Land market feedbacks can undermine biodiversity conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Armsworth, Paul R; Daily, Gretchen C; Kareiva, Peter; Sanchirico, James N

2006-04-04

The full or partial purchase of land has become a cornerstone of efforts to conserve biodiversity in countries with strong private property rights. Methods used to target areas for acquisition typically ignore land market dynamics. We show how conservation purchases affect land prices and generate feedbacks that can undermine conservation goals, either by displacing development toward biologically valuable areas or by accelerating its pace. The impact of these market feedbacks on the effectiveness of conservation depends on the ecological value of land outside nature reserves. Traditional, noneconomic approaches to site prioritization should perform adequately in places where land outside reserves supports little biodiversity. However, these approaches will perform poorly in locations where the countryside surrounding reserves is important for species' persistence. Conservation investments can sometimes even be counterproductive, condemning more species than they save. Conservation is most likely to be compromised in the absence of accurate information on species distributions, which provides a strong argument for improving inventories of biodiversity. Accounting for land market dynamics in conservation planning is crucial for making smart investment decisions.

Reframing the land-sparing/land-sharing debate for biodiversity conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kremen, Claire

2015-10-01

Conservation biologists are devoting an increasing amount of energy to debating whether land sparing (high-yielding agriculture on a small land footprint) or land sharing (low-yielding, wildlife-friendly agriculture on a larger land footprint) will promote better outcomes for local and global biodiversity. In turn, concerns are mounting about how to feed the world, given increasing demands for food. In this review, I evaluate the land-sparing/land-sharing framework--does the framework stimulate research and policy that can reconcile agricultural land use with biodiversity conservation, or is a revised framing needed? I review (1) the ecological evidence in favor of sparing versus sharing; (2) the evidence from land-use change studies that assesses whether a relationship exists between agricultural intensification and land sparing; and (3) how that relationship may be affected by socioeconomic and political factors. To address the trade-off between biodiversity conservation and food production, I then ask which forms of agricultural intensification can best feed the world now and in the future. On the basis of my review, I suggest that the dichotomy of the land-sparing/land-sharing framework limits the realm of future possibilities to two, largely undesirable, options for conservation. Both large, protected regions and favorable surrounding matrices are needed to promote biodiversity conservation; they work synergistically and are not mutually exclusive. A "both-and" framing of large protected areas surrounded by a wildlife-friendly matrix suggests different research priorities from the "either-or" framing of sparing versus sharing. Furthermore, wildlife-friendly farming methods such as agroecology may be best adapted to provide food for the world's hungry people. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

The importance of agricultural lands for Himalayan birds in winter.

Science.gov (United States)

Elsen, Paul R; Kalyanaraman, Ramnarayan; Ramesh, Krishnamurthy; Wilcove, David S

2017-04-01

The impacts of land-use change on biodiversity in the Himalayas are poorly known, notwithstanding widespread deforestation and agricultural intensification in this highly biodiverse region. Although intact primary forests harbor many Himalayan birds during breeding, a large number of bird species use agricultural lands during winter. We assessed how Himalayan bird species richness, abundance, and composition during winter are affected by forest loss stemming from agriculture and grazing. Bird surveys along 12 elevational transects within primary forest, low-intensity agriculture, mixed subsistence agriculture, and intensively grazed pastures in winter revealed that bird species richness and abundance were greatest in low-intensity and mixed agriculture, intermediate in grazed pastures, and lowest in primary forest at both local and landscape scales; over twice as many species and individuals were recorded in low-intensity agriculture than in primary forest. Bird communities in primary forests were distinct from those in all other land-use classes, but only 4 species were unique to primary forests. Low-, medium-, and high-intensity agriculture harbored 32 unique species. Of the species observed in primary forest, 80% had equal or greater abundance in low-intensity agricultural lands, underscoring the value of these lands in retaining diverse community assemblages at high densities in winter. Among disturbed landscapes, bird species richness and abundance declined as land-use intensity increased, especially in high-intensity pastures. Our results suggest that agricultural landscapes are important for most Himalayan bird species in winter. But agricultural intensification-especially increased grazing-will likely result in biodiversity losses. Given that forest reserves alone may inadequately conserve Himalayan birds in winter, comprehensive conservation strategies in the region must go beyond protecting intact primary forests and ensure that low-intensity agricultural

Woodlands Grazing Issues in Mediterranean Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Campos, P.

2009-04-01

In Mediterranean basin, woodlands grazing still continue to be important commercial owners' benefits. These owners manage woodlands vegetations as if they were not at risk of degradation and declining. Frequently, no temporally grazing set-aside is taken into account to avoid overgrazing of annual and perennial vegetations. Although less common, in the northern shore of Mediterranean basin undergrazing might increase the frequency and the number of catastrophic forest fires. This under/over grazing regime occurs in the Mediterranean basin woodlands with contrasted differences on land property rights, local economies and government livestock policy incentives. Spain and Tunisia are examples of these Mediterranean livestock contrasts. Most of Spanish Mediterranean woodlands and livestock herds are large private ownerships and owners could maintain their lands and livestock herds properties on the basis of moderate cash-income compensation against land revaluation and exclusive amenity self-consumption. The later is less tangible benefit and it could include family land legacy, nature enjoyment, country stile of life development, social status and so on. In public woodlands, social and environmental goals -as they are cultural heritage, biodiversity loss mitigation, soil conservation and employment- could maintain market unprofitable woodlands operations. Last three decades Spanish Mediterranean woodlands owners have increased the livestock herds incentivized by government subsidies. As result, grazing rent is pending on the level of European Union and Spanish government livestock subsidies. In this context, Spanish Mediterranean woodlands maintain a high extensive livestock stoking population, which economy could be called fragile and environmentally unsustainable because forest degradation and over/under grazing practices. Tunisian Mediterranean woodlands are state properties and livestock grazing is practice as a free private regimen. Livestock herds are small herd

Nature conservation and grazing management. Free-ranging cattle as a driving force for cyclic vegetation seccession

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bokdam, J.

2003-01-01

Key-words : biodiversity, herbivory, wilderness, non-linear dynamics, mosaic cycling, grassland, wood encroachment, forest, Bos taurus , Calluna vulgaris , Deschampsia flexuosa.This thesis examines the suitability of controlled and wilderness grazing as conservation management tool for open,

Using Poaching Levels and Elephant Distribution to Assess the Conservation Efficacy of Private, Communal and Government Land in Northern Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Ihwagi, Festus W; Wang, Tiejun; Wittemyer, George; Skidmore, Andrew K; Toxopeus, Albertus G; Ngene, Shadrack; King, Juliet; Worden, Jeffrey; Omondi, Patrick; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain

2015-01-01

Efforts to curb elephant poaching have focused on reducing demand, confiscating ivory and boosting security patrols in elephant range. Where land is under multiple uses and ownership, determining the local poaching dynamics is important for identifying successful conservation models. Using 2,403 verified elephant, Loxodonta africana, mortality records collected from 2002 to 2012 and the results of aerial total counts of elephants conducted in 2002, 2008 and 2012 for the Laikipia-Samburu ecosystem of northern Kenya, we sought to determine the influence of land ownership and use on diurnal elephant distribution and on poaching levels. We show that the annual proportions of illegally killed (i.e., poached) elephants increased over the 11 years of the study, peaking at 70% of all recorded deaths in 2012. The type of land use was more strongly related to levels of poaching than was the type of ownership. Private ranches, comprising only 13% of land area, hosted almost half of the elephant population and had significantly lower levels of poaching than other land use types except for the officially designated national reserves (covering only 1.6% of elephant range in the ecosystem). Communal grazing lands hosted significantly fewer elephants than expected, but community areas set aside for wildlife demonstrated significantly higher numbers of elephants and lower illegal killing levels relative to non-designated community lands. While private lands had lower illegal killing levels than community conservancies, the success of the latter relative to other community-held lands shows the importance of this model of land use for conservation. This work highlights the relationship between illegal killing and various land ownership and use models, which can help focus anti-poaching activities.

Using the Q10 model to simulate E. coli survival in cowpats on grazing lands

Science.gov (United States)

Microbiological quality of surface waters can be affected by microbial load in runoff from grazing lands. This effect, with other factors, depends on the survival of microorganisms in animal waste deposited on pastures. Since temperature is a leading environmental parameter affec...

7 CFR 760.305 - Eligible grazing losses.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Eligible grazing losses. 760.305 Section 760.305... grazing losses. (a) A grazing loss due to drought is eligible for LFP only if the grazing loss for the... period for the specific type of grazing land or pastureland for the county.) (b) A grazing loss is not...

Revealing livestock effects on bunchgrass vegetation with Landsat ETM+ data across a grazing season

Science.gov (United States)

Jansen, Vincent S.

Remote sensing provides monitoring solutions for more informed grazing management. To investigate the ability to detect the effects of cattle grazing on bunchgrass vegetation with Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data, we conducted a study on the Zumwalt Prairie in northeastern Oregon across a gradient of grazing intensities. Biophysical vegetation data was collected on vertical structure, biomass, and cover at three different time periods during the grazing season: June, August, and October 2012. To relate these measures to the remotely sensed Landsat ETM+ data, Pearson's correlations and multiple regression models were computed. Using the best models, predicted vegetation metrics were then mapped across the study area. Results indicated that models using common vegetation indices had the ability to discern different levels of grazing across the study area. Results can be distributed to land managers to help guide grassland conservation by improving monitoring of bunchgrass vegetation for sustainable livestock management.

Balancing housing growth and land conservation: Conservation development preserves private lands near protected areas

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda H. Mockrin; Sarah E. Reed; Liba Pejchar; Jessica Salo

2017-01-01

Housing development has emerged as a primary driver of land-use change around the world. In the United States, there is particular concern about low-density residential development on rural lands, which often occurs in places with abundant natural amenities. Conservation development (CD), housing development that incorporates protected open space, has emerged as a tool...

State Conservation Lands; StaCons11

Data.gov (United States)

University of Rhode Island Geospatial Extension Program — Approximate edges of Conservation Lands protected by the State of Rhode Island through Fee Title Ownership, Conservation Easement, or Deed Restriction. Includes:...

Integrating Science and Land Management for the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) in Southwestern Rangelands

Science.gov (United States)

Goodrich, D. C.; Heilman, P.; Nearing, M.; Speath, K.; Hernandez, M.; Wei, H.; Holifield-Collins, C.; Kautz, M.; Nichols, M.; Barlow, J.; Guertin, P.; Burns, S.; Stone, J. J.; Weltz, M.; Metz, L.; Norfleet, L.; Duriancik, L.; Johnson, M.

2013-12-01

Farm Bill legislation enacted by Congress in 2002 directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assess of the benefits and efficacy of conservation practices provided by a variety of USDA programs. Benefits include improved agricultural production, reduction of erosion and associated nutrient losses, improved water quality, improved soil resilience, and improved habitat among others. To conduct the assessment, the USDA initiated CEAP or the Conservation Effects Assessment Project in 2003, which included a national assessment complemented by small watershed studies. The national assessment started in eastern and midwestern cultivated croplands and has now progressed to western rangelands. This presentation will discuss the challenges of assessing the effects of rangeland conservation practices in a period of unusually hot and dry climatic conditions in the Cienega Creek Watershed (CCW) located southeast of Tucson, Arizona. As is common in the western U.S., the CCW consists of a patchwork of private and public lands in the west with much of the public lands leased for grazing cattle. The watershed also has high recreational value and provides many ecosystem services, including wildlife habitat qualities and flood protection to Tucson. A combination of monitoring, modeling, and remote sensing was utilized in the assessment. Conservation spending in the watershed ramped up in 1997. However, the 16-year period from 1997-2012 contains almost half of the 23 driest seasons (lowest 20 percentile) from the 117-year observed precipitation record. Initial results indicate that Landsat remotely sensed images can be effectively used to estimate both green and senescent canopy cover. This enabled detection of the impacts of drought and changes in canopy cover from practices such as prescribed fire and mechanical brush removal. Cienega Creek Watershed - Land Ownership

25 CFR 166.307 - Will the grazing capacity be increased if I graze adjacent trust or non-trust rangelands not...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... § 166.307 Will the grazing capacity be increased if I graze adjacent trust or non-trust rangelands not... trust or non-trust rangeland in common with the permitted land. Grazing capacity will be established... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Will the grazing capacity be increased if I graze...

Modeling the grazing effect on dry grassland carbon cycling with modified Biome-BGC grazing model

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Geping; Han, Qifei; Li, Chaofan; Yang, Liao

2014-05-01

Identifying the factors that determine the carbon source/sink strength of ecosystems is important for reducing uncertainty in the global carbon cycle. Arid grassland ecosystems are a widely distributed biome type in Xinjiang, Northwest China, covering approximately one-fourth the country's land surface. These grasslands are the habitat for many endemic and rare plant and animal species and are also used as pastoral land for livestock. Using the modified Biome-BGC grazing model, we modeled carbon dynamics in Xinjiang for grasslands that varied in grazing intensity. In general, this regional simulation estimated that the grassland ecosystems in Xinjiang acted as a net carbon source, with a value of 0.38 Pg C over the period 1979-2007. There were significant effects of grazing on carbon dynamics. An over-compensatory effect in net primary productivity (NPP) and vegetation carbon (C) stock was observed when grazing intensity was lower than 0.40 head/ha. Grazing resulted in a net carbon source of 23.45 g C m-2 yr-1, which equaled 0.37 Pg in Xinjiang in the last 29 years. In general, grazing decreased vegetation C stock, while an increasing trend was observed with low grazing intensity. The soil C increased significantly (17%) with long-term grazing, while the soil C stock exhibited a steady trend without grazing. These findings have implications for grassland ecosystem management as it relates to carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation, e.g., removal of grazing should be considered in strategies that aim to increase terrestrial carbon sequestrations at local and regional scales. One of the greatest limitations in quantifying the effects of herbivores on carbon cycling is identifying the grazing systems and intensities within a given region. We hope our study emphasizes the need for large-scale assessments of how grazing impacts carbon cycling. Most terrestrial ecosystems in Xinjiang have been affected by disturbances to a greater or lesser extent in the past

The response of spider (Araneae assemblages to structural heterogeneity and prey abundance in sub-montane vegetation modified by conservation grazing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Dennis

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The effect of experimental livestock grazing regimens (4 treatments×6 replicates on spiders via habitat structure and prey abundance was investigated on sub-montane habitats in the Southern Highlands of Scotland. The study, 2002–2004 included a baseline survey under the prior, commercial sheep grazing regimen and two assessments of spider assemblages post-treatment: commercial stocking density of sheep; 1/3 stocking density with sheep; 1/3 stocking density cattle with sheep; and no grazing. Spiders were sampled with a suction sampler, five sucks at each of 25 sample units by 24 plots (600 samples in 2003 and 2004, ca. 320 in 2002. Spider abundance and species richness increased under reduced stocking density, mixed herbivore and ungrazed treatments indirectly via changes in vegetation structure and prey abundance. The results refuted a meta-analysis that concluded species richness of spiders is unaffected by grazing. Grazing regimens caused turnover in species composition more than the net difference in species richness suggested, implying that no single, optimal grazing regimen will support as many species as a patchwork under varied grazing management. Conservation grazing benefits spiders and will have significant benefits for food webs in sub-montane ecosystems but the period to equilibrium after changes to grazing requires further investigation.

Grass composition and rangeland condition of the major grazing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

One area represented lightly grazed government ranches or parks which were used as benchmarks, another area represented the seasonal grazing areas with an intermediate grazing pressure and the remaining were the heavily grazed roadsides, lakeshores and other communal grazing lands. The range condition ...

Dry grassland biodiversity conservation using low-intensity sheep and goat grazing management: case study in Prague (Czech republic)

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Dostálek, J.; Frantík, Tomáš

2008-01-01

Roč. 17, č. 3 (2008), s. 1439-1454 ISSN 0960-3115 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60050516 Keywords : dry grassland * grazing * plant diversity conservation Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 1.473, year: 2008

Williamson Act - The California Land Conservation Act of 1965

Data.gov (United States)

California Natural Resource Agency — The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 - commonly referred to as the Williamson Act - is the State's primary program for the conservation of private land in...

Relationships among rotational and conventional grazing systems, stream channels, and macroinvertebrates

Science.gov (United States)

Raymond, K.L.; Vondracek, B.

2011-01-01

Cattle grazing in riparian areas can reduce water quality, alter stream channel characteristics, and alter fish and macroinvertebrate assemblage structure. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services has recommended Rotational Grazing (RG) as an alternative management method on livestock and dairy operations to protect riparian areas and water quality. We evaluated 13 stream channel characteristics, benthic macroinvertebrate larvae (BML), and chironomid pupal exuviae (CPE) from 18 sites in the Upper Midwest of the United States in relation to RG and conventional grazing (CG). A Biotic Composite Score comprised of several macroinvertebrate metrics was developed for both the BML assemblage and the CPE assemblage. Multi-Response Permutation Procedures (MRPP) indicated a significant difference in stream channel characteristics between RG and CG. Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling indicated that RG sites were associated with more stable stream banks, higher quality aquatic habitat, lower soil compaction, and larger particles in the streambed. However, neither MRPP nor Mann-Whitney U tests demonstrated a difference in Biotic Composite Scores for BML or CPE along RG and CG sites. The BML and CPE metrics were significantly correlated, indicating that they were likely responding to similar variables among the study sites. Although stream channel characteristics appeared to respond to grazing management, BML and CPE may have responded to land use throughout the watershed, as well as local land use. ?? 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. (outside the USA).

Livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, and rangeland values

Science.gov (United States)

Paul R. Krausman; David E. Naugle; Michael R. Frisina; Rick Northrup; Vernon C. Bleich; William M. Block; Mark C. Wallace; Jeffrey D. Wright

2009-01-01

Livestock managers make and implement grazing management decisions to achieve a variety of objectives including livestock production, sustainable grazing, and wildlife habitat enhancement. Assessed values of grazing lands and ranches are often based on aesthetics and wildlife habitat or recreational values, which can exceed agricultural values, thus providing...

The Effect of Community-Based Soil and Water Conservation Practices on Abundance and Diversity of Soil Macroinvertebrates in the Northern Highlands of Ethiopia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mengistu Welemariam

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Soil and water conservation (SWC practices in the northern highlands of Ethiopia have important implications for land restoration and biodiversity recovery. The present study determined soil macroinvertebrate (SMI abundance and diversity in response to spatial conditions i.e., generated by different conservation practices, soil depth, and temporal seasonality with the wet and dry season. The SWC practices considered were exclosure + terrace, exclosure alone, terraces, and non-conserved grazing lands. Each SWC measure was selected in three sites that were considered as replications due to low heterogeneity in terms of human and livestock disturbances and biophysical factors. Soil macroinvertebrates were collected using a monolith according to tropical soil biology and fertility (TSBF method. The highest density (55% of SMI was found in exclosures followed by terraces 26%. Non-conserved communal grazing lands account for only 19% of the total. Shannon diversity index was significantly (P < 0.05 higher (1.21 in the exclosures supported with terraces and the lowest (0.9 was observed in the non-conserved communal grazing lands. Diversity was also significantly (P < 0.05 higher (1.26 in wet than dry season (0.70. The highest (41% Sorensen similarity index among SMI was found between exclosures with terraces and exclosures alone during the wet season. The lowest (20% Sorensen similarity index was found between terraces alone and exclosures with terraces in dry season. Soil macroinvertebrate abundance was higher in upper (0–10 cm than lower (10–20 and 20–30 cm soil depth. Soil macroinvertebrate abundance was positively and strongly correlated with soil moisture (R2 = 0.85 and soil organic carbon stock (R2 = 0.95. However, it was negatively (R2 = −0.71 correlated with bulk density. Generally, the abundance and diversity of SMI increased as exclosures and communal grazing lands are supported with terraces.

