat to Australia's native grasslands and grain-growing regions, a recent La Trobe University study has found. Dr Ali Bajwa's Weed Science group at La Trobe Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food (LISAF) collected thousands of seeds from environments across the country and studied how they grew under various conditions. He spoke to Yahoo News and said that what makes the gazania problem particularly urgent is the fact it has very few weaknesses. Invasive plants like gazania are already a major burden on Australian agriculture, contributing to over $5 billion in losses each year. Although popular as a drought-tolerant ornamental plant, gazania is highly invasive and thrives in disturbed soils and coastal habitats, where it spreads quickly by seeds. This aggressive growth allows it to outcompete native groundcovers and wildflowers, leading to a loss of native plant diversity. The dense mats it forms also alter soil composition and prevent the regeneration of indigenous species. Additionally, it provides limited habitat or food value for native insects and animals, further disrupting local ecosystems. Gazania, also known as treasure flowers, has now spread extensively across South Australia and parts of Western Australia, and it can be found colonising everything from coastal dunes and creek banks to wastelands, open grasslands, roadsides, and even cultivated and irrigated farmland. "We know they are quite widespread, but what we wanted to understand was if there are certain climatic conditions or soil types that are more favourable to gazanias compared to others," Bajwa said. Bunnings under fire for selling $5.50 item considered 'massive problem' Alarm sounded over toxic plant assisting in $4.3 billion issue Aussies told to hunt for invasive threat 'lurking' in gardens "And what we found is it has quite flexible germination potential across different temperatures, soil types, moisture gradients, and there aren't many limiting factors, unfortunately, in terms of its early establishment and germination. "One of the things we noticed was that if you bury them beyond a certain depth, they can't emerge from those deeper soil layers. Other than that, unfortunately, there aren't many weaknesses to exploit." Although gazania has long been recognised as an environmental weed, it has recently begun to invade grain cropping zones in South Australia's lower rainfall areas. Farmers are now struggling to manage its spread, as standard herbicides are proving largely ineffective. Initially introduced to Australia in the 1950s and '70s as a decorative garden plant, two varieties of gazania made their way here through discarded garden waste, including lawn clippings, seeds, and other plant material, enabling them to establish along roadsides and to take over native ecosystems. In regions with sandy, marginal soils, gazania infestations are rendering the land unproductive. Its hardy, drought-tolerant nature allows it to outcompete young crops, leading to widespread agricultural losses. "They've now started jumping the fence and getting into those really high-value conservation areas, but also into grain production systems, where they're causing massive problems and yield losses — and revenue losses in terms of the money spent to manage them," Bajwa said. "Restricting the sale and also declaring them a weed of some importance would go a long way — because then it all of a sudden raises more awareness among the public, and also gives weed management authorities a bit more focus to manage this. "We have a lot of other invasive species, and resources are quite limited, so further legislation on restricting their sale, propagation and planting would help. But we also need funding to do some of the research — the sort of work we're doing — to actually get ahead of the invasion curve and try to figure out what the potential management strategies could be. Bajwa encouraged the public to be aware of its dangers and the negative impacts the species can have. "Further planting, propagation and dispersal should also be discouraged," he said. The study, led by PhD student Muhammad Adnan from Dr Bajwa's Weed Science group at the La Trobe Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food (LISAF) and the Department of Ecological, Plant and Animal Sciences, was published in Frontiers in Agronomy. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Fast Company
05-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Solar panels help grasslands grow better during a drought, research shows
Grasses growing in the shade of a solar array were only a little less productive than those growing nearby in open grassland during years of average and above-average rainfall—but in a dry year, the shaded plants grew much better than those growing in full sun. That's the result of a four-year study we conducted in a semi-arid grassland of northern Colorado. When choosing a location for generating solar power, consistent sunlight and interconnection to the electric grid are key criteria. In Colorado, the combination of new electrical transmission infrastructure, abundant sunlight, and short vegetation that is easy to maintain have made grasslands a prime target for solar development. Grasslands, like those that dominate the eastern plains of Colorado, provide important habitat for wildlife and serve as a critical food source for livestock. Although