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Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-124)
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| Main Author: | |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Department of Biological Sciences
2014
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| _version_ | 1867613513891971072 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Masubelele, Mmoto Leonard |
| author2 | Bond, William J |
| author_browse | Bond, William J Masubelele, Mmoto Leonard |
| author_facet | Bond, William J Masubelele, Mmoto Leonard |
| author_sort | Masubelele, Mmoto Leonard |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-124) |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6132 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:37:21.172Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateRange | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | Department of Biological Sciences |
| publisherStr | Department of Biological Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6132 Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna Masubelele, Mmoto Leonard Bond, William J Stock, WD Botany Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-124) Tropical and subtropical grasslands ecologists have ignored decomposition, because of the important role it plays in nutrient cycling, in terms of understanding how grass litter gets to the soil during the dry season. The major flaw is in the methods employed to investigate decomposition. In the prairies and steppes, litterbag methods employed investigate decomposition when litter is on the soil, even though the importance of carryover from standing litter is recognized. Standing litter results in high carryover which slows down decomposition thereby hindering productivity in the next growing season. I therefore decided to investigate the processes of photodegradation and microbial decomposition, as well as carryover and also how these processes differ between mesic and semi-arid grasslands. Since previous studies suggest that tallgrass prairies experience more carryover and slower decomposition than shortgrass prairies, I therefore hypothesized in this thesis that mesic grasslands will experience carryover and slower decomposition than semi-arid grasslands. 2014-08-13T14:05:09Z 2014-08-13T14:05:09Z 2007 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6132 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Botany Masubelele, Mmoto Leonard Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna |
| title_full | Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna |
| title_fullStr | Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna |
| title_full_unstemmed | Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna |
| title_short | Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna |
| title_sort | decomposition of grasses in a south african savanna |
| topic | Botany |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6132 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT masubelelemmotoleonard decompositionofgrassesinasouthafricansavanna |