Open AccessSOIL AND GRASSLAND: IF GRASS NEEDS SOIL, DOES SOIL NEED GRASS?
Author(s) -
Hywel Gibbs
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
proceedings of the new zealand grassland association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1179-4577
pISSN - 0369-3902
DOI - 10.33584/jnzg.1981.42.1576
Subject(s) - grassland , shrubland , agroforestry , environmental science , agronomy , soil fertility , soil water , geography , ecology , soil science , ecosystem , biology
THIS subject sets a problem of where to begin. As a soil scientist, my choice would be soil and that choice fits into the evolutionary history of the earth which shows soil occurring under forests and existing for millions of years before grasses. It is not known if soil changes assisted the birth of grasslands or followed their expansion, but we do know that soil and grassland now form a natural partnership over parts of the earth. In New Zealand that partnership has been extensively forced on soils formed under forest or shrublands and my purpose is to review the effects - the benefits or otherwise of this compulsory marriage. In doing so, I would admit that grasses have a higher status than soil. They have been described as "the benediction of nature" whereas soil does not inspire such poetry - perhaps the best being "Soil is mud moistened with love".