RESEARCH ARTICLE Coupling of spatial and temporal pattern of cattle excreta patches on a low intensity pasture Karl Auerswald Æ Franziska Mayer Æ Hans Schnyder Received: 23 May 2009 / Accepted: 10 September 2009 / Published online: 22 September 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract Excreta deposition redistributes, separates and concentrates nutrients and thus affects sward heterogeneity and environment. Concentration occurs within excrement patches, but also at a larger scale when excreta are not randomly deposited. Thus, detecting excrement patterns and their underlying rules is essential to understand nutrient heterogeneity within a pasture. Two urine and six dung-patch distributions from six grazing periods were mapped on a 0.6 ha rotationally grazed cattle pasture. Excreta density was determined by creating Thiessen poly- gons. The Thiessen method was preferred to previ- ously used predefined grids, because the resulting pattern is not obscured by the layout and resolution of such a grid. GIS, geostatistical simulation and geostatistical analysis were then applied to detect patterns. All urine and dung distributions had a similar dominant pattern with only small ( \ 5%) random variation. Excreta density increased with distance to the fence, decreasing slope gradient and towards the crest. The pattern evolved preferably during night at preferred resting areas when the animals rarely moved while urination and defecation were still served. Feed-back mechanisms attenuated some of the nocturnal pattern because resting places with high excrement density were avoided during grazing despite their high productivity. Validation with data from two independent studies showed that excrement patterns are common and governed by similar principles where site conditions are similar. Excrement pattern may be enhanced or attenuated by deliberate adjustment of pasture properties relative to terrain properties and the placement of installations such as fences. Placing watering or feeding stations close to preferred resting places and fences at a large distance to them will increase heterogeneity while night shedding would reduce it. Keywords Autocorrelation Á Diurnal pattern Á Geostatistics Á Nutrient cycle Á Productivity Á Spatial pattern Á Thiessen area Á Anisotropic semivariogram Introduction Large herbivores are an integral part of grassland systems. Removal of nutrients by grazing and return by excretion lead to a cycling of nutrients, which in turn influences the structure and functioning of grassland systems (Haynes and Williams 1993). Nutrients are concentrated within the excreta patches and redistributed within the pasture. Redistribution will create a pattern, if some sites receive nutrients K. Auerswald (&) Á H. Schnyder Lehrstuhl fu ¨r Gru ¨nlandlehre , Technische Universita ¨t Mu ¨nchen, Am Hochanger 1, 85350 Freising, Germany e-mail: auerswald@wzw.tum.de F. Mayer Institut fu ¨r Agraro ¨kologie, Landesanstalt fu ¨r Landwirtschaft, Lange Point 12, 85350 Freising, Germany 123 Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 88:275–288 DOI 10.1007/s10705-009-9321-4