Figure 1

Summary of the results from Firn et al. (2010) on how grazing exclusion and grazing manipulation can alter the abundance of a dominant invasive plant species and small-scale richness of the subsequent plant community. a) Dominant invasive alien plant (IAP) has low palatability and a high growth rate, and the plant community shows low species diversity. b) If grazing is excluded from the site (and not replaced by another disturbance regime), the abundance of the IAP will increase in the short to mid-term and species diversity remains low. c) If grazing is excluded or grazing continued and the dominant invasive plant species killed and/or removed, there is a high probability that a secondary IAP will become dominant. If successful the abundance of the IAP may be low, but species diversity also remains low. d) If grazing is continued but a change is made to the grazing regime, either through direct manipulation of the intensity, frequency and timing of grazing or through indirect manipulation where additional strategies are used to manipulate the palatability of the dominant IAP such as nutrient addition or prescribed burns, then the plant community can be gradually shifted towards a more diverse native species composition.