Scenario-Led Habitat Modelling of Land Use Change Impacts on Key Species.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Geary

Full Text Available Accurate predictions of the impacts of future land use change on species of conservation concern can help to inform policy-makers and improve conservation measures. If predictions are spatially explicit, predicted consequences of likely land use changes could be accessible to land managers at a scale relevant to their working landscape. We introduce a method, based on open source software, which integrates habitat suitability modelling with scenario-building, and illustrate its use by investigating the effects of alternative land use change scenarios on landscape suitability for black grouse Tetrao tetrix. Expert opinion was used to construct five near-future (twenty years scenarios for the 800 km2 study site in upland Scotland. For each scenario, the cover of different land use types was altered by 5-30% from 20 random starting locations and changes in habitat suitability assessed by projecting a MaxEnt suitability model onto each simulated landscape. A scenario converting grazed land to moorland and open forestry was the most beneficial for black grouse, and 'increased grazing' (the opposite conversion the most detrimental. Positioning of new landscape blocks was shown to be important in some situations. Increasing the area of open-canopy forestry caused a proportional decrease in suitability, but suitability gains for the 'reduced grazing' scenario were nonlinear. 'Scenario-led' landscape simulation models can be applied in assessments of the impacts of land use change both on individual species and also on diversity and community measures, or ecosystem services. A next step would be to include landscape configuration more explicitly in the simulation models, both to make them more realistic, and to examine the effects of habitat placement more thoroughly. In this example, the recommended policy would be incentives on grazing reduction to benefit black grouse.

Tanzania Journal of Forestry and Nature Conservation - Vol 78, No 1

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Estimation of the carrying capacity of grazing land in the buffer zone of Katavi and Rukwa-lukwati conservation area in Mpanda district · EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. A.A Rukantabula ...

The Push and Pull of Land Use Policy: Reconstructing 150 Years of Development and Conservation Land Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, Maria João; Watt, Terry; Pincetl, Stephanie

2014-01-01

The growth of human populations and their resource needs have stressed the conservation of natural land resources. Many policies and programs have been implemented to address the pressures on land resources and notwithstanding this pressure, significant acquisition of land for conservation has occurred throughout history in the U.S., and internationally. Here we assess the on-the-ground result of the evolution of land use policies in California as a pioneer forerunner, in the form of acquisition of land for conservation (i.e. Open Space), and its impact on the rest of the U.S. and beyond. To this end we describe the timeline and spatial representation of the growth of California’s conservation network over the last 150 years, and link it to the history of land use policies. We then assess whether conservation land acquisition has consistently grown through time or occurred in specific decades. About ¼ of the state is now designated Open Space. Fewer and larger areas conserved and acquired at the beginning of the 20th century; the conservation network was complemented with a larger number of smaller sized properties. Despite acquisition of land in every decade, the process was uneven (E = 0.3 for California, E = 0.14±0.08 average for the state’s counties), mostly due to the large acquisitions and land set asides in the 1900s, followed by 1930s and 1940s. This process was a result of a comprehensive set of legislation that evolved through time, and resulted from the competing needs for development and conservation. Even with the impressive 174,000 km2 of public lands in California, the future of California’s natural infrastructure and natural heritage cannot rely solely on these public lands, nor public agencies and their resources. Critically a future course of land preservation relying on the purchase of new lands – in California and beyond – for conservation is tremendously expensive. PMID:25075611

Conserving the birds of Uganda's Banana-Coffee Arc: Land Sparing and Land Sharing Compared

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hulme, Mark F.; Vickery, Juliet A.; Green, Rhys E.

2013-01-01

Reconciling the aims of feeding an ever more demanding human population and conserving biodiversity is a difficult challenge. Here, we explore potential solutions by assessing whether land sparing (farming for high yield, potentially enabling the protection of non-farmland habitat), land sharing...... (lower yielding farming with more biodiversity within farmland) or a mixed strategy would result in better bird conservation outcomes for a specified level of agricultural production. We surveyed forest and farmland study areas in southern Uganda, measuring the population density of 256 bird species...... explore how conservation and agricultural policies can be better integrated to deliver land sparing by, for example, combining land-use planning and agronomic support for small farmers....

Land Management Restrictions and Options for Change in Perpetual Conservation Easements

Science.gov (United States)

Rissman, Adena; Bihari, Menka; Hamilton, Christopher; Locke, Christina; Lowenstein, David; Motew, Melissa; Price, Jessica; Smail, Robert

2013-07-01

Conservation organizations rely on conservation easements for diverse purposes, including protection of species and natural communities, working forests, and open space. This research investigated how perpetual conservation easements incorporated property rights, responsibilities, and options for change over time in land management. We compared 34 conservation easements held by one federal, three state, and four nonprofit organizations in Wisconsin. They incorporated six mechanisms for ongoing land management decision-making: management plans (74 %), modifications to permitted landowner uses with discretionary consent (65 %), amendment clauses (53 %), easement holder rights to conduct land management (50 %), reference to laws or policies as compliance terms (47 %), and conditional use permits (12 %). Easements with purposes to protect species and natural communities had more ecological monitoring rights, organizational control over land management, and mechanisms for change than easements with general open space purposes. Forestry purposes were associated with mechanisms for change but not necessarily with ecological monitoring rights or organizational control over land management. The Natural Resources Conservation Service-Wetland Reserve Program had a particularly consistent approach with high control over land use and some discretion to modify uses through permits. Conservation staff perceived a need to respond to changing social and ecological conditions but were divided on whether climate change was likely to negatively impact their conservation easements. Many conservation easements involved significant constraints on easement holders' options for altering land management to achieve conservation purposes over time. This study suggests the need for greater attention to easement drafting, monitoring, and ongoing decision processes to ensure the public benefits of land conservation in changing landscapes.

36 CFR 222.53 - Grazing fees in the East-noncompetitive procedures.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... lands and the total costs (other than grazing fee costs) of operating on National Forest System lands... the percentage change in the cost of alternative livestock feed. (3) Computation of Annual Grazing Fee... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Grazing fees in the East...

Influence of grazing and land use on stream-channel characteristics among small dairy farms in the Eastern United States

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Genevieve; Vondracek, Bruce C.; Jordan, Nicholas R.

2015-01-01

Rotational grazing (RG) is a livestock management practice that rotates grazing cattle on a scale of hours to days among small pastures termed paddocks. It may beneficially affect stream channels, relative to other livestock management practices. Such effects and other beneficial effects on hydrology are important to RG's potential to provide a highly multifunctional mode of livestock farming. Previous comparisons of effects of RG and confinement dairy (CD) on adjoining streams have been restricted in scale and scope. We examined 11 stream-channel characteristics on a representative sample of 37 small dairy farms that used either RG or CD production methods. Our objectives were: (1) to compare channel characteristics on RG and CD farms, as these production methods are implemented in practice, in New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, USA; and (2) to examine land use on these farms that may affect stream-channel characteristics. To help interpret channel characteristic findings, we examined on-farm land use in riparian areas 50 m in width along both sides of stream reaches and whole-farm land use. In all states, stream-channel characteristics on RG and CD farms did not differ. Whole-farm land use differed significantly between farm types; CD farms allocated more land to annual row crops, whereas RG farms allocated more land to pasture and grassland. However, land cover in 50 m riparian areas was not different between farm types within states; in particular, many RG and CD farms had continuously grazed pastures in riparian areas, typically occupied by juvenile and non-lactating cows, which may have contributed sediment and nutrients to streams. This similarity in riparian management practices may explain the observed similarity of farm types with respect to stream-channel characteristics. To realize the potential benefits of RG on streams, best management practices that affect stream-channel characteristics, such as protection of riparian areas, may improve aggregate

Conservation Lands and Preserves, Private - Volusia County Conservation Corridor

Data.gov (United States)

NSGIC Local Govt | GIS Inventory — The Volusia Conservation Corridor (VCC) is a mosaic of contiguous parcels of land, approximately 55,000 acres in size, which sits essentially in the middle of the...

Effects of Grazing and Fire Frequency on Floristic Quality and its Relationship to Indicators of Soil Quality in Tallgrass Prairie.

Science.gov (United States)

Manning, George C; Baer, Sara G; Blair, John M

2017-12-01

Fire and grazing are widely used to manage grasslands for conservation purposes, but few studies have evaluated the effects of these drivers on the conservation value of plant communities measured by the floristic quality index (FQI). Further, the influence of fire and grazing on soil properties and functions are difficult for land managers and restoration practitioners to assess. The objectives of this study were to: (1) quantify the independent and interactive effects of grazing and fire frequency on floristic quality in native tallgrass prairie to provide potential benchmarks for community assessment, and (2) to explore whether floristic quality can serve as an indicator of soil structure and function for more holistic ecosystem assessments. A factorial combination of fire frequencies (1-2, 4, and 20 years return intervals) and grazing (by bison or ungrazed) treatments were sampled for plant species composition, and for several indicators of soil quality in lowland tallgrass prairie. Floristic quality, diversity, and richness were higher in grazed than ungrazed prairie over all fire frequencies (P soil bulk density were also higher in grazed prairie soil over all fire frequencies (P soil N were positively correlated with FQI (P soil N pools are more strongly influenced by grazing than fire and that floristic quality can be an indicator of total soil C and N stocks in never cultivated lowland prairie.

Framing conservation on private lands: conserving oak in Oregon's Willamette Valley

Science.gov (United States)

A. Paige Fischer; John C. Bliss

2009-01-01

Conserving threatened habitats on private lands requires policies that advance the interests of landowners and natural resource professionals alike. Through qualitative analysis of individual and focus-group interviews, we compared how family forest owners and natural resource professionals frame conservation of threatened habitat: the oak woodlands and savanna in...

Land Use, Land Conservation, and Wind Energy Development Outcomes in New England

Science.gov (United States)

Weimar, William Cameron

This dissertation provides three independent research inquiries. The first examines how inter-governmental policy, site-specific, and social factors lead to the success, prolonged delay, or failure of inland wind power projects in New England. The three case studies examined include the 48 megawatt Glebe Mountain Wind Farm proposal in southern Vermont, the 30 megawatt Hoosac Wind Farm in western Massachusetts, and the 24 megawatt Lempster Wind Farm in southern New Hampshire. To ascertain why the project outcomes varied, 45 semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders, including wind development firms, utility companies, state regulatory agencies, regional planning commissions, town officials, land conservation organizations, and opposition groups. The second study establishes a comprehensive set of thirty-seven explanatory variables to determine the amount of suitable land and the corresponding electricity generation potential within the prime wind resource areas of Western Massachusetts. The explanatory variables are incorporated into Boolean GIS suitability models which represent the two divergent positions towards wind power development in Massachusetts, and a third, balanced model. The third study determines that exurban residential development is not the only land use factor that reduces wind power development potential in Western Massachusetts. A set of Boolean GIS models for 1985 and 2009 find the onset of conservation easements on private lands having the largest impact. During this 25 year period a combination of land use conversion and land conservation has reduced the access to prime wind resource areas by 18% (11,601 hectares), an equivalent loss of 5,800--8,700 GWh/year of zero carbon electricity generation. The six main findings from this research are: (1) Visual aesthetics remain the main factor of opposition to specific projects; (2) The Not-in-my Backyard debate for wind power remains unsettled; (3) Widespread support

REVIEW: The evolving linkage between conservation science and practice at The Nature Conservancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kareiva, Peter; Groves, Craig; Marvier, Michelle

2014-10-01

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) was founded by ecologists as a United States land trust to purchase parcels of habitat for the purpose of scientific study. It has evolved into a global organization working in 35 countries 'to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends'. TNC is now the world 's largest conservation non-governmental organization (NGO), an early adopter of advances in ecological theory and a producer of new science as a result of practising conservation.The Nature Conservancy 's initial scientific innovation was the use of distributional data for rare species and ecological communities to systematically target lands for conservation. This innovation later evolved into a more rigorous approach known as 'Conservation by Design' that contained elements of systematic conservation planning, strategic planning and monitoring and evaluation.The next scientific transition at TNC was a move to landscape-scale projects, motivated by ideas from landscape ecology. Because the scale at which land could be set aside in areas untouched by humans fell far short of the spatial scale demanded by conservation, TNC became involved with best management practices for forestry, grazing, agriculture, hydropower and other land uses.A third scientific innovation at TNC came with the pursuit of multiobjective planning that accounts for economic and resource needs in the same plans that seek to protect biodiversity.The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment prompted TNC to become increasingly concerned with ecosystem services and the material risk to people posed by ecosystem deterioration.Finally, because conservation depends heavily upon negotiation, TNC has recently recruited social scientists, economists and communication experts. One aspect still missing, however, is a solid scientific understanding of thresholds that should be averted. Synthesis and applications . Over its 60-plus year history, scientific advances have informed The Nature Conservancy (TNC) 's actions

Improving Water Quality With Conservation Buffers

Science.gov (United States)

Lowrance, R.; Dabney, S.; Schultz, R.

2003-12-01

Conservation buffer technologies are new approaches that need wider application. In-field buffer practices work best when used in combination with other buffer types and other conservation practices. Vegetative barriers may be used in combination with edge-of-field buffers to protect and improve their function and longevity by dispersing runoff and encouraging sediment deposition upslope of the buffer. It's important to understand how buffers can be managed to help reduce nutrient transport potential for high loading of nutrients from manure land application sites, A restored riparian wetland buffer retained or removed at least 59 percent of the nitrogen and 66 percent of the phosphorus that entered from an adjacent manure land application site. The Bear Creek National Restoration Demonstration Watershed project in Iowa has been the site of riparian forest buffers and filter strips creation; constructed wetlands to capture tile flow; stream-bank bioengineering; in-stream structures; and controlling livestock grazing. We need field studies that test various widths of buffers of different plant community compositions for their efficacy in trapping surface runoff, reducing nonpoint source pollutants in subsurface waters, and enhancing the aquatic ecosystem. Research is needed to evaluate the impact of different riparian grazing strategies on channel morphology, water quality, and the fate of livestock-associated pathogens and antibiotics. Integrating riparian buffers and other conservation buffers into these models is a key objective in future model development.

Effects of Grazing and Fire Frequency on Floristic Quality and its Relationship to Indicators of Soil Quality in Tallgrass Prairie

Science.gov (United States)

Manning, George C.; Baer, Sara G.; Blair, John M.

2017-12-01

Fire and grazing are widely used to manage grasslands for conservation purposes, but few studies have evaluated the effects of these drivers on the conservation value of plant communities measured by the floristic quality index (FQI). Further, the influence of fire and grazing on soil properties and functions are difficult for land managers and restoration practitioners to assess. The objectives of this study were to: (1) quantify the independent and interactive effects of grazing and fire frequency on floristic quality in native tallgrass prairie to provide potential benchmarks for community assessment, and (2) to explore whether floristic quality can serve as an indicator of soil structure and function for more holistic ecosystem assessments. A factorial combination of fire frequencies (1-2, 4, and 20 years return intervals) and grazing (by bison or ungrazed) treatments were sampled for plant species composition, and for several indicators of soil quality in lowland tallgrass prairie. Floristic quality, diversity, and richness were higher in grazed than ungrazed prairie over all fire frequencies ( P total N, and soil bulk density were also higher in grazed prairie soil over all fire frequencies ( P total organic C, and total soil N were positively correlated with FQI ( P quality and soil N pools are more strongly influenced by grazing than fire and that floristic quality can be an indicator of total soil C and N stocks in never cultivated lowland prairie.

Cold season soil respiration in response to grazing and warming in the High Arctic Svalbard

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Strebel, Ditte; Elberling, Bo; Morgner, Elke

2010-01-01

of Arctic Goose Habitat: Impacts of Land Use, Conservation and Elevated Temperatures). New measurements of soil CO2 effluxes, temperatures and water contents were regularly made from July to November 2007. SOC stocks were quantified, and the reactivity and composition measured by basal soil respiration (BSR...... be concluded that two years after a goose grazing experiment, SOC cycling was less than the natural variation within contrasting vegetation types....

Espanola/Canjilon Pilot Study: Economic, social, and cultural aspects of public land grazing on the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests

Science.gov (United States)

Carol Raish

1999-01-01

Many of the livestock grazing permittees on the Carson and Santa Fe National Forests in northern New Mexico are descendants of Hispanic settlers who have farmed and ranched in the region for 400 years. Much of the permitted land was formerly owned or used by local communities under Spanish and Mexican land grants. Cultural differences and historical issues of...

Towards evenly distributed grazing patterns: including social context in sheep management strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agustina di Virgilio

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Background. A large proportion of natural grasslands around the world is exposed to overgrazing resulting in land degradation and biodiversity loss. Although there is an increasing effort in the promotion of sustainable livestock management, rangeland degradation still occurs because animals’ foraging behaviour is highly selective at different spatial scales. The assessment of the ecological mechanisms modulating the spatial distribution of grazing and how to control it has critical implications for long term conservation of resources and the sustainability of livestock production. Considering the relevance of social interactions on animals’ space use patterns, our aim was to explore the potential effects of including animals’ social context into management strategies using domestic sheep grazing in rangelands as case study. Methods. We used GPS data from 19 Merino sheep (approximately 10% of the flock grazing on three different paddocks (with sizes from 80 to 1000 Ha during a year, to estimate resource selection functions of sheep grazing in flocks of different levels of heterogeneity. We assessed the effects of sheep class (i.e., ewes, wethers, and hoggets, age, body condition and time since release on habitat selection patterns. Results. We found that social rank was reflected on sheep habitat use, where dominant individuals (i.e., reproductive females used more intensively the most preferred areas and low-ranked (i.e., yearlings used less preferred areas. Our results showed that when sheep grazed on more heterogeneous flocks, grazing patterns were more evenly distributed at all the paddocks considered in this study. On the other hand, when high-ranked individuals were removed from the flock, low-ranked sheep shifted their selection patterns by increasing the use of the most preferred areas and strongly avoided to use less preferred sites (i.e., a highly selective grazing behaviour. Discussion. Although homogenization and segregation of

Towards evenly distributed grazing patterns: including social context in sheep management strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

di Virgilio, Agustina; Morales, Juan Manuel

2016-01-01

Background. A large proportion of natural grasslands around the world is exposed to overgrazing resulting in land degradation and biodiversity loss. Although there is an increasing effort in the promotion of sustainable livestock management, rangeland degradation still occurs because animals' foraging behaviour is highly selective at different spatial scales. The assessment of the ecological mechanisms modulating the spatial distribution of grazing and how to control it has critical implications for long term conservation of resources and the sustainability of livestock production. Considering the relevance of social interactions on animals' space use patterns, our aim was to explore the potential effects of including animals' social context into management strategies using domestic sheep grazing in rangelands as case study. Methods. We used GPS data from 19 Merino sheep (approximately 10% of the flock) grazing on three different paddocks (with sizes from 80 to 1000 Ha) during a year, to estimate resource selection functions of sheep grazing in flocks of different levels of heterogeneity. We assessed the effects of sheep class (i.e., ewes, wethers, and hoggets), age, body condition and time since release on habitat selection patterns. Results. We found that social rank was reflected on sheep habitat use, where dominant individuals (i.e., reproductive females) used more intensively the most preferred areas and low-ranked (i.e., yearlings) used less preferred areas. Our results showed that when sheep grazed on more heterogeneous flocks, grazing patterns were more evenly distributed at all the paddocks considered in this study. On the other hand, when high-ranked individuals were removed from the flock, low-ranked sheep shifted their selection patterns by increasing the use of the most preferred areas and strongly avoided to use less preferred sites (i.e., a highly selective grazing behaviour). Discussion. Although homogenization and segregation of flocks by classes

Evaluating private land conservation in the Cape Lowlands, South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Von Hase, Amrei; Rouget, Mathieu; Cowling, Richard M

2010-10-01

Evaluation is important for judiciously allocating limited conservation resources and for improving conservation success through learning and strategy adjustment. We evaluated the application of systematic conservation planning goals and conservation gains from incentive-based stewardship interventions on private land in the Cape Lowlands and Cape Floristic Region, South Africa. We collected spatial and nonspatial data (2003-2007) to determine the number of hectares of vegetation protected through voluntary contractual and legally nonbinding (informal) agreements with landowners; resources spent on these interventions; contribution of the agreements to 5- and 20-year conservation goals for representation and persistence in the Cape Lowlands of species and ecosystems; and time and staff required to meet these goals. Conservation gains on private lands across the Cape Floristic Region were relatively high. In 5 years, 22,078 ha (27,800 ha of land) and 46,526 ha (90,000 ha of land) of native vegetation were protected through contracts and informal agreements, respectively. Informal agreements often were opportunity driven and cheaper and faster to execute than contracts. All contractual agreements in the Cape Lowlands were within areas of high conservation priority (identified through systematic conservation planning), which demonstrated the conservation plan's practical application and a high level of overlap between resource investment (approximately R1.14 million/year in the lowlands) and priority conservation areas. Nevertheless, conservation agreements met only 11% of 5-year and 9% of 20-year conservation goals for Cape Lowlands and have made only a moderate contribution to regional persistence of flora to date. Meeting the plan's conservation goals will take three to five times longer and many more staff members to maintain agreements than initially envisaged. © 2010 Society for Conservation Biology.

