The influence of dung pats and molehills on pasture composition

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Abstract
The abundance and distribution of plant species, molehills, and dung pats were surveyed on eight occasions over 26 months in three adjacent pastures of different age. There were few features related to pasture age, but each pasture had a different disturbance regime. Dung deposition and molehill distribution usually fitted Poisson and negative binomial distributions, respectively. The abundance of some species responded to current disturbances, e.g., Trifolium repens, and others to disturbances in the previous season, e.g., Lolium perenne. Holcus lanatus abundance declined in areas of high disturbance, whereas Dactylis glomerata, Agropyron repens, and Taraxacum officinale abundance increased. The response patterns of these species are discussed in the context of season, year, pasture age, and type of disturbance. Key words: disturbance, dung, molehill, pastures.