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• GRAZING EFFECTS ON STANDING DEAD BIOMASS <br />Accumulations of dead and fallen litter may retard nutrient <br />cycling processes by immobilizing nutrients which may contribute to <br />a nitrogen-carbon imbalance within the system (DePuit and <br />Coenenberg 1980), which can prove detrimental to potential <br />vegetation regeneration (DeP~1it and Coenenberg 1978; Walter 1979; <br />Parkin et al. 1980; and Williamson 1981). <br />Kleinman and Layton (1981) and DePuit and Coenenberg (1980> <br />studied the effect of grazing as a manipulative tool to influence <br />plant community development on mined lands. Kleinman and Layton <br />(1981) reported an increase in vegetative production following two <br />years of grazing. DePuit and Coenenberg (1950) reported that after <br />three years of moderate to heavy grazing, litter accumulations <br />decreased significantly and production increased on the grazed <br />pasture. Both studies attributed this response to herbage removal <br />and trampling by cattle. A similar response was also reported by <br />Heitschmidt et al. (1987) in a study designed to address the effect <br />of grazing on quantity and quality of available forage and the <br />amount of ground litter. Standing dead biomass decreased following <br />one year of grazing under both continuous and rest rotational <br />grazing systems. <br /> <br />