75 FR 29572 - Information Collection; Grazing Management

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-26

... Control Number 1004-0019] Information Collection; Grazing Management AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management... submitted an information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a 3-year... INFORMATION: Title: Grazing Management (43 CFR 4120). OMB Number: 1004-0019. Forms: 4120-6 (Cooperative Range...

Globalization and Land-Use Transitions in Latin America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Ricardo. Grau

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Current socioeconomic drivers of land-use change associated with globalization are producing two contrasting land-use trends in Latin America. Increasing global food demand (particularly in Southeast Asia accelerates deforestation in areas suitable for modern agriculture (e.g., soybean, severely threatening ecosystems, such as Amazonian rain forests, dry forests, and subtropical grasslands. Additionally, in the coming decades, demand for biofuels may become an emerging threat. In contrast, high yields in modern agricultural systems and rural-urban migration coupled with remittances promote the abandonment of marginal agricultural lands, thus favoring ecosystem recovery on mountains, deserts, and areas of poor soils, while improving human well-being. The potential switch from production in traditional extensive grazing areas to intensive modern agriculture provides opportunities to significantly increase food production while sparing land for nature conservation. This combination of emerging threats and opportunities requires changes in the way the conservation of Latin American ecosystems is approached. Land-use efficiency should be analyzed beyond the local-based paradigm that drives most conservation programs, and focus on large geographic scales involving long-distance fluxes of products, information, and people in order to maximize both agricultural production and the conservation of environmental services.

Contrasting Effects of Cattle Grazing Intensity on Upland-Nesting Duck Production at Nest and Field Scales in the Aspen Parkland, Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey M. Warren

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The Aspen Parkland of Canada is one of the most important breeding areas for temperate nesting ducks in North America. The region is dominated by agricultural land use, with approximately 9.3 million ha in pasture land for cattle grazing. However, the effects of using land for cattle grazing on upland-nesting duck production are poorly understood. The current study was undertaken during 2001 and 2002 to investigate how nest density and nesting success of upland-nesting ducks varied with respect to the intensity of cattle grazing in the Aspen Parkland. We predicted that the removal and trampling of vegetation through cattle grazing would reduce duck nest density. Both positive and negative responses of duck nesting success to grazing have been reported in previous studies, leading us to test competing hypotheses that nesting success would (1 decline linearly with grazing intensity or (2 peak at moderate levels of grazing. Nearly 3300 ha of upland cover were searched during the study. Despite extensive and severe drought, nest searches located 302 duck nests. As predicted, nest density was higher in fields with lower grazing intensity and higher pasture health scores. A lightly grazed field with a pasture score of 85 out of a possible 100 was predicted to have 16.1 nests/100 ha (95% CI = 11.7-22.1, more than five times the predicted nest density of a heavily grazed field with a pasture score of 58 (3.3 nests/100 ha, 95% CI = 2.2-4.5. Nesting success was positively related to nest-site vegetation density across most levels of grazing intensity studied, supporting our hypothesis that reductions in vegetation caused by grazing would negatively affect nesting success. However, nesting success increased with grazing intensity at the field scale. For example, nesting success for a well-concealed nest in a lightly grazed field was 11.6% (95% CI = 3.6-25.0%, whereas nesting success for a nest with the same level of nest-site vegetation in a heavily grazed

Guidelines and incentives for conservation development in local land-use regulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Sarah E; Hilty, Jodi A; Theobald, David M

2014-02-01

Effective conservation of biological diversity on private lands will require changes in land-use policy and development practice. Conservation development (CD) is an alternative form of residential development in which homes are built on smaller lots and clustered together and the remainder of the property is permanently protected for conservation purposes. We assessed the degree to which CD is permitted and encouraged by local land-use regulations in 414 counties in the western United States. Thirty-two percent of local planning jurisdictions have adopted CD ordinances, mostly within the past 10 years. CD ordinances were adopted in counties with human population densities that were 3.0 times greater and in counties with 2.5 times more land use at urban, suburban, and exurban densities than counties without CD ordinances. Despite strong economic incentives for CD (e.g., density bonuses, which allow for a mean of 66% more homes to be built per subdivision area), several issues may limit the effectiveness of CD for biological diversity conservation. Although most CD ordinances required a greater proportion of the site area be protected than in a typical residential development, just 13% (n = 17) of the ordinances required an ecological site analysis to identify and map features that should be protected. Few CD ordinances provided guidelines regarding the design and configuration of the protected lands, including specifying a minimum size for protected land parcels or encouraging contiguity with other protected lands within or near to the site. Eight percent (n =11) of CD ordinances encouraged consultation with a biological expert or compliance with a conservation plan. We recommend that conservation scientists help to improve the effectiveness of CD by educating planning staff and government officials regarding biological diversity conservation, volunteering for their local planning boards, or consulting on development reviews. © 2013 Society for Conservation

Forage patch use by grazing herbivores in a South African grazing ecosystem

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Venter, J.A.; Nabe-Nielsen, J.; Prins, H.H.T.; Slotow, R.

2014-01-01

Understanding how different herbivores make forage patch use choices explains how they maintain an adequate nutritional status, which is important for effective conservation management of grazing ecosystems. Using telemetry data, we investigated nonruminant zebra (Equus burchelli) and ruminant red

Conservation of Water and Related Land Resources

Science.gov (United States)

Caldwell, Lynton K.

1984-04-01

The author was quite clear about the purpose of this book and clearly achieved his intent. In his preface, the author states, “The purpose of this book is to acquaint the reader with a broad understanding of the topics relevant to the management of the nation's water and related land resources.” The book is a product of the author's 20 years of work as a teacher, consultant, researcher, and student of watershed management and hydrology and has served as a text for a course entitled Soil and Water Conservation, which the author has taught at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse, New York. But it was also written with the intent to be of use “to informal students of water and land related resources on the national level as well.” The objectives of Black's course at Syracuse and its larger purpose define the scope of the book which, again in the author's words, have been “(1) to acquaint students with principles of soil and water conservation; (2) to stimulate an appreciation for an integrated, comprehensive approach to land management; (3) to illustrate the influence of institutional, economic, and cultural forces on the practice of soil and water conservation; and (4) to provide information, methods, and techniques by which soil and water conservation measures are applied to land, as well as the basis for predicting and evaluating results.” The book is written in straightforward nontechnical language and provides the reader with a set of references, a table of cases, a list of abbreviations, and an adequate index. It impresses this reviewer as a very well edited piece of work.

Municipal & Non-Governmental Organization Conservation Lands; LocCons11

Data.gov (United States)

University of Rhode Island Geospatial Extension Program — Non-State Conservation lands are real property permanently protected from future development by fee simple ownership, conservation or other restrictive easements, or...

Interacting Social and Environmental Predictors for the Spatial Distribution of Conservation Lands

Science.gov (United States)

Baldwin, Robert F.; Leonard, Paul B.

2015-01-01

Conservation decisions should be evaluated for how they meet conservation goals at multiple spatial extents. Conservation easements are land use decisions resulting from a combination of social and environmental conditions. An emerging area of research is the evaluation of spatial distribution of easements and their spatial correlates. We tested the relative influence of interacting social and environmental variables on the spatial distribution of conservation easements by ownership category and conservation status. For the Appalachian region of the United States, an area with a long history of human occupation and complex land uses including public-private conservation, we found that settlement, economic, topographic, and environmental data associated with spatial distribution of easements (N = 4813). Compared to random locations, easements were more likely to be found in lower elevations, in areas of greater agricultural productivity, farther from public protected areas, and nearer other human features. Analysis of ownership and conservation status revealed sources of variation, with important differences between local and state government ownerships relative to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and among U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) GAP program status levels. NGOs were more likely to have easements nearer protected areas, and higher conservation status, while local governments held easements closer to settlement, and on lands of greater agricultural potential. Logistic interactions revealed environmental variables having effects modified by social correlates, and the strongest predictors overall were social (distance to urban area, median household income, housing density, distance to land trust office). Spatial distribution of conservation lands may be affected by geographic area of influence of conservation groups, suggesting that multi-scale conservation planning strategies may be necessary to satisfy local and regional needs for reserve networks. Our

Interacting Social and Environmental Predictors for the Spatial Distribution of Conservation Lands.

Science.gov (United States)

Baldwin, Robert F; Leonard, Paul B

2015-01-01

Conservation decisions should be evaluated for how they meet conservation goals at multiple spatial extents. Conservation easements are land use decisions resulting from a combination of social and environmental conditions. An emerging area of research is the evaluation of spatial distribution of easements and their spatial correlates. We tested the relative influence of interacting social and environmental variables on the spatial distribution of conservation easements by ownership category and conservation status. For the Appalachian region of the United States, an area with a long history of human occupation and complex land uses including public-private conservation, we found that settlement, economic, topographic, and environmental data associated with spatial distribution of easements (N = 4813). Compared to random locations, easements were more likely to be found in lower elevations, in areas of greater agricultural productivity, farther from public protected areas, and nearer other human features. Analysis of ownership and conservation status revealed sources of variation, with important differences between local and state government ownerships relative to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and among U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) GAP program status levels. NGOs were more likely to have easements nearer protected areas, and higher conservation status, while local governments held easements closer to settlement, and on lands of greater agricultural potential. Logistic interactions revealed environmental variables having effects modified by social correlates, and the strongest predictors overall were social (distance to urban area, median household income, housing density, distance to land trust office). Spatial distribution of conservation lands may be affected by geographic area of influence of conservation groups, suggesting that multi-scale conservation planning strategies may be necessary to satisfy local and regional needs for reserve networks. Our

36 CFR 251.103 - Mediation of term grazing permit disputes.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Mediation of term grazing... Lands § 251.103 Mediation of term grazing permit disputes. (a) Decisions subject to mediation. In those States with Department of Agriculture certified mediation programs, any holder of a term grazing permit...

Landowner and practitioner perspectives on private land conservation programs

Science.gov (United States)

Lute, Michelle L.; Gillespie, Caitlyn R.; Fontaine, Joseph J.; Martin, Dustin R.

2018-01-01

Efforts to reverse declines in native grasslands benefit from agricultural policies that encourage private land conservation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) improved conservation across landscapes but enrollment has declined. We used sequential exploratory mixed methods to compare landowner and conservation practitioners’ perceptions, evaluate perceived benefits, and identify potential improvements to CRP. Focus groups of practitioners informed a quantitative survey of landowners who had properties >160 total acres in Nebraska. Results suggest potential misalignment in perceptions between practitioners and landowners. Practitioners were concerned that conservation, especially of wildlife, was secondary to profit. But the majority of landowners valued CRP-related ecosystem services, including native pollinators. Practitioners posited that younger landowners were primarily profit motivated, but CRP enrollment did not differ by demographics. Practitioners and landowners identified rule complexity as a major challenge and practitioner–landowner relationships as critical to success. Findings suggest that practitioners may underestimate non-economic motivations and illuminate opportunities to encourage private land conservation.

A conservative spectral method for the Boltzmann equation with anisotropic scattering and the grazing collisions limit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gamba, Irene M.; Haack, Jeffrey R.

2014-01-01

We present the formulation of a conservative spectral method for the Boltzmann collision operator with anisotropic scattering cross-sections. The method is an extension of the conservative spectral method of Gamba and Tharkabhushanam [17,18], which uses the weak form of the collision operator to represent the collisional term as a weighted convolution in Fourier space. The method is tested by computing the collision operator with a suitably cut-off angular cross section and comparing the results with the solution of the Landau equation. We analytically study the convergence rate of the Fourier transformed Boltzmann collision operator in the grazing collisions limit to the Fourier transformed Landau collision operator under the assumption of some regularity and decay conditions of the solution to the Boltzmann equation. Our results show that the angular singularity which corresponds to the Rutherford scattering cross section is the critical singularity for which a grazing collision limit exists for the Boltzmann operator. Additionally, we numerically study the differences between homogeneous solutions of the Boltzmann equation with the Rutherford scattering cross section and an artificial cross section, which give convergence to solutions of the Landau equation at different asymptotic rates. We numerically show the rate of the approximation as well as the consequences for the rate of entropy decay for homogeneous solutions of the Boltzmann equation and Landau equation

Conserving the birds of Uganda's banana-coffee arc: land sparing and land sharing compared.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark F Hulme

Full Text Available Reconciling the aims of feeding an ever more demanding human population and conserving biodiversity is a difficult challenge. Here, we explore potential solutions by assessing whether land sparing (farming for high yield, potentially enabling the protection of non-farmland habitat, land sharing (lower yielding farming with more biodiversity within farmland or a mixed strategy would result in better bird conservation outcomes for a specified level of agricultural production. We surveyed forest and farmland study areas in southern Uganda, measuring the population density of 256 bird species and agricultural yield: food energy and gross income. Parametric non-linear functions relating density to yield were fitted. Species were identified as "winners" (total population size always at least as great with agriculture present as without it or "losers" (total population sometimes or always reduced with agriculture present for a range of targets for total agricultural production. For each target we determined whether each species would be predicted to have a higher total population with land sparing, land sharing or with any intermediate level of sparing at an intermediate yield. We found that most species were expected to have their highest total populations with land sparing, particularly loser species and species with small global range sizes. Hence, more species would benefit from high-yield farming if used as part of a strategy to reduce forest loss than from low-yield farming and land sharing, as has been found in Ghana and India in a previous study. We caution against advocacy for high-yield farming alone as a means to deliver land sparing if it is done without strong protection for natural habitats, other ecosystem services and social welfare. Instead, we suggest that conservationists explore how conservation and agricultural policies can be better integrated to deliver land sparing by, for example, combining land-use planning and agronomic

MYCOTOXINS CONTAMINATION IN EDIBLE LAND SNAIL AT GRAZING PADDOCK ENVIRONMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ime Ebenso

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Mycotoxins contamination of animal products is under reported. Juvenile edible land snails (Archachatina marginata were exposed as sentinels in bottomless metal drums for 1 week at abandoned, new and reference sites respectively at grazing paddock environment, to assess the presence of foodborne microbiological mycotoxins contamination during the dry season. Mycological analysis of A. marginata samples revealed high (p<0.05 contamination at all paddocks ranged from 1.2-1.3 x 105 cfu-g. Results revealed values that were found to be unacceptable by FAO/WHO standards. The presence of Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus and Penicillum expansum were noted as potential toxicogenic mycoflora. Snails were tolerant to all levels of contamination with no clinical signs of infection or mortality. This finding could serve as basis for assessing pre-slaughter microbial contamination of livestock farm/field environment in order to establish data with comparative epidemiological value, which could highlight early warning signals of food safety risk and cross-contamination of mycotoxins in the food chain.

Sensitivity analysis of land unit suitability for conservation using a knowledge-based system.

Science.gov (United States)

Humphries, Hope C; Bourgeron, Patrick S; Reynolds, Keith M

2010-08-01

The availability of spatially continuous data layers can have a strong impact on selection of land units for conservation purposes. The suitability of ecological conditions for sustaining the targets of conservation is an important consideration in evaluating candidate conservation sites. We constructed two fuzzy logic-based knowledge bases to determine the conservation suitability of land units in the interior Columbia River basin using NetWeaver software in the Ecosystem Management Decision Support application framework. Our objective was to assess the sensitivity of suitability ratings, derived from evaluating the knowledge bases, to fuzzy logic function parameters and to the removal of data layers (land use condition, road density, disturbance regime change index, vegetation change index, land unit size, cover type size, and cover type change index). The amount and geographic distribution of suitable land polygons was most strongly altered by the removal of land use condition, road density, and land polygon size. Removal of land use condition changed suitability primarily on private or intensively-used public land. Removal of either road density or land polygon size most strongly affected suitability on higher-elevation US Forest Service land containing small-area biophysical environments. Data layers with the greatest influence differed in rank between the two knowledge bases. Our results reinforce the importance of including both biophysical and socio-economic attributes to determine the suitability of land units for conservation. The sensitivity tests provided information about knowledge base structuring and parameterization as well as prioritization for future data needs.

Prioritizing land and sea conservation investments to protect coral reefs.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Carissa J; Ban, Natalie C; Halpern, Benjamin S; Beger, Maria; Game, Edward T; Grantham, Hedley S; Green, Alison; Klein, Travis J; Kininmonth, Stuart; Treml, Eric; Wilson, Kerrie; Possingham, Hugh P

2010-08-30

Coral reefs have exceptional biodiversity, support the livelihoods of millions of people, and are threatened by multiple human activities on land (e.g. farming) and in the sea (e.g. overfishing). Most conservation efforts occur at local scales and, when effective, can increase the resilience of coral reefs to global threats such as climate change (e.g. warming water and ocean acidification). Limited resources for conservation require that we efficiently prioritize where and how to best sustain coral reef ecosystems. Here we develop the first prioritization approach that can guide regional-scale conservation investments in land- and sea-based conservation actions that cost-effectively mitigate threats to coral reefs, and apply it to the Coral Triangle, an area of significant global attention and funding. Using information on threats to marine ecosystems, effectiveness of management actions at abating threats, and the management and opportunity costs of actions, we calculate the rate of return on investment in two conservation actions in sixteen ecoregions. We discover that marine conservation almost always trumps terrestrial conservation within any ecoregion, but terrestrial conservation in one ecoregion can be a better investment than marine conservation in another. We show how these results could be used to allocate a limited budget for conservation and compare them to priorities based on individual criteria. Previous prioritization approaches do not consider both land and sea-based threats or the socioeconomic costs of conserving coral reefs. A simple and transparent approach like ours is essential to support effective coral reef conservation decisions in a large and diverse region like the Coral Triangle, but can be applied at any scale and to other marine ecosystems.

Biodiversity conservation and indigenous land management in the era of self-determination.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Paige M; Peterson, Markus J

2009-12-01

Indigenous people inhabit approximately 85% of areas designated for biodiversity conservation worldwide. They also continue to struggle for recognition and preservation of cultural identities, lifestyles, and livelihoods--a struggle contingent on control and protection of traditional lands and associated natural resources (hereafter, self-determination). Indigenous lands and the biodiversity they support are increasingly threatened because of human population growth and per capita consumption. Application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to tribal lands in the United States provides a rich example of the articulation between biodiversity conservation and indigenous peoples' struggle for self-determination. We found a paradoxical relationship whereby tribal governments are simultaneously and contradictory sovereign nations; yet their communities depend on the U.S. government for protection through the federal-trust doctrine. The unique legal status of tribal lands, their importance for conserving federally protected species, and federal environmental regulations' failure to define applicability to tribal lands creates conflict between tribal sovereignty, self-determination, and constitutional authority. We reviewed Secretarial Order 3206, the U.S. policy on "American Indian tribal rights, federal-tribal trust responsibilities, and the ESA," and evaluated how it influences ESA implementation on tribal lands. We found improved biodiversity conservation and tribal self-determination requires revision of the fiduciary relationship between the federal government and the tribes to establish clear, legal definitions regarding land rights, applicability of environmental laws, and financial responsibilities. Such actions will allow provision of adequate funding and training to tribal leaders and resource managers, government agency personnel responsible for biodiversity conservation and land management, and environmental policy makers. Increased capacity, cooperation, and

75 FR 52010 - Land and Water Conservation Fund Description and Notification, Performance Reports, Agreements...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-24

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service Land and Water Conservation Fund Description and.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (LWCF Act) (16 U.S.C 4601-4 et seq... for this program: 1. Description and Notification Form Title: Land and Water Conservation Fund...