these grasslands have long been productive despite their normally arid environment, a warmer climate has increased the potential for more frequent and severe drought. For instance, a recent global study found that previous research likely underestimated the threat of extreme drought in grasslands. At Colorado State University, biology professor Alan Knapp and I started the ecovoltaics research group to study the effects of solar development in grasslands. Our primary goal is to ensure an ecologically informed solar energy future. Solar panels create microclimates Strings of solar panels redirect rain to the edge of panels. Because of this, small rain events can provide biologically relevant amounts of water instead of evaporating quickly. Simultaneously, solar panels shade plants growing beneath them. Some arrays, including the ones used in our study, move the panels to follow the path of the sun across the sky. This results in a combination of sun and shade that is very different from the uninterrupted sunlight beating down on plants in a grassland without solar panels. In turn, patterns of plant stress and water loss also differ in grasses under solar arrays. How grasses respond to a solar panel canopy To get a handle on how these different conditions affect grasses, we measured plant physiological response during the early stages of our study. More specifically, we tracked leaf carbon and water exchange throughout daylight hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., over 16 weeks in summer 2022 at Jack's Solar Garden, a solar array over grassland in Longmont, Colorado. In general, plants that are adapted to full sun conditions, including most grasses, might not be expected to grow as well in partial shade. But we suspected that growth benefits from reduced water stress could outweigh potential reductions in growth from shading. We call this the ' aridity mitigation potential ' hypothesis. Sure enough, we found evidence of aridity mitigation across multiple years, with the most pronounced effect during the driest year. When water is scarce, increases in grassland productivity are more valuable because there isn't as much around. Therefore, increasing grassland production in dry years could provide more available food for grazing animals and help offset some of the economic harm of drought in rangelands. Informing sustainable solar development in grasslands So far, our research has been limited to a grassland dominated by a cool-season grass: smooth brome. Although it is a perennial commonly planted for hay, fields dominated by smooth bromegrass lack the diversity of life found in native grasslands. Future work in native shortgrass prairies would provide new information about how solar panels affect plant water use, soils, and grazing management in an ecosystem with 30% less precipitation than Jack's Solar Garden. We're beginning that work now at the shortgrass ecovoltaic research facility near Nunn, Colorado. This facility, which will be fully operational later in 2025, was constructed with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the wider SCAPES project.
The Guardian
29-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Country diary: Common milkwort looks light enough to take flight
I glimpse a lilac in the green. A hushed colour that suits the early hour. This common milkwort amid the grass is delicate and slight. The flower has an unusual structure, with an outer set of green sepals and an inner set of wing-like purple ones enclosing the tubular fused petals. The effect is intricate and poised, as if the bloom has landed for a moment in the grass but is equally capable of taking flight. Still holding the morning's dew, it is ephemeral, light. The blooms can also be found in blue, pink or white – leading to another of the plant's names, 'four sisters', for the four possible colours – but here it is a pale purple accent in the green. A number of its other common names reveal a past use in Christian processions – 'rogation flower,' 'cross flower', 'Christ's herb'. Then it was picked for garlands, but today it is better left where it is. While locally frequent and widespread in grasslands, particularly those with chalky soils, and in terrains including cliffs and rock outcrops, verges and alkaline-to-neutral fens, this 'common' milkwort has become rarer as agricultural intensification has reduced and degraded its habitats. As the sun strengthens, the complexion of the grass changes and a spill of yellow dominates. The flowers of the silverweed beam gold up through frosted leaves. Scattered buttercups glow in all directions, while the sunlight coaxes the grass itself into a more fiery palette. There is a temptation to look away, drawn by the brighter shades, yet the milkwort maintains its own attraction. The wing-like inner sepals act as flags, advertising the flower to pollinators, while the front petal serves as a landing platform. It takes a degree of strength to open this flower to reach the pollen and nectar within, giving bees an advantage over other pollinators. While such detail may be missed from human height, the flower still draws, and rewards, the human eye. All too easy to walk past, this quiet treasure in the grass is a feat of daedal elegance. Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian's Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at and get a 15% discount
