Shariff et al. examined the impact of moderate and heavy grazing on above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP), growing season root productivity (GSRP), and plant nitrogen in the grasslands of North Dakota over 2 years. The moderate grazing treatment resulted in higher ANPP, GSRP, and above-ground N uptake than did either the ungrazed treatment or high intensity treatment. However, the ten years of no grazing before the study and the recovery of plants from the 1988 drought may have influenced these findings. Standing dead biomass and litter were higher in the ungrazed treatment. GSRP was higher under moderate treatment than under ungrazed and high intensity grazing treatments. The authors note that this may have been the result of their sampling design since most of the root production in ungrazed plants tends to occur in the fall when they did not sample.
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