78 FR 12349 - Proposed Information Collection; Land and Water Conservation Fund State Assistance Program

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-22

...] Proposed Information Collection; Land and Water Conservation Fund State Assistance Program AGENCY: National.... Abstract The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (LWCF Act) (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 et seq.) was enacted... discussed in detail in the Land and Water Conservation Fund State Assistance Program Federal Financial...

76 FR 45606 - Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, Habitat Conservation Plan and Possible Land Use Plan...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-29

...-N131; 80221-1112-80221-F2] Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, Habitat Conservation Plan and Possible Land Use Plan Amendment, Southern California: Environmental Impact Statement AGENCY: Fish and..., as amended, for the proposed Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP). The EIS will be a...

Assessing strategies to reconcile agriculture and bird conservation in the temperate grasslands of South America.

Science.gov (United States)

Dotta, G; Phalan, B; Silva, T W; Green, R; Balmford, A

2016-06-01

Globally, agriculture is the greatest source of threat to biodiversity, through both ongoing conversion of natural habitat and intensification of existing farmland. Land sparing and land sharing have been suggested as alternative approaches to reconcile this threat with the need for land to produce food. To examine which approach holds most promise for grassland species, we examined how bird population densities changed with farm yield (production per unit area) in the Campos of Brazil and Uruguay. We obtained information on biodiversity and crop yields from 24 sites that differed in agricultural yield. Density-yield functions were fitted for 121 bird species to describe the response of population densities to increasing farm yield, measured in terms of both food energy and profit. We categorized individual species according to how their population changed across the yield gradient as being positively or negatively affected by farming and according to whether the species' total population size was greater under land-sparing, land-sharing, or an intermediate strategy. Irrespective of the yield, most species were negatively affected by farming. Increasing yields reduced densities of approximately 80% of bird species. We estimated land sparing would result in larger populations than other sorts of strategies for 67% to 70% of negatively affected species, given current production levels, including three threatened species. This suggests that increasing yields in some areas while reducing grazing to low levels elsewhere may be the best option for bird conservation in these grasslands. Implementing such an approach would require conservation and production policies to be explicitly linked to support yield increases in farmed areas and concurrently guarantee that larger areas of lightly grazed natural grasslands are set aside for conservation. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Prioritizing land and sea conservation investments to protect coral reefs.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carissa J Klein

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Coral reefs have exceptional biodiversity, support the livelihoods of millions of people, and are threatened by multiple human activities on land (e.g. farming and in the sea (e.g. overfishing. Most conservation efforts occur at local scales and, when effective, can increase the resilience of coral reefs to global threats such as climate change (e.g. warming water and ocean acidification. Limited resources for conservation require that we efficiently prioritize where and how to best sustain coral reef ecosystems. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we develop the first prioritization approach that can guide regional-scale conservation investments in land- and sea-based conservation actions that cost-effectively mitigate threats to coral reefs, and apply it to the Coral Triangle, an area of significant global attention and funding. Using information on threats to marine ecosystems, effectiveness of management actions at abating threats, and the management and opportunity costs of actions, we calculate the rate of return on investment in two conservation actions in sixteen ecoregions. We discover that marine conservation almost always trumps terrestrial conservation within any ecoregion, but terrestrial conservation in one ecoregion can be a better investment than marine conservation in another. We show how these results could be used to allocate a limited budget for conservation and compare them to priorities based on individual criteria. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Previous prioritization approaches do not consider both land and sea-based threats or the socioeconomic costs of conserving coral reefs. A simple and transparent approach like ours is essential to support effective coral reef conservation decisions in a large and diverse region like the Coral Triangle, but can be applied at any scale and to other marine ecosystems.

Evaluating recreational hunting as an incentive for habitat conservation on private land in California

Science.gov (United States)

Luke T. Macaulay

2015-01-01

Private land plays a crucial role in the conservation of biodiversity in California, yet these lands are the least protected and most prone to environmental degradation. In 1930, Aldo Leopold recognized the potential to better conserve private land by an incentive scheme where recreational users would pay landowners for access to conserved wildlife habitat. While...

Hydrologic and Erosional Response to Natural Rainfall and Effects of Conservation and Rehabilitation Measures in a Degraded Dry Sub-Humid Watershed of the Ethiopian Highlands

Science.gov (United States)

McHugh, O. V.; Liu, B. M.; Steenhuis, T. S.

2005-12-01

A good understanding of runoff and erosion under actual field conditions is essential for effective planning of land conservation in the Ethiopian highlands. Hydrologic and sediment yield response to natural rainfall was measured during 3 rainy seasons (2003-2004) at plot and catchment scales with and without conservation practices. Results show that as expected surface runoff generation and erosion rates are significantly influenced by rainfall intensity, land use, scale of measurement, land slope, and the presence or not of conservation measures. Seasonal runoff coefficient and sediment yield were significantly better correlated to number of storms with high 30-minute maximum rainfall intensity (I30 > 20 mm h-1) than to total seasonal rainfall depth. Under conventional management systems cropland on slopes greater than 3 % generated significantly more (over twice) surface runoff and sediment yield compared with shrub and open forest grazing land on steep slopes (34 %). Plot measured surface runoff coefficients (for crop and grazing land uses which cover over 90 % of the catchment area) exceeded total catchment streamflow discharge demonstrating a scale effect. The observed scale effect, a stronger correlation of runoff with maximum rainfall intensity than rainfall depth and average rainfall intensity, and observed significant increases in runoff with steeper land slopes indicate that Hortonian overland flow is the primary runoff generation mechanism in the study zone. Concerning slope effects, cropland on mild slopes produced relatively low seasonal sediment yields (hillside conservation (areas with bench terracing, planted tree seedlings, and small area closure from livestock grazing) resulted in significantly lower catchment peak streamflow discharge and longer duration streamflow compared to a catchment in the same watershed without these measures. Cropland tied ridge and no till conservation practices reduced surface runoff and soil loss during seasons with

Ecological influence and pathways of land use in sagebrush

Science.gov (United States)

Knick, Steven T.; Hanser, Steven E.; Miller, Richard F.; Pyke, David A.; Wisdom, Michael J.; Finn, Sean P.; Rinkes, E. Thomas; Henny, Charles J.; Knick, Steven T.; Connelly, John W.

2011-01-01

Land use in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) landscapes influences all sage-grouse (Centrocer-cus spp.) populations in western North America. Croplands and the network of irrigation canals cover 230,000 km2 and indirectly influence up to 77% of the Sage-Grouse Conservation Area and 73% of sagebrush land cover by subsidizing synanthropic predators on sage-grouse. Urbanization and the demands of human population growth have created an extensive network of con-necting infrastructure that is expanding its influence on sagebrush landscapes. Over 2,500 km2 are now covered by interstate highways and paved roads; when secondary roads are included, 15% of the Sage-Grouse Conservation Area and 5% of existing sagebrush habitats are 2.5 km from roads. Density of secondary roads often exceeds 5 km/km2, resulting in widespread motorized access for recreation, creating extensive travel corridors for management actions and resource development, subsidizing predators adapted to human presence, and facilitating spread of exotic or invasive plants. Sagebrush lands also are being used for their wilderness and recreation values, including off highway vehicle use. Approximately 12,000,000 animal use months (AUM amount of forage to support one livestock unit per month) are permitted for grazing livestock on public lands in the western states. Direct effects of grazing on sage-grouse populations or sagebrush landscapes are not possible to assess from current data. However, management of lands grazed by livestock has influenced sagebrush ecosystems by vegetation treatments to increase forage and reduce sagebrush and other plant species unpalatable to livestock. Fences (2 km/km2 in some regions), roads, and water developments to manage livestock movements further modify the landscape. Oil and gas development influences 8% of the sagebrush habitats with the highest intensities occurring in the eastern range of sage-grouse; 20% of the sagebrush distribution is indirectly influenced in the Great

Setting priorities for private land conservation in fire-prone landscapes: Are fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation competing or compatible objectives?

Science.gov (United States)

Syphard, Alexandra D.; Butsic, Van; Bar-Massada, Avi; Keeley, Jon E.; Tracey, Jeff A.; Fisher, Robert N.

2016-01-01

Although wildfire plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity in many ecosystems, fire management to protect human assets is often carried out by different agencies than those tasked for conserving biodiversity. In fact, fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation are often viewed as competing objectives. Here we explored the role of management through private land conservation and asked whether we could identify private land acquisition strategies that fulfill the mutual objectives of biodiversity conservation and fire risk reduction, or whether the maximization of one objective comes at a detriment to the other. Using a fixed budget and number of homes slated for development, we simulated 20 years of housing growth under alternative conservation selection strategies, and then projected the mean risk of fires destroying structures and the area and configuration of important habitat types in San Diego County, California, USA. We found clear differences in both fire risk projections and biodiversity impacts based on the way conservation lands are prioritized for selection, but these differences were split between two distinct groupings. If no conservation lands were purchased, or if purchases were prioritized based on cost or likelihood of development, both the projected fire risk and biodiversity impacts were much higher than if conservation lands were purchased in areas with high fire hazard or high species richness. Thus, conserving land focused on either of the two objectives resulted in nearly equivalent mutual benefits for both. These benefits not only resulted from preventing development in sensitive areas, but they were also due to the different housing patterns and arrangements that occurred as development was displaced from those areas. Although biodiversity conflicts may still arise using other fire management strategies, this study shows that mutual objectives can be attained through land-use planning in this region. These results likely

Vegetation response to climate change : implications for Canada's conservation lands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, D.; Lemieux, C.

2003-01-01

Studies have shown that Canada's national parks are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. A wide range of biophysical climate change impacts could affect the integrity of conservation lands in each region of Canada. This report examines the potential impact of climate change on landscape alterations and vegetation distribution in Canada's wide network of conservation lands. It also presents several ways to integrate climate change into existing conservation policy and adaptation strategies. Canada's conservation lands include provincial parks, migratory bird sanctuaries, national wildlife areas and wildlife protected areas. This is the first study to examine biome changes by applying an equilibrium Global Vegetation Model (GVM) to Canada's network of national park systems. Some of the policy and planning challenges posed by changes in landscape level vegetation were also addressed. The report indicates that in terms of potential changes to the biome classification of Canada's national forests, more northern biomes are projected to decrease. These northern biomes include the tundra, taiga and boreal conifer forests. 56 refs., 8 tabs., 6 figs

Land Use, Conservation, Forestry, and Agriculture in Puerto Rico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William A. Gould

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Global food security concerns emphasize the need for sustainable agriculture and local food production. In Puerto Rico, over 80 percent of food is imported, and local production levels have reached historical lows. Efforts to increase local food production are driven by government agencies, non-government organizations, farmers, and consumers. Integration of geographic information helps plan and balance the reinvention and invigoration of the agriculture sector while maintaining ecological services. We used simple criteria that included currently protected lands and the importance of slope and forest cover in protection from erosion to identify land well-suited for conservation, agriculture and forestry in Puerto Rico. Within these categories we assessed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA farmland soils classification data, lands currently in agricultural production, current land cover, and current land use planning designations. We found that developed lands occupy 13 percent of Puerto Rico; lands well-suited for conservation that include protected areas, riparian buffers, lands surrounding reservoirs, wetlands, beaches, and salt flats, occupy 45 percent of Puerto Rico; potential working lands encompass 42 percent of Puerto Rico. These include lands well-suited for mechanized and non-mechanized agriculture, such as row and specialty crops, livestock, dairy, hay, pasture, and fruits, which occupy 23 percent of Puerto Rico; and areas suitable for forestry production, such as timber and non-timber products, agroforestry, and shade coffee, which occupy 19 percent of Puerto Rico.

Patterns in Greater Sage-grouse population dynamics correspond with public grazing records at broad scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Monroe, Adrian P; Aldridge, Cameron L; Assal, Timothy J; Veblen, Kari E; Pyke, David A; Casazza, Michael L

2017-06-01

Human land use, such as livestock grazing, can have profound yet varied effects on wildlife interacting within common ecosystems, yet our understanding of land-use effects is often generalized from short-term, local studies that may not correspond with trends at broader scales. Here we used public land records to characterize livestock grazing across Wyoming, USA, and we used Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) as a model organism to evaluate responses to livestock management. With annual counts of male Sage-grouse from 743 leks (breeding display sites) during 2004-2014, we modeled population trends in response to grazing level (represented by a relative grazing index) and timing across a gradient in vegetation productivity as measured by the Normalized Vegetation Difference Index (NDVI). We found grazing can have both positive and negative effects on Sage-grouse populations depending on the timing and level of grazing. Sage-grouse populations responded positively to higher grazing levels after peak vegetation productivity, but populations declined when similar grazing levels occurred earlier, likely reflecting the sensitivity of cool-season grasses to grazing during peak growth periods. We also found support for the hypothesis that effects of grazing management vary with local vegetation productivity. These results illustrate the importance of broad-scale analyses by revealing patterns in Sage-grouse population trends that may not be inferred from studies at finer scales, and could inform sustainable grazing management in these ecosystems. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Effects of Governance on Availability of Land for Agriculture and Conservation in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Sparovek, Gerd; Barretto, Alberto Giaroli de Oliveira Pereira; Matsumoto, Marcelo; Berndes, Göran

2015-09-01

The 2012 revision of the Brazilian Forest Act changed the relative importance of private and public governance for nature conservation and agricultural production. We present a spatially explicit land-use model for Brazilian agricultural production and nature conservation that considers the spatial distribution of agricultural land suitability, technological and management options, legal command, and control frameworks including the Atlantic Forest Law, the revised Forest Act, and the Amazonian land-titling, "Terra Legal," and also market-driven land use regulations. The model is used to analyze land use allocation under three scenarios with varying priorities among agricultural production and environmental protection objectives. In all scenarios, the legal command and control frameworks were the most important determinants of conservation outcomes, protecting at least 80% of the existing natural vegetation. Situations where such frameworks are not expected to be effective can be identified and targeted for additional conservation (beyond legal requirements) through voluntary actions or self-regulation in response to markets. All scenarios allow for a substantial increase in crop production, using an area 1.5-2.7 times the current cropland area, with much of new cropland occurring on current pastureland. Current public arrangements that promote conservation can, in conjunction with voluntary schemes on private lands where conversion to agriculture is favored, provide important additional nature conservation without conflicting with national agricultural production objectives.

Governing Grazing and Mobility in the Samburu Lowlands, Kenya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annemiek Pas

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Pastoral mobility is seen as the most effective strategy to make use of constantly shifting resources. However, mobile pastoralism as a highly-valued strategy to manage grazing areas and exploit resource variability is becoming more complex, due to recurrent droughts, loss of forage, government-led settlement schemes, and enclosure of land for community conservation, among other reasons. Yet knowledge of how Samburu pastoralists perceive these changes, and govern and innovate in their mobility patterns and resource use, has received limited attention. This paper seeks to understand how Samburu pastoralists in the drylands of northern Kenya use and govern natural resources, how livestock grazing and mobility is planned for, and how boundaries and territory are constructed and performed both within and beyond the context of (nongovernmental projects. Fieldwork for this paper was conducted in Sesia, Samburu East, and consisted of interviews, focus group discussions, and participatory observation. Findings show that livestock mobility involves longer periods and more complex distances due to a shrinking resource base and new rules of access. Although access was previously generated based on the value of reciprocity, the creation of new forms of resource management results in conditional processes of inclusion and exclusion. Policy and project implementation has historically been driven by the imperative to secure land tenure and improve pasture in bounded areas. Opportunities to support institutions that promote mobility have been given insufficient attention.

A critical analysis of the long-term impact (1936-2015) of grazing management on Land Degradation in a marginal, rural community of Southern Italy

Science.gov (United States)

Quaranta, Giovanni; Salvia, Rosanna; De Paola, Velia; Coluzzi, Rosa; Imbrenda, Vito; Simoniello, Tiziana

2017-04-01

Unsustainable grazing, one of the most diffused problem in land management at the global scale, is considered as a serious pressure on natural landscapes. Particularly in the Mediterranean agroforestry landscapes, unsustainable grazing is regarded as a key factor of degradation processes, mostly determined and exacerbated by evolving socioeconomic and environmental conditions at the local scale, revised agricultural policies and changing international market scenario. The Common Agricultural Policy set at the European level plays a powerful and twofold role in shaping the dynamics at local level. Measures adopted for Less Favoured Areas, for example, have stimulated grazing intensification based on financial supports whose effectiveness is shaped by the socioeconomic local context. At the same time, pasture-based livestock farming systems are considered priority habitats preserving traditional and high natural value farmlands in Mediterranean Europe. A sustainable management of pastures may also contribute to limit soil erosion and to mitigate land degradation. This paper critically analyses the drivers of change and the challenges facing a Mediterranean upland pastoralist systems in Southern Italy along a period of almost 80 years (1936-2015). The detailed case study highlights the linkages between the evolution of landscape, grazing management, locally adapted animal breeds and social capital. Historical forest maps, aerial imagery and satellite data at different spatial resolutions have been used to trace land use trajectories occurred during the investigated period within the study area. The integration in a GIS environment of the obtained results with diachronic detailed farm management surveys and semi-structured interviews, shows a strong link between land use changes and economic performances mainly connected to policy orientation. Along the time period considered, different adaptation strategies adopted by local actors are analysed leading to the present

Isolated Ficus trees deliver dual conservation and development benefits in a rural landscape.

Science.gov (United States)

Cottee-Jones, H Eden W; Bajpai, Omesh; Chaudhary, Lal B; Whittaker, Robert J

2015-11-01

Many of the world's rural populations are dependent on the local provision of economically and medicinally important plant resources. However, increasing land-use intensity is depleting these resources, reducing human welfare, and thereby constraining development. Here we investigate a low cost strategy to manage the availability of valuable plant resources, facilitated by the use of isolated Ficus trees as restoration nuclei. We surveyed the plants growing under 207 isolated trees in Assam, India, and categorized them according to their local human-uses. We found that Ficus trees were associated with double the density of important high-grade timber, firewood, human food, livestock fodder, and medicinal plants compared to non-Ficus trees. Management practices were also important in determining the density of valuable plants, with grazing pressure and land-use intensity significantly affecting densities in most categories. Community management practices that conserve isolated Ficus trees, and restrict livestock grazing and high-intensity land-use in their vicinity, can promote plant growth and the provision of important local resources.

