Tussock

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Tussock in New Zealand

With Tussock a tuft of grass, one is in English-speaking Horst grass or grass called that grows in a narrowly defined area and longer and thicker than other grasses. The native grassland can also be meant.

Tussock grass , in English called tussock grass or simply tussock , is known under this name mainly in Australia and New Zealand . In North America , the grass that grows in clusters is called bunch grass (German: Horstgras ).

Tussock grows all over the world, especially in grasslands , savannas and prairies , but also in wetlands , floodplain and river estuaries . The grasses are robust, can grow on poor and dry soils and have adapted well to the most varied of climatic conditions worldwide. There are species that are winter-proof and occur in montane and alpine zones or grow in tundras . Other species get by with extremely little water and thrive in dunes and wasteland . Some varieties have now also established themselves as garden plants.

Due to intensive grazing and farming, tussock grasslands are already considered threatened in some countries , as grazing irreversibly damages the plants and other plants that can withstand grazing better can settle there more quickly.

Origin of name

The origin of the term tussock is not entirely clear. It is believed that tussock developed from the Scottish Gaelic word ' dosag ' or in the 16th century from the dialect ' tusk ' for the English ' tuft ' ( Horst (botany) or tuft). The use of the word is first documented in 1607.

A word relationship to the Middle High German word 'zūsach' (thicket, scrub) (between 1540 and 1550) can be assumed.

Tussock landscapes

Tussock on farmland

Tussock grasses are particularly found in short-grass steppes in which the tufts of grass are distributed and cover less than 50% of the soil surface. The grasses reach a height of 20 to 40 cm there. The steppes are usually dry, the grass hardy. Longer tussock grasses, which can be found in more humid areas or in alpine regions, can sometimes grow up to 1.5 m high.

Australia

In Australia , vast grasslands with tussock extend over a total area of ​​525,888 km 2 and thus cover 6.8% of the area of ​​Australia. More than half of these landscapes are in Queensland . Since around 6% of the original tussock grassland has been lost since Australia was settled , an area of ​​15,795 km 2 has already been placed under protection.

The most famous tussock grasses on the Australian continent include: Astrebla , also known as Mitchell Grass in Australia , Austrodanthonia , Austrostipa , Dicanthium , Eragrostis , Poa , Themeda , Sorghum , Heteropogon , Ophiuros , Oryza , Eragrostis and Spinifex .

In lowlands, grasslands with Austrodanthonia, Austrostipa, Lomandra , Themeda triandra and Poa are widespread and in subalpine and alpine landscapes predominantly Poa.

New Zealand

Tussock grass landscape on State Highway 94 between Mossburn and The Key , New Zealand

When New Zealand was settled by Polynesian immigrants between 1250 and 1300, they burned down large parts of New Zealand's forests. The areas freed up in this way became grassland. By the time European settlers reached New Zealand, 31% of the land was grassland.

Today in New Zealand tussock grasslands are preferred in the plains and mountainous landscapes of the South Island, but also in volcanic areas of the North Island. In the less rainy areas east of the New Zealand Alps , the grasses grow up to the high alpine regions. While mainly short grasses grow up to the montane heights of around 400  m , mixed short and long species can be found in the lower alpine regions up to around 900  m and above that up to 1200  m preferably longer grasses, hardy varieties in so-called pillow fields even up to up in regions at 1600  m . The regions of Marlborough , South Canterbury and Central Otago are particularly known for their extensive tussock grasslands .

Grasslands with short tussock varieties are dominated by festuca and poa . Are spread them Festuca novae-zelandiae even hard tussock called, and Poa caespitosa than Silver Tussock and Poa colensoi as Blue Tussock known. Chionochloa rubra , called Red Tussock , occurs in large plains on the North Island that have been devastated by volcanic activity. On the South Island, however, the Red Tussock grows in the rain-poor areas of the Southland region . While Chionochloa pallens and Chionochloa flavescens are preferred in the mountain ranges of the North Island, Chionochloa rigida and Festuca matthewsii dominate the higher regions of the South Island as Snow Tussock .

