![]() ![]() Under undisturbed conditions we would expect that the communities are more strongly connected with one another and their abiotic environment than under disturbed conditions 10, 11, 12. Visually and analytically, ecosystem coupling can be represented as a network in which individual species are substituted with multispecies communities (e.g., microbes, plants and nematodes). An approach to investigate the consequences of losing interactions between multispecies communities and their environment is to analyse the degree of ecosystem coupling 9, defined as the overall strength of correlation-based associations between above- and belowground plant, animal and microbial communities, and of these communities with their surrounding physicochemical environment 9. In fact, it has been proposed that ecological interactions may disappear well before species do 8. As species engage in numerous and often-hidden interactions with other species and their physicochemical environment 8, a loss of ecological interaction may have far-reaching consequences for the functioning of ecosystems. ![]() Rapid human-induced decline in global biodiversity across all trophic levels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 reduces the ability of ecosystems to maintain key ecosystem functions 2, 3, 7. Our results highlight the importance of invertebrate communities for maintaining ecological coupling and functioning in an increasingly defaunated world. Consumer-driven changes in ecosystem functionality are positively related to changes in ecosystem coupling. Exclusion of all vertebrates results in the greatest level of ecosystem coupling, while the additional loss of invertebrates leads to poorly coupled ecosystems. Here, we analysed how 5 years of progressive, size-selective exclusion of large, medium, and small vertebrates and invertebrates-a realistic scenario of human-induced defaunation-impacts the strength of relationships between above- and belowground communities and their abiotic environment (hereafter ecosystem coupling) and how this relates to ecosystem functionality in grasslands. The structural and functional consequences of such interaction losses are poorly understood and have rarely been tested in real-world systems. Rotational system of grazing practices for sustainable grassland and animal production realizing the highest net returns (Rs.Increasing evidence suggests that community-level responses to human-induced biodiversity loss start with a decrease of interactions among communities and between them and their abiotic environment. Nutritional evaluation of forages including antiquality factors under different forage production systemsĮnrichment/ improvement of poor quality roughagesĭevelopment of feeding strategies for different types of livestock in relation to available fodder & feed resourcesįeeding management of livestock for sustainable economic productionĭevelopment of feeding systems for organic livestock raisingĭevelopment of forage/ forage based feeding systems for medium yielding lactating cows/buffaloes to sustain milk yield upto 10 kg/dayįorage based feeding systems with low cost concentrates for high yielding dairy animals reducing around 20% in feed cost per kg of milk ![]() Keeping in view the projected demand and supply of feeds and fodders, scientists of this division are engaged in the multidisciplinary research programme related to evaluation of newly developed forage varieties both in laboratory as well as farm conditions with animals. The Plant Animal Relationship Division started operating in the year 1967 to carry out the research in forage evaluation, preservation and utilization for optimum and economical production in ruminants including the small ruminants for effective use of pasture/grasslands. ![]()
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