Setting priorities for private land conservation in fire-prone landscapes: Are fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation competing or compatible objectives?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra D. Syphard

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Although wildfire plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity in many ecosystems, fire management to protect human assets is often carried out by different agencies than those tasked for conserving biodiversity. In fact, fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation are often viewed as competing objectives. Here we explored the role of management through private land conservation and asked whether we could identify private land acquisition strategies that fulfill the mutual objectives of biodiversity conservation and fire risk reduction, or whether the maximization of one objective comes at a detriment to the other. Using a fixed budget and number of homes slated for development, we simulated 20 years of housing growth under alternative conservation selection strategies, and then projected the mean risk of fires destroying structures and the area and configuration of important habitat types in San Diego County, California, USA. We found clear differences in both fire risk projections and biodiversity impacts based on the way conservation lands are prioritized for selection, but these differences were split between two distinct groupings. If no conservation lands were purchased, or if purchases were prioritized based on cost or likelihood of development, both the projected fire risk and biodiversity impacts were much higher than if conservation lands were purchased in areas with high fire hazard or high species richness. Thus, conserving land focused on either of the two objectives resulted in nearly equivalent mutual benefits for both. These benefits not only resulted from preventing development in sensitive areas, but they were also due to the different housing patterns and arrangements that occurred as development was displaced from those areas. Although biodiversity conflicts may still arise using other fire management strategies, this study shows that mutual objectives can be attained through land-use planning in this region

Progress Report: Stratton Ecological Research Site - An Experimental Approach to Assess Effects of Various Grazing Treatments on Vegetation and Wildlife Communities Across Managed Burns and Habitat Controls

Science.gov (United States)

Erickson, Heidi J.; Aldridge, Cameron L.; Hobbs, N. Thompson

2009-01-01

Understanding how management practices affect wildlife is fundamental to wise decisions for conservation of public lands. Prescribed fire and grazing timing are two management tools frequently used within publicly owned sagebrush ecosystems. We conducted a variety of surveys in order to assess the impacts of grazing timing strategies (early summer before peak green-up, mid-summer at peak green-up, and late summer after peak green-up) in conjunction with prescribed fire on avian and small mammal populations in a high-elevation sagebrush ecosystem. Avian surveys resulted in a large detection sample size for three bird species: Brewer's sparrow (Spizella breweri), horned lark (Eremophila alpestris), and vesper sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus). Brewer's sparrows had the lowest number of detections within the mid-summer grazing treatment compared to early and late summer grazing treatments, while horned larks and vesper sparrows had higher detection frequencies within the late summer grazing treatment. Summer and fall sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) pellet counts revealed that the greatest over-winter and over-summer use by sage-grouse occurred within the early summer grazing treatment with minimal use of burn treatment areas across all grazing treatments. Deer-mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) represented approximately 90 percent of small mammals captured and were most prevalent within the mid-summer grazing treatment. Sagebrush cover was greatest within the mid-summer grazing treatment. We monitored 50 and 103 nests in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The apparent success rate for shrub-obligate nesting species was 58 percent in 2007 and 63 percent in 2008. This research will support management of sagebrush ecosystems by providing public land managers with direct comparisons of wildlife response to management regimes.

[Effects of land use changes on soil water conservation in Hainan Island, China].

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Zhi; Zhao, He; Liu, Lei; OuYang, Zhi Yun; Zheng, Hua; Mi, Hong Xu; Li, Yan Min

2017-12-01

In tropical areas, a large number of natural forests have been transformed into other plantations, which affected the water conservation function of terrestrial ecosystems. In order to clari-fy the effects of land use changes on soil water conservation function, we selected four typical land use types in the central mountainous region of Hainan Island, i.e., natural forests with stand age greater than 100 years (VF), secondary forests with stand age of 10 years (SF), areca plantations with stand age of 12 years (AF) and rubber plantations with stand age of 35 years (RF). The effects of land use change on soil water holding capacity and water conservation (presented by soil water index, SWI) were assessed. The results showed that, compared with VF, the soil water holding capacity index of other land types decreased in the top soil layer (0-10 cm). AF had the lowest soil water holding capacity in all soil layers. Soil water content and maximum water holding capacity were significantly related to canopy density, soil organic matter and soil bulk density, which indicated that canopy density, soil organic matter and compactness were important factors influencing soil water holding capacity. Compared to VF, soil water conservation of SF, AF and RF were reduced by 27.7%, 54.3% and 11.5%, respectively. The change of soil water conservation was inconsistent in different soil layers. Vegetation canopy density, soil organic matter and soil bulk density explained 83.3% of the variance of soil water conservation. It was suggested that land use conversion had significantly altered soil water holding capacity and water conservation function. RF could keep the soil water better than AF in the research area. Increasing soil organic matter and reducing soil compaction would be helpful to improve soil water holding capacity and water conservation function in land management.

Using NDVI to estimate carbon fluxes from small rotationally grazed pastures

Science.gov (United States)

Satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data have been extensively used for estimating gross primary productivity (GPP) and yield of grazing lands throughout the world. However, the usefulness of satellite-based images for monitoring rotationally-grazed pastures in the northea...

Prescribed grazing for management of invasive vegetation in a hardwood forest understory

Science.gov (United States)

Ronald A. Rathfon; Songlin Fei; Jason Tower; Kenneth Andries; Michael. Neary

2014-01-01

Land managers considering prescribed grazing (PG) face a lack of information on animal stocking rates, timing of grazing, and duration of grazing to achieve desired conditions in natural ecosystems under invasion stress from a variety of nonnative invasive plant (NNIP) species. In this study we tested PG treatments using goats for reducing NNIP brush species and...

Land under pressure: soil conservation concerns and opportunities for Ethiopia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sonneveld, B.G.J.S.; Keyzer, M.A.

2003-01-01

This paper evaluates the future impact of soil degradation on national food security and land occupation in Ethiopia. It applies a spatial optimization model that maximizes national agricultural revenues under alternative scenarios of soil conservation, land accessibility and technology. The

Ecological Effects of Grazing in the Northern Tianshan Mountains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaotao Huang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Identifying the effects of grazing is critical for the conservation, protection and sustainable use of arid grassland ecosystems. However, research regarding the ecological effects of grazing along mountainous elevation gradients is limited in arid areas, particularly at the regional scale. Using the Biome-BGC grazing model, we explored the effects of grazing on grassland net primary productivity (NPP, evapotranspiration (ET and water use efficiency (WUE from 1979 to 2012 along an elevation gradient in the northern Tianshan Mountains. The NPP, ET and WUE values were generally lower under the grazing scenario than under the ungrazed scenario; the differences between the grazing and ungrazed scenarios showed increasing trends over time; and distinct spatial heterogeneity in these differences was observed. Distinct decreases in NPP and WUE under the grazing scenario mainly occurred in regions with high livestock consumption. The decrease in ET was greater in mountainous areas with high grazing intensity due to decreased transpiration and increased surface runoff. This study contributes to a better understanding of the ecological effects of grazing along an elevation gradient in the northern Tianshan Mountains and provides data to support the scientific management of grassland ecosystems.

Socioeconomic issues for the Bear River Watershed Conservation Land Area Protection Plan

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Catherine Cullinane; Huber, Christopher; Gascoigne, William; Koontz, Lynne

2012-01-01

The Bear River Watershed Conservation Area is located in the Bear River Watershed, a vast basin covering fourteen counties across three states. Located in Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho, the watershed spans roughly 7,500 squares miles: 1,500 squares miles in Wyoming; 2,700 squares miles in Idaho; and 3,300 squares miles in Utah (Utah Division of Water Resources, 2004). Three National Wildlife Refuges are currently contained within the boundary of the BRWCA: the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah, the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho, and the Cokeville Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming. In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a Preliminary Project Proposal and identified the Bear River Watershed Conservation Area as having high-value wildlife habitat. This finding initiated the Land Protection Planning process, which is used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study land conservation opportunities including adding lands to the National Wildlife Refuge System. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to include part of the Bear River Watershed Conservation Area in the Refuge System by acquiring up to 920,000 acres of conservation easements from willing landowners to maintain landscape integrity and habitat connectivity in the region. The analysis described in this report provides a profile of the social and economic conditions in the Bear River Watershed Conservation Area and addresses social and economic questions and concerns raised during public involvement in the Land Protection Planning process.

Central American Vegetation/Land Cover Classification and Conservation Status

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Central American Vegetation/Land Cover Classification and Conservation Status data set consists of GIS coverages of vegetation classes (forests, woodlands,...

Triage of means: options for conserving tiger corridors beyond designated protected lands in India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Indranil Mondal

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The latest tiger census conducted in India during the year 2014 shows that it harbours 57% of the global tiger population in 7% of their historic global range. At the same time, India has 1.25 billion people growing at a rate of 1.7% per year. Protected tiger habitats in India are geographically isolated and collectively holds this tiger population under tremendous anthropogenic pressure. These protected lands are in itself not enough to sustain the growing tiger population, intensifying human-tiger conflict as dispersing individuals enter human occupied areas. These factors – isolation and inadequate size of the protected lands harbouring tiger meta-populations, highlight the need to connect tiger habitats and the importance of corridors beyond protected lands. It is imperative to conserve such corridors passing through private lands to safeguard the long-term survival of the tigers in India. The goal of long-term tiger conservation in India lies in smartly integrating tiger conservation concerns in various sectors where tiger conservation is not the priority. To effectively tap into all these resources, we propose a Triage of Means strategy. Here we do not prioritize species, populations or sites due to the non-availability of conservation resources. Instead, we aim to prioritize from available resources (means to achieve conservation from other sectors where tiger conservation is not the focus. We outline how to prioritise resources available from various sectors into conservation by prioritizing issues hampering tiger conservation beyond protected habitats.

The Effects of Timing of Grazing on Plant and Arthropod Communities in High-Elevation Grasslands

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Stacy C.; Burkle, Laura A.; Cross, Wyatt F.; Cutting, Kyle A.

2014-01-01

Livestock grazing can be used as a key management tool for maintaining healthy ecosystems. However, the effectiveness of using grazing to modify habitat for species of conservation concern depends on how the grazing regime is implemented. Timing of grazing is one grazing regime component that is less understood than grazing intensity and grazer identity, but is predicted to have important implications for plant and higher trophic level responses. We experimentally assessed how timing of cattle grazing affected plant and arthropod communities in high-elevation grasslands of southwest Montana to better evaluate its use as a tool for multi-trophic level management. We manipulated timing of grazing, with one grazing treatment beginning in mid-June and the other in mid-July, in two experiments conducted in different grassland habitat types (i.e., wet meadow and upland) in 2011 and 2012. In the upland grassland experiment, we found that both early and late grazing treatments reduced forb biomass, whereas graminoid biomass was only reduced with late grazing. Grazing earlier in the growing season versus later did not result in greater recovery of graminoid or forb biomass as expected. In addition, the density of the most ubiquitous grassland arthropod order (Hemiptera) was reduced by both grazing treatments in upland grasslands. A comparison of end-of-season plant responses to grazing in upland versus wet meadow grasslands revealed that grazing reduced graminoid biomass in the wet meadow and forb biomass in the upland, irrespective of timing of grazing. Both grazing treatments also reduced end-of-season total arthropod and Hemiptera densities and Hemiptera biomass in both grassland habitat types. Our results indicate that both early and late season herbivory affect many plant and arthropod characteristics in a similar manner, but grazing earlier may negatively impact species of conservation concern requiring forage earlier in the growing season. PMID:25338008

Vegetation response to climate change : implications for Canada's conservation lands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scott, D. [Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Adaptation and Impact Research Group; Lemieux, C. [Waterloo Univ., ON (Canada). Dept. of Geography

2003-05-01

Studies have shown that Canada's national parks are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. A wide range of biophysical climate change impacts could affect the integrity of conservation lands in each region of Canada. This report examines the potential impact of climate change on landscape alterations and vegetation distribution in Canada's wide network of conservation lands. It also presents several ways to integrate climate change into existing conservation policy and adaptation strategies. Canada's conservation lands include provincial parks, migratory bird sanctuaries, national wildlife areas and wildlife protected areas. This is the first study to examine biome changes by applying an equilibrium Global Vegetation Model (GVM) to Canada's network of national park systems. Some of the policy and planning challenges posed by changes in landscape level vegetation were also addressed. The report indicates that in terms of potential changes to the biome classification of Canada's national forests, more northern biomes are projected to decrease. These northern biomes include the tundra, taiga and boreal conifer forests. 56 refs., 8 tabs., 6 figs.

Land degradation and adoption of soil conservation technologies ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study investigates the causes of land degradation, and adoption of soil conservation practices using a two-stage decision making process. The data for the study were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive analysis, difference regression equation and simultaneous probit model.

Measuring rural homeowners' willingness to pay for land conservation easements

Science.gov (United States)

Seong-Hoon Cho; David H. Newman; J. Michael Bowker

2005-01-01

Rapid growth of rural communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Macon County, North Carolina has been giving rise to concerns over declining environmental quality and increasing need for land-use policy. This paper examines willingness to pay (WTP) for hypothetical conservation easements as an alternative land-use policy for the county. Despite the fact that Macon...

Seasonal movements of wildlife and livestock in a heterogenous pastoral landscape: Implications for coexistence and community based conservation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Tyrrell

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Rangelands across the world are home to millions of pastoral people and vast wildlife populations, which create a complex landscape for conservation. Community based conservation has been used to promote human-wildlife coexistence on pastoral lands, protecting wildlife outside of official protected areas. With the spread of community based conservation within the rangelands there is a need for more information on successful management practices. This study provides an example of this in the South Rift, Kenya, where seasonal movements of pastoralists aid coexistence. We used Density Surface Modelling (DSM, a novel tool for conservation managers in the rangelands, to predict wildlife and livestock abundance across the landscape and seasons. Wildlife grazers, zebra (Equus burchelli and wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus, follow expected metabolic patterns, feeding on short grass outside the conservation area in the wet season, before returning to the taller-lower quality grazing in the conservation areas during the drought. Browsing wildlife, impala (Aepyceros melampus and Grant’s gazelle (Nanger granti, move from open grassland and bushland areas into thicker, denser browse as the seasons progress towards the drought. Livestock, both shoats (Ovis aries, and Capra aegagrus hircus and cattle (Bos indicus, are managed by community grazing committees, who enforce a grazing plan that creates spatial–temporal separation between wildlife and livestock. They exploit the high-quality grazing in the livestock area during the wet season while conserving pasture in the conservation area, which is utilized only as forage is depleted. This ensures that wildlife has access to a diverse resource base across all seasons and potentially reduces competition, allowing for a diverse and abundant wildlife community to coexist with livestock. This highlights the importance of the presence and maintenance of spatial and temporal heterogeneity of forage resources

Diffusion of agricultural innovation: farmers opinion on land conservation measures in pishin, pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qsim, S.; Khan, A.N.; Shrestha, R.P.

2014-01-01

Land resources in Pakistan are under severe threat of degradation due to population growth. The situation is more serious in the arid and semi-arid areas, where the natural resources, especially the water-resources, are scarce. This paper reviews the study conducted to investigate the farmers views on land conservation measures in Pishin, Pakistan. Data were collected through survey questionnaires, focus-group discussions and field observations. Increased expenditure, poor extension services and lack of awareness were found to be the major reasons behind the non-adoption of the needed conservation measures. Significant differences were found for adoption of conservation measures by household categories. The study proposes government support and proper assistance to farmers by extension agents for sustainable use of land and water resources. (author)

Knowledge and tools to enhance resilience of beef grazing systems for sustainable animal protein production.

Science.gov (United States)

Steiner, Jean L; Engle, David M; Xiao, Xiangming; Saleh, Ali; Tomlinson, Peter; Rice, Charles W; Cole, N Andy; Coleman, Samuel W; Osei, Edward; Basara, Jeffrey; Middendorf, Gerad; Gowda, Prasanna; Todd, Richard; Moffet, Corey; Anandhi, Aavudai; Starks, Patrick J; Ocshner, Tyson; Reuter, Ryan; Devlin, Daniel

2014-11-01

Ruminant livestock provides meat and dairy products that sustain health and livelihood for much of the world's population. Grazing lands that support ruminant livestock provide numerous ecosystem services, including provision of food, water, and genetic resources; climate and water regulation; support of soil formation; nutrient cycling; and cultural services. In the U.S. southern Great Plains, beef production on pastures, rangelands, and hay is a major economic activity. The region's climate is characterized by extremes of heat and cold and extremes of drought and flooding. Grazing lands occupy a large portion of the region's land, significantly affecting carbon, nitrogen, and water budgets. To understand vulnerabilities and enhance resilience of beef production, a multi-institutional Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP), the "grazing CAP," was established. Integrative research and extension spanning biophysical, socioeconomic, and agricultural disciplines address management effects on productivity and environmental footprints of production systems. Knowledge and tools being developed will allow farmers and ranchers to evaluate risks and increase resilience to dynamic conditions. The knowledge and tools developed will also have relevance to grazing lands in semiarid and subhumid regions of the world. © 2014 New York Academy of Sciences.

Livestock Grazing as a Driver of Vernal Pool Ecohydrology

Science.gov (United States)

Michaels, J.; McCarten, N. F.

2017-12-01

Vernal pools are seasonal wetlands that host rare plant communities of high conservation priority. Plant community composition is largely driven by pool hydroperiod. A previous study found that vernal pools grazed by livestock had longer hydroperiods compared with pools excluded from grazing for 10 years, and suggests that livestock grazing can be used to protect plant diversity. It is important to assess whether observed differences are due to the grazing or due to water balance variables including upland discharge into or out of the pools since no a priori measurements were made of the hydrology prior to grazing. To address this question, in 2016 we compared 15 pools that have been grazed continuously and 15 pools that have been fenced off for over 40 years at a site in Sacramento County. We paired pools based on abiotic characteristics (size, shape, slope, soil type) to minimize natural variation. We sampled vegetation and water depth using Solinst level loggers. We found that plant diversity and average hydroperiod was significantly higher in the grazed pools. We are currently measuring groundwater connectivity and upland inputs in order to compare the relative strength of livestock grazing as a driver of hydroperiod to these other drivers.

Range-wide assessment of livestock grazing across the sagebrush biome

Science.gov (United States)

Veblen, Kari E.; Pyke, David A.; Jones, Christopher A.; Casazza, Michael L.; Assal, Timothy J.; Farinha, Melissa A.

2011-01-01

synthesize recommendations from federal and university rangeland science experts about how BLM might prioritize collection of different types of livestock grazing-related natural resource data. 4. Investigate whether range-wide datasets (Objective 1) could be used in conjunction with remotely sensed imagery to identify across broad scales (a) allotments potentially not meeting BLM Land Health Standards (LHS) and (b) allotments in which unmet standards might be attributable to livestock grazing. Objective 1: We identified four datasets that potentially could be used for analyses of livestock grazing effects on sagebrush ecosystems. First, we obtained the most current spatial data (typically up to 2007, 2008, or 2009) for all BLM allotments and compiled data into a coarse, topologically enforced dataset that delineated grazing allotment boundaries. Second, we obtained LHS evaluation data (as of 2007) for all allotments across all districts and regions; these data included date of most recent evaluation, BLM determinations of whether region-specific standards were met, and whether BLM deemed livestock to have contributed to any unmet standards. Third, we examined grazing records of three types: Actual Use (permittee-reported), Billed Use (BLM-reported), and Permitted Use (legally authorized). Finally, we explored the possibility of using existing Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Ecological Site Description (ESD) data to make up-to-date estimates of production and forage availability on BLM allotments. Objective 2: We investigated the availability of BLM livestock grazing-related monitoring data and the status of LHS across 310 randomly selected allotments in 13 BLM field offices. We found that, relative to other data types, the most commonly available monitoring data were Actual Use numbers (permittee-reported livestock numbers and season-of-use), followed by Photo Point, forage Utilization, and finally, Vegetation Trend measurement data. Data availability and

Traditional Livelihoods, Conservation and Meadow Ecology in Jiuzhaigou National Park, Sichuan, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Urgenson, Lauren; Schmidt, Amanda H; Combs, Julie; Harrell, Stevan; Hinckley, Thomas; Yang, Qingxia; Ma, Ziyu; Yongxian, Li; Hongliang, Lü; MacIver, Andrew

2014-06-01

Jiuzhaigou National Park (JNP) is a site of global conservation significance. Conservation policies in JNP include the implementation of two national reforestation programs to increase forest cover and the exclusion of local land-use. We use archaeological excavation, ethnographic interviews, remote sensing and vegetation surveys to examine the implications of these policies for non-forest, montane meadows. We find that Amdo Tibetan people cultivated the valley for >2,000 years, creating and maintaining meadows through land clearing, burning and grazing. Meadows served as sites for gathering plants and mushrooms and over 40 % of contemporary species are ethnobotanically useful. Remote sensing analyses indicate a substantial (69.6 %) decline in meadow area between 1974 and 2004. Respondents report a loss of their "true history" and connections to the past associated with loss of meadows. Conservation policies intended to preserve biodiversity are unintentionally contributing to the loss of these ecologically and culturally significant meadow habitats.