Tussock and various plant species near Keetmanshoop in Namibia

Africa

In the various countries of Africa, tussock grass landscapes are mainly found in montane, subalpine and high alpine mountain regions. In some countries, such as Ethiopia , Kenya , Tanzania , Uganda , Rwanda , the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon , tussock landscapes are part of national parks or other protected landscapes. Even so, some of them are endangered by fire, grazing, hunting, tourism and settlement.

South America

In the northern Andes of Ecuador , Venezuela , Colombia and northern Peru , the tussock grasses of the Festuca , Calamagrostis and Stipa families are common. In the central Andes of southern Peru, in the west of Bolivia , in the north of Chile and in the north-west of Argentina , the long-growing Cortaderia and Deyeuxia predominate. Festuca, poa and calamagrostis can also be found. In the pampas along the Río de la Plata (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay), tussock grasses, unlike varieties that grow in higher regions, cover almost the entire grassland floor. The grasses of the Stipa, Piptochaetium , Paspalum and Bothriochloa families are predominant here .

Tussock in emblems

The coat of arms of the Falkland Islands shows a sheep standing on tussock grass, symbolizing sheep farming as the most important economic base of the Falkland Islands .

See also

literature

  • Grasslands . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed December 14, 2015]).
  • Jürgen Schulz: Handbook of the eco-zones . Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8252-8200-7 .
  • Compendium of Regional Templates on the Status of Temperate Grasslands Conservation and Protection . In: IUCN and WCPA (eds.): Live in a Working Landscape . Appendix 2 . Vancouver August 2008 (English, online PDF 4.8 MB [accessed on May 17, 2015] ... created for a workshop in June 2008 in Hohhot, China).

Web links

  • Grasslands . Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand,accessed May 16, 2015.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HW Orsmann, Nelson Wattie : The Reed pock Dictionary of New Zealand English . Reed Publishing , Auckland 2003, ISBN 0-7900-0930-7 , pp.  560 (English).
  2. ^ Collins Cobuild English Dictionary . HarperCollins Publishers , London 1995, ISBN 0-00-370941-8 , pp.  1802 (English).
  3. ↑ Plants of the World . Dorling Kindersley , Starnberg 2006, ISBN 3-8310-0922-8 , Chapter: Grasses and Bamboos, p.  260–279 (English: Plant . London 2004. Translated by Rheinhard Ferstl, Angelika Feilhauer, Hedda Pänke).
  4. ↑ tussock . Wiktionary , accessed May 15, 2015 .
  5. ↑ tussock . Merriam Webster , accessed May 15, 2015 .
  6. ↑ tussock . Dictionary.com , accessed May 15, 2015 (based on Random House Dictionary ).
  7. ^ Schulz: Handbook of the eco-zones . 2000, p. 286 .
  8. ↑ a b Grasslands . Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand , accessed May 16, 2015 .
  9. ^ MVG 19 — Tussock Grasslands . (PDF 225 kB) Australian Government - Department of Environment , accessed on May 16, 2015 (English).
  10. ^ Compendium of Regional Templates on the Status of Temperate Grasslands Conservation and Protection . 2008, p.  108 .
  11. ^ Allen F. Mark, Barbara IP Barratt, Emily Weeks : Ecosystem Services in New Zealand's Indigenous Tussock Grasslands: Conditions and Trends . Ed .: Landcare Research . Lincoln 2013 (English, online PDF 10.8 MB [accessed on May 16, 2015]).
  12. ^ Grasslands . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed December 14, 2015]).
  13. ^ Compendium of Regional Templates on the Status of Temperate Grasslands Conservation and Protection . 2008, p.  13-16 .
  14. ^ Compendium of Regional Templates on the Status of Temperate Grasslands Conservation and Protection . 2008, p.  140 .
  15. ^ Compendium of Regional Templates on the Status of Temperate Grasslands Conservation and Protection . 2008, p.  149 .
  16. ^ Compendium of Regional Templates on the Status of Temperate Grasslands Conservation and Protection . 2008, p.  160 .
  17. ^ Yossi Dotan : Falkland Islands . T-1 coat-of-arms . In: Watercraft on World Coins . Volume II - America and Asia, 1800-2008 . Sussex Academic Press , Eastbourne 2010, ISBN 978-1-898595-50-2 , pp.  170 (English).