Here is an interesting photo. This is a malva (Malva neglecta) from my Greek tortoise pen. Malva is a common weed here, and is well adapted to browsing pressure. Nearly all the herbivores that feed on malva are large and the plant is adapted to grow downward and make smaller leaves after being browsed upon. The more repeated the browsing, the more intense the affect gets.
I live in the Central Valley of California, a huge farming area, and these plants are also adapted to flail mowers in the orchards. Like herbivore browsing, the response is to grow low and downward, while making smaller "less expensive" leaves.
These plants have no ability to handle upward browsing. In my pen, the tortoises eat in the opposite direction from what the plant is adapted to deal with. The plant can't discern where the browsing is coming from, just how to respond.
In consequence, this plant looks like an african savannah tree! It constantly is trying to grow downward with the tiniest of leaves, which are promptly nipped off by this non-native invader!
This plant is the same species, but it gets routinely "walked down" and stripped of it's leaves. The tortoise climbs it from the stem, weighting it down to the ground, then eats all the leaves off. Does anyone else's tortoises do that? Mine seem to be little monkeys sometimes with where they dare to climb!
The pen after a summers overgrazing.
Some of the culprits.
I live in the Central Valley of California, a huge farming area, and these plants are also adapted to flail mowers in the orchards. Like herbivore browsing, the response is to grow low and downward, while making smaller "less expensive" leaves.
These plants have no ability to handle upward browsing. In my pen, the tortoises eat in the opposite direction from what the plant is adapted to deal with. The plant can't discern where the browsing is coming from, just how to respond.
In consequence, this plant looks like an african savannah tree! It constantly is trying to grow downward with the tiniest of leaves, which are promptly nipped off by this non-native invader!
This plant is the same species, but it gets routinely "walked down" and stripped of it's leaves. The tortoise climbs it from the stem, weighting it down to the ground, then eats all the leaves off. Does anyone else's tortoises do that? Mine seem to be little monkeys sometimes with where they dare to climb!
The pen after a summers overgrazing.
Some of the culprits.