Behavioral assumptions of conservation policy: conserving oak habitat on family-forest land in the Willamette Valley, Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

A. Paige Fischer; John C. Bliss

2008-01-01

Designing policies that harness the motivations of landowners is essential for conserving threatened habitats on private lands. Our goal was to understand how to apply ethnographic information about family-forest owners to the design of conservation policy for Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) in the Willamette Valley, Oregon (U.S.A.). We examined...

Conservation Benefits of Tropical Multifunctional Land-Uses in and Around a Forest Protected Area of Bangladesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharif A. Mukul

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Competing interests in land for agriculture and commodity production in tropical human-dominated landscapes make forests and biodiversity conservation particularly challenging. Establishment of protected areas in this regard is not functioning as expected due to exclusive ecological focus and poor recognition of local people’s traditional forest use and dependence. In recent years, multifunctional land-use systems such as agroforestry have widely been promoted as an efficient land-use in such circumstances, although their conservation effectiveness remains poorly investigated. We undertake a rapid biodiversity survey to understand the conservation value of four contrasting forms of local land-use, namely: betel leaf (Piper betle agroforestry; lemon (Citrus limon agroforestry; pineapple (Ananas comosus agroforestry; and, shifting cultivation–fallow managed largely by the indigenous communities in and around a highly diverse forest protected area of Bangladesh. We measure the alpha and beta diversity of plants, birds, and mammals in these multifunctional land-uses, as well as in the old-growth secondary forest in the area. Our study finds local land-use critical in conserving biodiversity in the area, with comparable biodiversity benefits as those of the old-growth secondary forest. In Bangladesh, where population pressure and rural people’s dependence on forests are common, multifunctional land-uses in areas of high conservation priority could potentially be used to bridge the gap between conservation and commodity production, ensuring that the ecological integrity of such landscapes will be altered as little as possible.

1000 years of sustainable grazing in Nordic conditions?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brandt, Jesper

landscapes at different spatial levels. Information on much of this sort of regulation has however been lost through modern times, tended to prefer modern (nature) scientific methods primarily developed as general (meaning not spatially contextual) recommendations for raising productivity. During the later...... years this modern tradition has also been preferred by investigations to find solutions for non-sustainable types of land use in grazing systems. However, much sustainability-relevant wisdom has been accumulated in historical grazing-systems that should be included in the repertoire of knowledge...

Determination of Erosion Hazard Level And Bio-Mechanical Conservation In Post Merapi Eruption Land At Srumbung Magelang

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S Setyo Wardoyo

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to determine the Erosion hazard, to look for conservation of bio - mechanical techniques are appropriate . Research methods with overlies topographic maps, soil maps, land use maps, to obtain a Land Unit Map. Determined soil physical properties (texture, structure, permeability and chemical properties of soil (soil organic matter, slope, slope length, broad of land unit, crops factor and value conservation factors that have been there for Land Unit. Each land unit is determined the amount of land erosion and erosion hazard level. Erosion hazard level is determined based on soil erosion, and soil depth. Erosion hazzard level is used to determine the bio-mechanical conservation, according Hardjowigeno and Sukmana (1995. The results showed that the highest erosion hazard level with an area of 12.947 ha is classified weight (Land unit 15A, and the classification of an area of 14.665 ha is clssified moderately (Land unit 6A. Soil conservation is done in areas with highest erosion hazard level by making individual terraces and “kerandang” planted as a cover crops.

Increasing importance of precipitation variability on global livestock grazing lands

Science.gov (United States)

Sloat, Lindsey L.; Gerber, James S.; Samberg, Leah H.; Smith, William K.; Herrero, Mario; Ferreira, Laerte G.; Godde, Cécile M.; West, Paul C.

2018-03-01

Pastures and rangelands underpin global meat and milk production and are a critical resource for millions of people dependent on livestock for food security1,2. Forage growth, which is highly climate dependent3,4, is potentially vulnerable to climate change, although precisely where and to what extent remains relatively unexplored. In this study, we assess climate-based threats to global pastures, with a specific focus on changes in within- and between-year precipitation variability (precipitation concentration index (PCI) and coefficient of variation of precipitation (CVP), respectively). Relating global satellite measures of vegetation greenness (such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; NDVI) to key climatic factors reveals that CVP is a significant, yet often overlooked, constraint on vegetation productivity across global pastures. Using independent stocking data, we found that areas with high CVP support lower livestock densities than less-variable regions. Globally, pastures experience about a 25% greater year-to-year precipitation variation (CVP = 0.27) than the average global land surface area (0.21). Over the past century, CVP has generally increased across pasture areas, although both positive (49% of pasture area) and negative (31% of pasture area) trends exist. We identify regions in which livestock grazing is important for local food access and economies, and discuss the potential for pasture intensification in the context of long-term regional trends in precipitation variability.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and its land claimants: a pre- and post-land claim conservation and development history

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thondhlana, Gladman; Shackleton, Sheona [Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University (South Africa); Muchapondwa, Edwin [EPRU, School of Economics, Environmental Policy Research Unit, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

2011-04-15

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is located in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and neighbouring Botswana. The local communities on the South African side, the Khomani San (Bushmen) and Mier living adjacent to the park have land rights inside and outside the park. The path from a history of land dispossession to being land owners has created conservation challenges manifested through heightened inter- and intra-community conflicts. The contestations for land and tourism development opportunities in and outside the park have drawn in powerful institutions such as the governments, South African National Parks, private safari companies, local interest groups and NGOs against relatively powerless local communities. This has consequently attracted national and international interest since it may result in further marginalization of the communities who lack the power to negotiate resource access. Moreover, the social and political system of the San is romanticized while little is reported about the Mier, who are an integral part of the park management system. To make these issues more accessible to a growing audience of interested parties and to better understand present conservation and development challenges and opportunities, this paper synthesizes information on the pre- and post-land restitution history of the park and the adjacent communities.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and its land claimants: a pre- and post-land claim conservation and development history

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thondhlana, Gladman; Shackleton, Sheona; Muchapondwa, Edwin

2011-01-01

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is located in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and neighbouring Botswana. The local communities on the South African side, the Khomani San (Bushmen) and Mier living adjacent to the park have land rights inside and outside the park. The path from a history of land dispossession to being land owners has created conservation challenges manifested through heightened inter- and intra-community conflicts. The contestations for land and tourism development opportunities in and outside the park have drawn in powerful institutions such as the governments, South African National Parks, private safari companies, local interest groups and NGOs against relatively powerless local communities. This has consequently attracted national and international interest since it may result in further marginalization of the communities who lack the power to negotiate resource access. Moreover, the social and political system of the San is romanticized while little is reported about the Mier, who are an integral part of the park management system. To make these issues more accessible to a growing audience of interested parties and to better understand present conservation and development challenges and opportunities, this paper synthesizes information on the pre- and post-land restitution history of the park and the adjacent communities.

Assessing the shelf life of cost-efficient conservation plans for species at risk across gradients of agricultural land use.

Science.gov (United States)

Robillard, Cassandra M; Kerr, Jeremy T

2017-08-01

High costs of land in agricultural regions warrant spatial prioritization approaches to conservation that explicitly consider land prices to produce protected-area networks that accomplish targets efficiently. However, land-use changes in such regions and delays between plan design and implementation may render optimized plans obsolete before implementation occurs. To measure the shelf life of cost-efficient conservation plans, we simulated a land-acquisition and restoration initiative aimed at conserving species at risk in Canada's farmlands. We accounted for observed changes in land-acquisition costs and in agricultural intensity based on censuses of agriculture taken from 1986 to 2011. For each year of data, we mapped costs and areas of conservation priority designated using Marxan. We compared plans to test for changes through time in the arrangement of high-priority sites and in the total cost of each plan. For acquisition costs, we measured the savings from accounting for prices during site selection. Land-acquisition costs and land-use intensity generally rose over time independent of inflation (24-78%), although rates of change were heterogeneous through space and decreased in some areas. Accounting for spatial variation in land price lowered the cost of conservation plans by 1.73-13.9%, decreased the range of costs by 19-82%, and created unique solutions from which to choose. Despite the rise in plan costs over time, the high conservation priority of particular areas remained consistent. Delaying conservation in these critical areas may compromise what optimized conservation plans can achieve. In the case of Canadian farmland, rapid conservation action is cost-effective, even with moderate levels of uncertainty in how to implement restoration goals. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

An Assessment of Land Conservation Patterns in Maine Based on Spatial Analysis of Ecological and Socioeconomic Indicators

Science.gov (United States)

Cronan, Christopher S.; Lilieholm, Robert J.; Tremblay, Jill; Glidden, Timothy

2010-05-01

Given the nature of modern conservation acquisitions, which often result from gifts and opportunistic purchases of full or partial property rights, there is a risk that the resulting mosaic of conserved resources may not represent a coherent set of public values and benefits. With different public and private entities engaged in land conservation, one would further expect that each organization would apply separate goals and criteria to the selection and acquisition of its conservation portfolio. This set of circumstances raises an important question: what is the aggregate outcome of this land conservation process? Retrospective assessments provide a means of reviewing cumulative historical decisions and elucidating lessons for improving future conservation strategies. This study used GIS-based spatial analysis to examine the relationships of private and public conservation lands in Maine to a variety of landscape metrics in order to determine the degree to which these lands represent core ecological and socioeconomic values that are meaningful to a wide cross-section of citizens. Results revealed that the gains of past conservation efforts in Maine are counter-balanced to some extent by apparent gaps in the existing fabric of conservation holdings. Conservation lands capture a representative sample of diverse habitat, provide a large measure of protection for multiple conservation values and indicators, and offer an unusual mix of outdoor recreational opportunities for residents and visitors alike. Yet, the majority of parcels are relatively small and isolated, and thus do not provide contiguous habitat blocks that offset ongoing processes of landscape fragmentation. Furthermore, the majority of area associated with many of the ecological metrics examined in this report is located outside the boundaries of current conservation holdings. The under-represented metrics identified in this investigation can be viewed as potential targets for new strategic conservation

Targeted conservation to safeguard a biodiversity hotspot from climate and land-cover change.

Science.gov (United States)

Struebig, Matthew J; Wilting, Andreas; Gaveau, David L A; Meijaard, Erik; Smith, Robert J; Fischer, Manuela; Metcalfe, Kristian; Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie

2015-02-02

Responses of biodiversity to changes in both land cover and climate are recognized [1] but still poorly understood [2]. This poses significant challenges for spatial planning as species could shift, contract, expand, or maintain their range inside or outside protected areas [2-4]. We examine this problem in Borneo, a global biodiversity hotspot [5], using spatial prioritization analyses that maximize species conservation under multiple environmental-change forecasts. Climate projections indicate that 11%-36% of Bornean mammal species will lose ≥ 30% of their habitat by 2080, and suitable ecological conditions will shift upslope for 23%-46%. Deforestation exacerbates this process, increasing the proportion of species facing comparable habitat loss to 30%-49%, a 2-fold increase on historical trends. Accommodating these distributional changes will require conserving land outside existing protected areas, but this may be less than anticipated from models incorporating deforestation alone because some species will colonize high-elevation reserves. Our results demonstrate the increasing importance of upland reserves and that relatively small additions (16,000-28,000 km(2)) to the current conservation estate could provide substantial benefits to biodiversity facing changes to land cover and climate. On Borneo, much of this land is under forestry jurisdiction, warranting targeted conservation partnerships to safeguard biodiversity in an era of global change. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spatial Distribution of Nitrogen on Grazed Karst Landscapes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Douglas G. Boyer

2001-01-01

Full Text Available The impact on water quality by agricultural activity in karst terrain is an important consideration for resource management within the Appalachian region. Karst areas comprise about 18% of the region’s land area. An estimated one-third of the region’s farms, cattle, and agricultural market value are located on karst terrain. Mean nitrate concentrations in several karst springs in southeastern West Virginia exhibit a strong linear relationship with the percentage of agriculture land cover. Development of best management practices for efficient nitrogen (N use and reduction of outflow of N to water from karst areas requires knowledge about N dynamics on those landscapes. Water extractable NO3-N and NH4-N were measured along transects at four soil depths in two grazed sinkholes and one wooded sinkhole. Distribution of soil NO3-N and NH4-N were related to frequency of animal presence and to topographic and hydrologic redistribution of soil and fecal matter in the grazed sinkholes. Karst pastures are characterized by under drainage and funneling of water and contaminants to the shallow aquifer. Control of NO3-N leaching from karst pasture may depend on management strategies that change livestock grazing behavior in sinkholes and reduce the opportunity for water and contaminants to quickly reach sinkhole drains.

Using Optimal Land-Use Scenarios to Assess Trade-Offs between Conservation, Development, and Social Values.

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Vanessa M; Pressey, Robert L; Álvarez-Romero, Jorge G

2016-01-01

Development of land resources can contribute to increased economic productivity but can also negatively affect the extent and condition of native vegetation, jeopardize the persistence of native species, reduce water quality, and erode ecosystem services. Spatial planning must therefore balance outcomes for conservation, development, and social goals. One approach to evaluating these trade-offs is scenario planning. In this paper we demonstrate methods for incorporating stakeholder preferences into scenario planning through both defining scenario objectives and evaluating the scenarios that emerge. In this way, we aim to develop spatial plans capable of informing actual land-use decisions. We used a novel approach to scenario planning that couples optimal land-use design and social evaluation of environmental outcomes. Four land-use scenarios combined differences in total clearing levels (10% and 20%) in our study region, the Daly Catchment Australia, with the presence or absence of spatial precincts to concentrate irrigated agriculture. We used the systematic conservation planning tool Marxan with Zones to optimally plan for multiple land-uses that met objectives for both conservation and development. We assessed the performance of the scenarios in terms of the number of objectives met and the degree to which existing land-use policies were compromised (e.g., whether clearing limits in existing guidelines were exceeded or not). We also assessed the land-use scenarios using expected stakeholder satisfaction with changes in the catchment to explore how the scenarios performed against social preferences. There were a small fraction of conservation objectives with high conservation targets (100%) that could not be met due to current land uses; all other conservation and development objectives were met in all scenarios. Most scenarios adhered to the existing clearing guidelines with only marginal exceedances of limits, indicating that the scenario objectives were

Using Optimal Land-Use Scenarios to Assess Trade-Offs between Conservation, Development, and Social Values.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vanessa M Adams

Full Text Available Development of land resources can contribute to increased economic productivity but can also negatively affect the extent and condition of native vegetation, jeopardize the persistence of native species, reduce water quality, and erode ecosystem services. Spatial planning must therefore balance outcomes for conservation, development, and social goals. One approach to evaluating these trade-offs is scenario planning. In this paper we demonstrate methods for incorporating stakeholder preferences into scenario planning through both defining scenario objectives and evaluating the scenarios that emerge. In this way, we aim to develop spatial plans capable of informing actual land-use decisions. We used a novel approach to scenario planning that couples optimal land-use design and social evaluation of environmental outcomes. Four land-use scenarios combined differences in total clearing levels (10% and 20% in our study region, the Daly Catchment Australia, with the presence or absence of spatial precincts to concentrate irrigated agriculture. We used the systematic conservation planning tool Marxan with Zones to optimally plan for multiple land-uses that met objectives for both conservation and development. We assessed the performance of the scenarios in terms of the number of objectives met and the degree to which existing land-use policies were compromised (e.g., whether clearing limits in existing guidelines were exceeded or not. We also assessed the land-use scenarios using expected stakeholder satisfaction with changes in the catchment to explore how the scenarios performed against social preferences. There were a small fraction of conservation objectives with high conservation targets (100% that could not be met due to current land uses; all other conservation and development objectives were met in all scenarios. Most scenarios adhered to the existing clearing guidelines with only marginal exceedances of limits, indicating that the scenario

Desertification: overpopulation on dry lands - deserts in the making.

Science.gov (United States)

Behrens, S

1977-10-01

The U.N.'s conference in Nairobi focused on the problem of desertification in the underdeveloped nations. Population pressures force the overuse of the land - in grazing, cropping, and cutting trees for burning. External factors such as the organization of the societies, the past colonial system in Africa, and the introduction of foreign technologies and fluctuating world food markets have all contributed to desertification. The conference recommended that a fund be started to fight this condition. Such a fund would provide for a full agenda of conservation, research, and public education.

Assessment of the Effects of Emerging Grazing Policies on Land ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ADOWIE PERE

carbon sequestration and water filtration. ... temperature of 13oc in the north during the harmattan in ... vegetation cover is removed with the view to obtain ... data concerning environmental degradation mitigation ... in terrestrial ecosystems and driving processes that .... Grazing systems, ecosystem response, and global.

Recognising land rights for conservation? tenure reforms in the Northern Sierra Madre, The Philippines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan van der Ploeg

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The legalisation of the customary land rights of rural communities is currently actively promoted as a strategy for conserving biodiversity. There is, however, little empirical information on the conservation outcomes of these tenure reforms. In this paper, we describe four conservation projects that specifically aimed to formalise land rights in the Philippines, a country widely seen as a model for the devolution of control over natural resources to rural communities. We demonstrate that these legalistic interventions are based on flawed assumptions, on: 1 the capacity of the state to enforce tenure; 2 the characteristics of customary land rights; and 3 the causal links between legal entitlements and sustainable natural resource management. As a result, these state-led tenure reforms actually aggravate tenure insecurity on the ground, and ultimately fail to improve natural resource management.

New findings and setting the research agenda for soil and water conservation for sustainable land management

Science.gov (United States)

Keesstra, Saskia; Argaman, Eli; Gomez, Jose Alfonso; Quinton, John

2014-05-01

The session on soil and water conservation for sustainable land management provides insights into the current research producing viable measures for sustainable land management and enhancing the lands role as provider of ecosystem services. The insights into degradation processes are essential for designing and implementing feasible measures to mitigate against degradation of the land resource and adapt to the changing environment. Land degradation occurs due to multiple pressures on the land, such as population growth, land-use and land-cover changes, climate change and over exploitation of resources, often resulting in soil erosion due to water and wind, which occurs in many parts of the world. Understanding the processes of soil erosion by wind and water and the social and economic constraints faced by farmers forms an essential component of integrated land development projects. Soil and water conservation measures are only viable and sustainable if local environmental and socio-economic conditions are taken into account and proper enabling conditions and policies can be achieved. Land degradation increasingly occurs because land use, and farming systems are subject to rapid environmental and socio-economic changes without implementation of appropriate soil and water conservation technologies. Land use and its management are thus inextricably bound up with development; farmers must adapt in order to sustain the quality of their, and their families, lives. In broader perspective, soil and water conservation is needed as regulating ecosystem service and as a tool to enhance food security and biodiversity. Since land degradation occurs in many parts of the world and threatens food production and environmental stability it affects those countries with poorer soils and resilience in the agriculture sector first. Often these are the least developed countries. Therefore the work from researchers from developing countries together with knowledge from other disciplines

Simple rules can guide whether land- or ocean-based conservation will best benefit marine ecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

Saunders, Megan I; Bode, Michael; Atkinson, Scott; Klein, Carissa J; Metaxas, Anna; Beher, Jutta; Beger, Maria; Mills, Morena; Giakoumi, Sylvaine; Tulloch, Vivitskaia; Possingham, Hugh P

2017-09-01

Coastal marine ecosystems can be managed by actions undertaken both on the land and in the ocean. Quantifying and comparing the costs and benefits of actions in both realms is therefore necessary for efficient management. Here, we quantify the link between terrestrial sediment runoff and a downstream coastal marine ecosystem and contrast the cost-effectiveness of marine- and land-based conservation actions. We use a dynamic land- and sea-scape model to determine whether limited funds should be directed to 1 of 4 alternative conservation actions-protection on land, protection in the ocean, restoration on land, or restoration in the ocean-to maximise the extent of light-dependent marine benthic habitats across decadal timescales. We apply the model to a case study for a seagrass meadow in Australia. We find that marine restoration is the most cost-effective action over decadal timescales in this system, based on a conservative estimate of the rate at which seagrass can expand into a new habitat. The optimal decision will vary in different social-ecological contexts, but some basic information can guide optimal investments to counteract land- and ocean-based stressors: (1) marine restoration should be prioritised if the rates of marine ecosystem decline and expansion are similar and low; (2) marine protection should take precedence if the rate of marine ecosystem decline is high or if the adjacent catchment is relatively intact and has a low rate of vegetation decline; (3) land-based actions are optimal when the ratio of marine ecosystem expansion to decline is greater than 1:1.4, with terrestrial restoration typically the most cost-effective action; and (4) land protection should be prioritised if the catchment is relatively intact but the rate of vegetation decline is high. These rules of thumb illustrate how cost-effective conservation outcomes for connected land-ocean systems can proceed without complex modelling.

A method to the impact assessment of the returning grazing land to grassland project on regional eco-environmental vulnerability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shao, Huaiyong; Sun, Xiaofei; Wang, Haoxue; Zhang, Xiaoxue; Xiang, Zhiying; Tan, Rui; Chen, Xuanyi; Xian, Wei; Qi, Jiaguo

2016-01-01

The Chinese government has conducted the Returning Grazing Land to Grassland Project (RGLGP) across large portions of grasslands from western China since 2003. In order to explore and understand the impact in the grassland's eco-environment during the RGLGP, we utilized Projection Pursuit Model (PPM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) to develop a spatial assessment model to examine the ecological vulnerability of the grassland. Our results include five indications: (1) it is practical to apply the spatial PPM on ecological vulnerability assessment for the grassland. This methodology avoids creating an artificial hypothesis, thereby providing objective results that successfully execute a multi-index assessment process and analysis under non-linear systems in eco-environments; (2) the spatial PPM is not only capable of evaluating regional eco-environmental vulnerability in a quantitative way, but also can quantitatively demonstrate the degree of effect in each evaluation index for regional eco-environmental vulnerability; (3) the eco-environment of the Xianshui River Basin falls into the medium range level. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land use cover and change (LUCC) crucially influence the Xianshui River Basin's eco-environmental vulnerability. Generally, in the Xianshui River Basin, regional eco-environmental conditions improved during 2000 and 2010. The RGLGP positively affected NDVI and LUCC structure, thereby promoting the enhancement of the regional eco-environment; (4) the Xianshui River Basin divides its ecological vulnerability across different levels; therefore our study investigates three ecological regions and proposes specific suggestions for each in order to assist in eco-environmental protection and rehabilitation; and lastly that (5) the spatial PPM established by this study has the potential to be applied on all types of grassland eco-environmental vulnerability assessments under the RGLGP and under the similar

A method to the impact assessment of the returning grazing land to grassland project on regional eco-environmental vulnerability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shao, Huaiyong, E-mail: huaiyongshao@163.com [Key Laboratory of Geoscience Spatial Information Technology, Ministry of Land and Resources of China, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, Sichuan (China); Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48823, MI (United States); Sun, Xiaofei; Wang, Haoxue; Zhang, Xiaoxue [Key Laboratory of Geoscience Spatial Information Technology, Ministry of Land and Resources of China, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, Sichuan (China); Xiang, Zhiying [School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, Zhejiang (China); Tan, Rui; Chen, Xuanyi [Key Laboratory of Geoscience Spatial Information Technology, Ministry of Land and Resources of China, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, Sichuan (China); Xian, Wei [College of Resources and Environment, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu 610225, Sichuan (China); Qi, Jiaguo [Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48823, MI (United States)

2016-01-15

The Chinese government has conducted the Returning Grazing Land to Grassland Project (RGLGP) across large portions of grasslands from western China since 2003. In order to explore and understand the impact in the grassland's eco-environment during the RGLGP, we utilized Projection Pursuit Model (PPM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) to develop a spatial assessment model to examine the ecological vulnerability of the grassland. Our results include five indications: (1) it is practical to apply the spatial PPM on ecological vulnerability assessment for the grassland. This methodology avoids creating an artificial hypothesis, thereby providing objective results that successfully execute a multi-index assessment process and analysis under non-linear systems in eco-environments; (2) the spatial PPM is not only capable of evaluating regional eco-environmental vulnerability in a quantitative way, but also can quantitatively demonstrate the degree of effect in each evaluation index for regional eco-environmental vulnerability; (3) the eco-environment of the Xianshui River Basin falls into the medium range level. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land use cover and change (LUCC) crucially influence the Xianshui River Basin's eco-environmental vulnerability. Generally, in the Xianshui River Basin, regional eco-environmental conditions improved during 2000 and 2010. The RGLGP positively affected NDVI and LUCC structure, thereby promoting the enhancement of the regional eco-environment; (4) the Xianshui River Basin divides its ecological vulnerability across different levels; therefore our study investigates three ecological regions and proposes specific suggestions for each in order to assist in eco-environmental protection and rehabilitation; and lastly that (5) the spatial PPM established by this study has the potential to be applied on all types of grassland eco-environmental vulnerability assessments under the RGLGP and under the

Isolated Ficus trees deliver dual conservation and development benefits in a rural landscape

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cottee-Jones, H. Eden W.; Bajpai, Omesh; Chaudhary, Lal B.

2015-01-01

strategy to manage the availability of valuable plant resources, facilitated by the use of isolated Ficus trees as restoration nuclei. We surveyed the plants growing under 207 isolated trees in Assam, India, and categorized them according to their local human-uses. We found that Ficus trees were associated...... densities in most categories. Community management practices that conserve isolated Ficus trees, and restrict livestock grazing and high-intensity land-use in their vicinity, can promote plant growth and the provision of important local resources....

Traditional cattle grazing in a mosaic alkali landscape: effects on grassland biodiversity along a moisture gradient.

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Péter Török

Full Text Available Extensively managed pastures are of crucial importance in sustaining biodiversity both in local- and landscape-level. Thus, re-introduction of traditional grazing management is a crucial issue in grassland conservation actions worldwide. Traditional grazing with robust cattle breeds in low stocking rates is considered to be especially useful to mimic natural grazing regimes, but well documented case-studies are surprisingly rare on this topic. Our goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional Hungarian Grey cattle grazing as a conservation action in a mosaic alkali landscape. We asked the following questions: (i How does cattle grazing affect species composition and diversity of the grasslands? (ii What are the effects of grazing on short-lived and perennial noxious species? (iii Are there distinct effects of grazing in dry-, mesophilous- and wet grassland types? Vegetation of fenced and grazed plots in a 200-ha sized habitat complex (secondary dry grasslands and pristine mesophilous- and wet alkali grasslands was sampled from 2006-2009 in East-Hungary. We found higher diversity scores in grazed plots compared to fenced ones in mesophilous- and wet grasslands. Higher cover of noxious species was typical in fenced plots compared to their grazed counterparts in the last year in every studied grassland type. We found an increasing effect of grazing from the dry- towards the wet grassland types. The year-to-year differences also followed similar pattern: the site-dependent effects were the lowest in the dry grassland and an increasing effect was detected along the moisture gradient. We found that extensive Hungarian Grey cattle grazing is an effective tool to suppress noxious species and to create a mosaic vegetation structure, which enables to maintain high species richness in the landscape. Hungarian Grey cattle can feed in open habitats along long moisture gradient, thus in highly mosaic landscapes this breed can be the most suitable

Advancing Land-Sea Conservation Planning: Integrating Modelling of Catchments, Land-Use Change, and River Plumes to Prioritise Catchment Management and Protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Álvarez-Romero, Jorge G; Pressey, Robert L; Ban, Natalie C; Brodie, Jon

2015-01-01

Human-induced changes to river loads of nutrients and sediments pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Ongoing land-use change can further increase these loads, and amplify the impacts of land-based threats on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Consequently, there is a need to assess these threats and prioritise actions to mitigate their impacts. A key question regarding prioritisation is whether actions in catchments to maintain coastal-marine water quality can be spatially congruent with actions for other management objectives, such as conserving terrestrial biodiversity. In selected catchments draining into the Gulf of California, Mexico, we employed Land Change Modeller to assess the vulnerability of areas with native vegetation to conversion into crops, pasture, and urban areas. We then used SedNet, a catchment modelling tool, to map the sources and estimate pollutant loads delivered to the Gulf by these catchments. Following these analyses, we used modelled river plumes to identify marine areas likely influenced by land-based pollutants. Finally, we prioritised areas for catchment management based on objectives for conservation of terrestrial biodiversity and objectives for water quality that recognised links between pollutant sources and affected marine areas. Our objectives for coastal-marine water quality were to reduce sediment and nutrient discharges from anthropic areas, and minimise future increases in coastal sedimentation and eutrophication. Our objectives for protection of terrestrial biodiversity covered species of vertebrates. We used Marxan, a conservation planning tool, to prioritise interventions and explore spatial differences in priorities for both objectives. Notable differences in the distributions of land values for terrestrial biodiversity and coastal-marine water quality indicated the likely need for trade-offs between catchment management objectives. However, there were priority areas that contributed to both sets of objectives. Our

Habitat preference of geese is affected by livestock grazing : Seasonal variation in an experimental field evaluation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mandema, Freek S.; Tinbergen, Joost M.; Stahl, Julia; Esselink, Peter; Bakker, Jan P.

The number of staging geese in northwestern Europe has increased dramatically. Growing goose numbers put strong grazing pressure on agricultural pastures. Damage to agricultural land may be mitigated by managing nature reserves in order to optimally accommodate large numbers of grazing geese.

Biomass requirements from natural pastures for livestock grazing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The problem of seasonal shortages of herbage production from natural pastures in the Ethiopian highlands was investigated. This was done by comparing the available biomass amounts on the pastures with biomass amounts required for livestock grazing and for protecting land slope from soil erosion within a given slope ...

Multiple-land use practices in transfrontier conservation areas: the case of Greater Mapungubwe straddling parts of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe

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Sinthumule Ndidzulafhi Innocent

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs have recently emerged as the 21st century approach to managing protected areas in southern Africa. Unlike national parks and other protected areas that place emphasis only on the protection of plant and animal species within their borders, transfrontier conservation areas promote conservation beyond the borders of protected areas. Consequently, this mega-conservation initiative encourage multiple land-use practices with the purpose of improving rural livelihoods whilst promoting biodiversity conservation. Thus, land parcels under different forms of tenure are brought together into a common nature conservation project. This study argues that the integration of various land-use practices within one area benefits conservation goals at the expense of local communities and irrigation farmers. To substantiate this argument, the study draws on fieldwork material collected in the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area spanning parts of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The study concludes that multiple-land use practices in transfrontier conservation areas is only promoted by wildlife managers to gain access to extra land.

Community Resource Uses and Ethiopian Wolf Conservation in Mount Abune Yosef

Science.gov (United States)

Eshete, Girma; Tesfay, Girmay; Bauer, Hans; Ashenafi, Zelealem Tefera; de Iongh, Hans; Marino, Jorgelina

2015-09-01

People who perceive economic benefits and enjoy unrestricted access to natural resources tend to support ecosystem conservation efforts. Our study explores whether this remains true in remnant patches of Afroalpine ecosystem in North Ethiopia, where communal land provides valuable natural resources for the local communities and also sustain small populations of the endangered Ethiopian wolf ( Canis simensis). Questionnaires were designed to assess ecological and socio-economic characteristics of the livelihoods of the Amhara people living in Mount Abune Yosef and their attitudes toward Afroalpine and Ethiopian wolf conservation. Of the 120 households interviewed, selected randomly from across eight villages, 80 % benefited from natural resources by grazing their livestock and harvesting firewood and grasses. The majority (90 %) also suffered from livestock predation by Ethiopian wolves and common jackals (Canis aureus) and crop raiding by geladas ( Theropithecus gelada), birds, and rodents, yet more than half reported a positive attitudes toward Ethiopian wolves (66 %). People with positive attitudes tended to live close to the communal land, to own more livestock, and to be unaffected by conflict. Many also recognized the need to protect the Afroalpine habitats of Abune Yosef (71 %), and this attitude predominated among the literate, households that owned land, had smaller herds and were further away. We discussed how people's attitudes were modulated by human-wildlife conflicts and by the benefits derived from the access to natural resources in communal land, and the implications for the conservation of Afroalpine ecosystem and the flagship Ethiopian wolf.

Livestock grazing intensity affects abundance of Common shrews (Sorex araneus) in two meadows in Denmark

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Niels M; Olsen, Henrik; Leirs, Herwig

2009-01-01

Background Current nature conservation in semi-natural grasslands often includes grazing and hay cutting, as well as the abandonment of draining. Semi-natural grassland and in particular meadows constitute important habitat type for a large number of animal species in today's fragmented and intensively cultivated landscape of Europe. Here we focus on the population characteristics of Common shrews Sorex araneus in relation to livestock grazing intensity in two wet meadows in western Denmark. Results High grazing intensity had a significant negative effect on Common shrew number compared to low grazing intensity and no grazing. Common shrew abundance was generally, but not significantly, higher on the low grazing intensity plots than on the ungrazed controls. No differences in body mass, sex ratio, or reproductive output between Common shrew individuals from the various grazing treatments were found. Conclusion No negative effects of low intensity grazing on Common shrew abundance were found compared to the ungrazed control. Low intensity grazing thus seems a suitable management regime for Common shrews, when grazing is needed as part of the meadow management scheme. High intensity grazing on the other hand is not a suitable management tool. PMID:19152713

Livestock grazing intensity affects abundance of Common shrews (Sorex araneus in two meadows in Denmark

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Olsen Henrik

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Current nature conservation in semi-natural grasslands often includes grazing and hay cutting, as well as the abandonment of draining. Semi-natural grassland and in particular meadows constitute important habitat type for a large number of animal species in today's fragmented and intensively cultivated landscape of Europe. Here we focus on the population characteristics of Common shrews Sorex araneus in relation to livestock grazing intensity in two wet meadows in western Denmark. Results High grazing intensity had a significant negative effect on Common shrew number compared to low grazing intensity and no grazing. Common shrew abundance was generally, but not significantly, higher on the low grazing intensity plots than on the ungrazed controls. No differences in body mass, sex ratio, or reproductive output between Common shrew individuals from the various grazing treatments were found. Conclusion No negative effects of low intensity grazing on Common shrew abundance were found compared to the ungrazed control. Low intensity grazing thus seems a suitable management regime for Common shrews, when grazing is needed as part of the meadow management scheme. High intensity grazing on the other hand is not a suitable management tool.

Networking for conservation: social capital and perceptions of organizational success among land trust boards

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Tatyana B. Ruseva

2016-06-01

Full Text Available As an important component in collaborative natural resource management and nonprofit governance, social capital is expected to be related to variations in the performance of land trusts. Land trusts are charitable organizations that work to conserve private land locally, regionally, or nationally. The purpose of this paper is to identify the level of structural and cognitive social capital among local land trusts, and how these two types of social capital relate to the perceived success of land trusts. The analysis integrates data for land trusts operating in the U.S. south-central Appalachian region, which includes western North Carolina, southwest Virginia, and east Tennessee. We use factor analysis to elicit different dimensions of cognitive social capital, including cooperation among board members, shared values, common norms, and communication effectiveness. Measures of structural social capital include the size and diversity of organizational networks of both land trusts and their board members. Finally, a hierarchical linear regression model is employed to estimate how cognitive and structural social capital measures, along with other organizational and individual-level attributes, relate to perceptions of land trust success, defined here as achievement of the land trusts' mission, conservation, and financial goals. Results show that the diversity of organizational partnerships, cooperation, and shared values among land trust board members are associated with higher levels of perceived success. Organizational capacity, land trust accreditation, volunteerism, and financial support are also important factors influencing perceptions of success among local, nonprofit land trusts.

An Approach to Evaluate Comprehensive Plan and Identify Priority Lands for Future Land Use Development to Conserve More Ecological Values

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Long Zhou

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Urbanization has significant impacts on the regional environmental quality through altering natural lands, converting them to urban built-up areas. One common strategy applied by urban planners to manage urbanization and preserve natural resources is to make a comprehensive plan and concentrate future land use in certain areas. However, in practice, planners used to make future land use planning mainly based on their subjective interpretations with limited ecological supporting evidence and analysis. Here, we propose a new approach composed of ecological modelling and land use zoning in the spatial matrix to evaluate the comprehensive plan and identify priority lands for sustainable land use planning. We use the city of Corvallis, OR, as the test bed to demonstrate this new approach. The results indicate that the Corvallis Comprehensive Plan 1998–2020 featured with compact development is not performing efficiently in conserving ecological values, and the land use plan featured with mixed-use spreading development generated by the proposed approach meets the city’s land demands for urban growth, and conserves 103% more ecological value of retaining storm water nitrogen, 270% more ecological value of retaining storm water phosphorus and 19% more ecological value in storing carbon in the whole watershed. This study indicates that if planned with scientific analysis and evidence, spreading urban development does not necessarily result in less sustainable urban environment than the compact development recommended in smart growth.

Exclusion of agricultural lands in spatial conservation prioritization strategies: consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem service representation.

Science.gov (United States)

Durán, América P; Duffy, James P; Gaston, Kevin J

2014-10-07

Agroecosystems have traditionally been considered incompatible with biological conservation goals, and often been excluded from spatial conservation prioritization strategies. The consequences for the representativeness of identified priority areas have been little explored. Here, we evaluate these for biodiversity and carbon storage representation when agricultural land areas are excluded from a spatial prioritization strategy for South America. Comparing different prioritization approaches, we also assess how the spatial overlap of priority areas changes. The exclusion of agricultural lands was detrimental to biodiversity representation, indicating that priority areas for agricultural production overlap with areas of relatively high occurrence of species. By contrast, exclusion of agricultural lands benefits representation of carbon storage within priority areas, as lands of high value for agriculture and carbon storage overlap little. When agricultural lands were included and equally weighted with biodiversity and carbon storage, a balanced representation resulted. Our findings suggest that with appropriate management, South American agroecosystems can significantly contribute to biodiversity conservation. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Mixed grazing systems benefit both upland biodiversity and livestock production.

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Mariecia D Fraser

Full Text Available With world food demand expected to double by 2050, identifying farming systems that benefit both agricultural production and biodiversity is a fundamentally important challenge for the 21(st century, but this has to be achieved in a sustainable way. Livestock grazing management directly influences both economic outputs and biodiversity on upland farms while contributing to potentially damaging greenhouse gas emissions, yet no study has attempted to address these impacts simultaneously.Using a replicated, landscape-scale field experiment consisting of five management 'systems' we tested the effects of progressively altering elements within an upland farming system, viz i incorporating cattle grazing into an upland sheep system, ii integrating grazing of semi-natural rough grazing into a mixed grazing system based on improved pasture, iii altering the stocking ratio within a mixed grazing system, and iv replacing modern crossbred cattle with a traditional breed. We quantified the impacts on livestock productivity and numbers of birds and butterflies over four years.We found that management systems incorporating mixed grazing with cattle improve livestock productivity and reduce methane emissions relative to sheep only systems. Systems that also included semi-natural rough grazing consistently supported more species of birds and butterflies, and it was possible to incorporate bouts of summer grazing of these pastures by cattle to meet habitat management prescriptions without compromising cattle performance overall. We found no evidence that the system incorporating a cattle breed popular as a conservation grazer was any better for bird and butterfly species richness than those based on a mainstream breed, yet methane emissions from such a system were predicted to be higher. We have demonstrated that mixed upland grazing systems not only improve livestock production, but also benefit biodiversity, suggesting a 'win-win' solution for farmers and

A landholder-based approach to the design of private-land conservation programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, Katie; Cocklin, Chris

2011-06-01

Many ecosystems exist primarily, or solely, on privately owned (freehold) or managed (leasehold) land. In rural and semirural areas, local and regional government agencies are commonly responsible for encouraging landholders to conserve native vegetation and species on these private properties. Yet these agencies often lack the capacity to design and implement conservation programs tailored to rural and semirural landholdings and instead offer one program to all landholders. Landholders may elect not to participate because the program is irrelevant to their property or personal needs; consequently, vegetation-retention objectives may not be achieved. We differentiated landholders in Queensland, Australia, according to whether they derived income from the land (production landholders) or not (nonproduction landholders). We compared these two groups to identify similarities and differences that may inform the use of policy instruments (e.g., voluntary, economic, and regulatory) in conservation program design. We interviewed 45 landholders participating in three different conservation agreement programs (price-based rate [property tax] rebate; market-based tender; and voluntary, permanent covenant). Production landholders were more likely to participate in short-term programs that offered large financial incentives that applied to 75% of their property. These results may be explained by significant differences in the personal circumstances of production and nonproduction landholders (income, education, health) and differences in their norms (beliefs about how an individual is expected to act) and attitudes. Knowledge of these differences may allow for development of conservation programs that better meet the needs of landholders and thus increase participation in conservation programs and retention of native vegetation. ©2011 Society for Conservation Biology.

Advancing Land-Sea Conservation Planning: Integrating Modelling of Catchments, Land-Use Change, and River Plumes to Prioritise Catchment Management and Protection

Science.gov (United States)

Álvarez-Romero, Jorge G.; Pressey, Robert L.; Ban, Natalie C.; Brodie, Jon

2015-01-01

Human-induced changes to river loads of nutrients and sediments pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Ongoing land-use change can further increase these loads, and amplify the impacts of land-based threats on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Consequently, there is a need to assess these threats and prioritise actions to mitigate their impacts. A key question regarding prioritisation is whether actions in catchments to maintain coastal-marine water quality can be spatially congruent with actions for other management objectives, such as conserving terrestrial biodiversity. In selected catchments draining into the Gulf of California, Mexico, we employed Land Change Modeller to assess the vulnerability of areas with native vegetation to conversion into crops, pasture, and urban areas. We then used SedNet, a catchment modelling tool, to map the sources and estimate pollutant loads delivered to the Gulf by these catchments. Following these analyses, we used modelled river plumes to identify marine areas likely influenced by land-based pollutants. Finally, we prioritised areas for catchment management based on objectives for conservation of terrestrial biodiversity and objectives for water quality that recognised links between pollutant sources and affected marine areas. Our objectives for coastal-marine water quality were to reduce sediment and nutrient discharges from anthropic areas, and minimise future increases in coastal sedimentation and eutrophication. Our objectives for protection of terrestrial biodiversity covered species of vertebrates. We used Marxan, a conservation planning tool, to prioritise interventions and explore spatial differences in priorities for both objectives. Notable differences in the distributions of land values for terrestrial biodiversity and coastal-marine water quality indicated the likely need for trade-offs between catchment management objectives. However, there were priority areas that contributed to both sets of objectives. Our

Advancing Land-Sea Conservation Planning: Integrating Modelling of Catchments, Land-Use Change, and River Plumes to Prioritise Catchment Management and Protection.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge G Álvarez-Romero

Full Text Available Human-induced changes to river loads of nutrients and sediments pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Ongoing land-use change can further increase these loads, and amplify the impacts of land-based threats on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Consequently, there is a need to assess these threats and prioritise actions to mitigate their impacts. A key question regarding prioritisation is whether actions in catchments to maintain coastal-marine water quality can be spatially congruent with actions for other management objectives, such as conserving terrestrial biodiversity. In selected catchments draining into the Gulf of California, Mexico, we employed Land Change Modeller to assess the vulnerability of areas with native vegetation to conversion into crops, pasture, and urban areas. We then used SedNet, a catchment modelling tool, to map the sources and estimate pollutant loads delivered to the Gulf by these catchments. Following these analyses, we used modelled river plumes to identify marine areas likely influenced by land-based pollutants. Finally, we prioritised areas for catchment management based on objectives for conservation of terrestrial biodiversity and objectives for water quality that recognised links between pollutant sources and affected marine areas. Our objectives for coastal-marine water quality were to reduce sediment and nutrient discharges from anthropic areas, and minimise future increases in coastal sedimentation and eutrophication. Our objectives for protection of terrestrial biodiversity covered species of vertebrates. We used Marxan, a conservation planning tool, to prioritise interventions and explore spatial differences in priorities for both objectives. Notable differences in the distributions of land values for terrestrial biodiversity and coastal-marine water quality indicated the likely need for trade-offs between catchment management objectives. However, there were priority areas that contributed to both

The evolution of institutions and rules governing communal grazing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper traces the tradition and evolution of the institutions and rules governing communal grazing lands in Botswana. It shows how the problem of resource overuse arose partly from the dismantling and delegitimization of traditional resource management institutions that occurred during the colonial period, and was ...

Assessing degradation of abandoned farmlands for conservation of the Monte Desert biome in Argentina.

Science.gov (United States)

Yannelli, Florencia A; Tabeni, Solana; Mastrantonio, Leandro E; Vezzani, Nazareth

2014-01-01

Land abandonment is a major issue worldwide. In Argentina, the Monte Desert is the most arid rangeland, where the traditional conservation practices are based on successional management of areas excluded to disturbances or abandoned. Some areas subjected to this kind of management may be too degraded, and thus require active restoration. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess whether passive succession-based management is a suitable approach by evaluating the status of land degradation in a protected area after 17-41 years of farming abandonment. Soil traits and plant growth forms were quantified and compared between sites according to time since abandonment and former land use (cultivation and grazing). Two variables were calculated using the CORINE-CEC method, i.e., potential (PSER) and actual (ASER) soil erosion risk. PSER indicates the erosion risk when no vegetation is present, while ASER includes the protective role of vegetation cover. Results showed that land use history had no significant effect on plant growth forms or soil traits (p > 0.05). After more than 25 years since abandonment of farming activities, soil conditions and vegetation cover had improved, thus having a lower ASER. Nevertheless, the present soil physical crusts may have delayed the full development of vegetation, enhancing erosion processes. Overall, this study indicates that succession-based management may not be the best practice in terms of conservation. Therefore, any effort for conservation in the Monte Desert should contemplate the current status of land degradation and potential vegetation recovery.

Divergence and Conservative Evolution of XTNX Genes in Land Plants

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Yan-Mei Zhang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The Toll-interleukin-1 receptor (TIR and Nucleotide-binding site (NBS domains are two major components of the TIR-NBS-leucine-rich repeat family plant disease resistance genes. Extensive functional and evolutionary studies have been performed on these genes; however, the characterization of a small group of genes that are composed of atypical TIR and NBS domains, namely XTNX genes, is limited. The present study investigated this specific gene family by conducting genome-wide analyses of 59 green plant genomes. A total of 143 XTNX genes were identified in 51 of the 52 land plant genomes, whereas no XTNX gene was detected in any green algae genomes, which indicated that XTNX genes originated upon emergence of land plants. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the ancestral XTNX gene underwent two rounds of ancient duplications in land plants, which resulted in the formation of clades I/II and clades IIa/IIb successively. Although clades I and IIb have evolved conservatively in angiosperms, the motif composition difference and sequence divergence at the amino acid level suggest that functional divergence may have occurred since the separation of the two clades. In contrast, several features of the clade IIa genes, including the absence in the majority of dicots, the long branches in the tree, the frequent loss of ancestral motifs, and the loss of expression in all detected tissues of Zea mays, all suggest that the genes in this lineage might have undergone pseudogenization. This study highlights that XTNX genes are a gene family originated anciently in land plants and underwent specific conservative pattern in evolution.

Land reclamation and artificial islands: Walking the tightrope between development and conservation

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Su Yin Chee

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Coastal developments worldwide have put entire shoreline ecosystems at risk. Recently, land reclamation has been extended to the construction of whole new islands; a phenomenon that is particularly common in Asia and the Middle East and is recognised as a global conservation issue. Using Penang Island, Malaysia as a case study, we illustrate the relationship between rapid population growth and the simultaneous increase in urbanisation, land reclamation and extent of artificial shorelines; and decrease in the quality and extent of natural coastal habitats. Our goal was to provide an up-to-date assessment of the state of coastal habitats around Penang, identify knowledge gaps and identify locations that may be potentially suitable for eco-engineering. Comparisons of historical and current topographic maps revealed that land formerly consisting of coastal swamp and forest, mangrove forests, sandy beaches, and rubber and oil plantations have been lost to large-scale land reclamation and urbanisation. Between 1960 and 2015, there were increases in urbanised area, reclaimed land, and artificial shoreline extent. The total extent of mangrove forests has remained relatively stable but this balance is characterised by significant losses on the east coast coupled with increases on the west coast. Coastal development on the island is still on-going with plans for the construction of five artificial islands and another two coastal reclamation projects are either underway or scheduled for the near future. If the plans for future land reclamations are fully realized, 32.3 km2 of the 321.8 km2 island (10% will be reclaimed land and the associated negative effects on the island’s natural coastal habitats will be inevitable. This study highlights sections of the coast of Penang Island in need of effective monitoring, conservation and management and explores the possibility of incorporating ecological engineering into development projects, either

Grazing behavior and intake of goats rotationally grazing Tanzania-grass pasture with different post-grazing residues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcia H.M.R. Fernandes

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to evaluate intake and ingestive behavior of goats rotationally grazing Tanzania (Panicum maximum cv. Tanzânia 1 pastures with 2 levels of post-grazing residue. The experimental area consisted of 1.2 ha of Tanzania pasture divided into 12 paddocks (24 areas, managed under 2 post-grazing residues: low green (leaf + stem herbage mass (GHM post-grazing (LR, approximately 1,500 kg/ha GHM; and high GHM post-grazing (HR, approximately 3,000 kg/ha GHM. Each paddock was grazed for 3 consecutive days (D1, D2, D3 followed by 33 days rest and evaluated from October 2005 to April 2006. Animal behavior (grazing time, bite rate and bite size/weight was evaluated on each grazing day. While goats spent more time grazing on LR than HR (P=0.02, bite rate did not differ between treatments or among days (P=0.31 and averaged 26.5 bites/min. In contrast, bite weight was greater in HR (0.15 g/bite than in LR (0.12 g/bite, and decreased from D1 to D3 (P<0.001. Absolute dry matter intake of goats was greater in the HR (2.19 kg/d than the LR (1.89 kg/d treatment; however, differences were not significant (P>0.05 when intake was determined on a body weight or metabolic weight basis. Our findings are consistent with the general assumption that bite weight is a trade-off between quantity and quality of the herbage mass and is the main determinant of animal performance. More studies are needed to determine animal performance on the various treatments and to determine management strategies to provide a desirable balance between animal weight gain and pasture stability.Keywords: Animal behavior, foraging, grazing systems, Megathyrsus maximus, plant - animal relations.DOI: 10.17138/TGFT(491-100

Practical approaches for assessing local land use change and conservation priorities in the tropics

Science.gov (United States)

Rivas, Cassandra J.

Tropical areas typically support high biological diversity; however, many are experiencing rapid land-use change. The resulting loss, fragmentation, and degradation of habitats place biodiversity at risk. For these reasons, the tropics are frequently identified as global conservation hotspots. Safeguarding tropical biodiversity necessitates successful and efficient conservation planning and implementation at local scales, where land use decisions are made and enforced. Yet, despite considerable agreement on the need for improved practices, planning may be difficult due to limited resources, such as funding, data, and expertise, especially for small conservation organizations in tropical developing countries. My thesis aims to assist small, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), operating in tropical developing countries, in overcoming resource limitations by providing recommendations for improved conservation planning. Following a brief introduction in Chapter 1, I present a literature review of systematic conservation planning (SCP) projects in the developing tropics. Although SCP is considered an efficient, effective approach, it requires substantial data and expertise to conduct the analysis and may present challenges for implementation. I reviewed and synthesized the methods and results of 14 case studies to identify practical ways to implement and overcome limitations for employing SCP. I found that SCP studies in the peer-reviewed literature were primarily implemented by researchers in large organizations or institutions, as opposed to on-the-ground conservation planners. A variety of data types were used in the SCP analyses, many of which data are freely available. Few case studies involved stakeholders and intended to implement the assessment; instead, the case studies were carried out in the context of research and development, limiting local involvement and implementation. Nonetheless, the studies provided valuable strategies for employing each step of

Conservation and Recreation Lands with Public Access in the State of Iowa

Data.gov (United States)

Iowa State University GIS Support and Research Facility — This dataset represents conservation and recreation lands in the state of Iowa. Boundaries of areas represent differences in ownership and managing agency of the...

Land use/Land Cover Changes and Causes of Deforestation in the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ADOWIE PERE

2015-09-04

Sep 4, 2015 ... The semi – Automatic Classification Plugin Version 4.9.1 of the QGIS was used for the land use/land ... logging, grazing, urbanisation, road construction and ... environment. The most dramatic impact is loss of habitat for millions of species with serious implication for eco – tourism and loss of biodiversity.

Regional livestock grazing, human demography and fire incidence in the Portuguese landscape

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filipa Torres-Manso

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Aim of study:Wildfire incidence in Portugal is high in comparison with other Mediterranean Europe countries. Wildfire problems have been worsened by complex interactions between land use, livestock grazing and human population during the 20th century. In this study we try to understand these interactions and relationships.Area of study: Portugal country. Material and Methods: For the mainland Portuguese territory we present a statistical temporal analysis (1930-2001 based on the densities of livestock grazing and human inhabitants at the smallest administrative unit level, the parish. We compare these data with fire incidence descriptors (average area burned and average fire density between 1990 and 2007. Research highlights: We have identified clusters of parishes sharing common trends in the evolution of livestock and human inhabitant densities. A cause-effect relationship was not detected between livestock grazing density and fire incidence. However, the results point out clusters of parishes where conflicts between forest, fire and livestock grazing are important in the North, Centre and South regions of Portugal.Key Words: Livestock grazing; inhabitants; forest; fire; vegetation.

Determinants of persistence and tolerance of carnivores on Namibian ranches: implications for conservation on Southern African private lands.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Andrew Lindsey

Full Text Available Changing land use patterns in southern Africa have potential to dramatically alter the prospects for carnivore conservation. Understanding these influences is essential for conservation planning. We interviewed 250 ranchers in Namibia to assess human tolerance towards and the distribution of large carnivores. Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus, leopards (Panthera pardus and brown hyaenas (Hyaena brunnea were widely distributed on Namibian farmlands, spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta had a narrower distribution, and wild dogs (Lycaon pictus and lions (Panthera leo are largely limited to areas near source populations. Farmers were most tolerant of leopards and least tolerant of lions, wild dogs and spotted hyaenas. Several factors relating to land use correlated consistently with carnivore-presence and landowner tolerance. Carnivores were more commonly present and/or tolerated where; wildlife diversity and biomass were higher; income from wildlife was higher; income from livestock was lower; livestock biomass was lower; in conservancies; game fencing was absent; and financial losses from livestock depredation were lower. Efforts to create conditions whereby the costs associated with carnivores are lowest, and which confer financial value to them are likely to be the most effective means of promoting carnivore conservation. Such conditions are achieved where land owners pool land to create conservancies where livestock are replaced with wildlife (or where livestock husbandry is improved and where wildlife generates a significant proportion of ranch income. Additional measures, such as promoting improved livestock husbandry and educational outreach efforts may also help achieve coexistence with carnivores. Our findings provide insights into conditions more conducive to the persistence of and tolerance towards large carnivores might be increased on private (and even communal lands in Namibia, elsewhere in southern and East Africa and other parts of the world

78 FR 64004 - Notice of Intent To Collect Fees on Public Lands in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-25

... To Collect Fees on Public Lands in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, Washington County, UT... Intent to Collect Fees on Public Lands in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, Washington County, UT, which contained erroneous information regarding the use of the America the Beautiful passes at...

Mapping Indigenous land management for threatened species conservation: An Australian case-study.

Science.gov (United States)

Renwick, Anna R; Robinson, Catherine J; Garnett, Stephen T; Leiper, Ian; Possingham, Hugh P; Carwardine, Josie

2017-01-01

Much biodiversity lives on lands to which Indigenous people retain strong legal and management rights. However this is rarely quantified. Here we provide the first quantitative overview of the importance of Indigenous land for a critical and vulnerable part of biodiversity, threatened species, using the continent of Australia as a case study. We find that three quarters of Australia's 272 terrestrial or freshwater vertebrate species listed as threatened under national legislation have projected ranges that overlap Indigenous lands. On average this overlap represents 45% of the range of each threatened species while Indigenous land is 52% of the country. Hotspots where multiple threatened species ranges overlap occur predominantly in coastal Northern Australia. Our analysis quantifies the vast potential of Indigenous land in Australia for contributing to national level conservation goals, and identifies the main land management arrangements available to Indigenous people which may enable them to deliver those goals should they choose to do so.

Using a distribution and conservation status weighted hotspot approach to identify areas in need of conservation action to benefit Idaho bird species

Science.gov (United States)

Haines, Aaron M.; Leu, Matthias; Svancara, Leona K.; Wilson, Gina; Scott, J. Michael

2010-01-01

Identification of biodiversity hotspots (hereafter, hotspots) has become a common strategy to delineate important areas for wildlife conservation. However, the use of hotspots has not often incorporated important habitat types, ecosystem services, anthropogenic activity, or consistency in identifying important conservation areas. The purpose of this study was to identify hotspots to improve avian conservation efforts for Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in the state of Idaho, United States. We evaluated multiple approaches to define hotspots and used a unique approach based on weighting species by their distribution size and conservation status to identify hotspot areas. All hotspot approaches identified bodies of water (Bear Lake, Grays Lake, and American Falls Reservoir) as important hotspots for Idaho avian SGCN, but we found that the weighted approach produced more congruent hotspot areas when compared to other hotspot approaches. To incorporate anthropogenic activity into hotspot analysis, we grouped species based on their sensitivity to specific human threats (i.e., urban development, agriculture, fire suppression, grazing, roads, and logging) and identified ecological sections within Idaho that may require specific conservation actions to address these human threats using the weighted approach. The Snake River Basalts and Overthrust Mountains ecological sections were important areas for potential implementation of conservation actions to conserve biodiversity. Our approach to identifying hotspots may be useful as part of a larger conservation strategy to aid land managers or local governments in applying conservation actions on the ground.

Nest survival of American Coots relative to grazing, burning, and water depths

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, Jane E.; Buhl, Deborah A.

2011-01-01

Water and emergent vegetation are key features influencing nest site selection and success for many marsh-nesting waterbirds. Wetland management practices such as grazing, burning, and water-level manipulations directly affect these features and can influence nest survival. We used model selection and before-after-control-impact approaches to evaluate the effects of water depth and four common land-management practices or treatments, i.e., summer grazing, fall grazing, fall burning, and idle (no active treatment) on nest survival of American coots (Fulica americana) nesting at Grays Lake, a large montane wetland in southeast Idaho. The best model included the variables year × treatment, and quadratic functions of date, water depth, and nest age; height of vegetation at the nest did not improve the best model. However, results from the before-after-control-impact analysis indicate that management practices affected nest success via vegetation and involved interactions of hydrology, residual vegetation, and habitat composition. Nest success in idled fields changed little between pre- and post-treatment periods, whereas nest success declined in fields that were grazed or burned, with the most dramatic declines the year following treatments. The importance of water depth may be amplified in this wetland system because of rapid water-level withdrawal during the nesting season. Water and land-use values for area ranchers, management for nesting waterbirds, and long-term wetland function are important considerations in management of water levels and vegetation.

Nest Survival of American Coots Relative to Grazing, Burning, and Water Depths

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jane E. Austin

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Water and emergent vegetation are key features influencing nest site selection and success for many marsh-nesting waterbirds. Wetland management practices such as grazing, burning, and water-level manipulations directly affect these features and can influence nest survival. We used model selection and before-after-control-impact approaches to evaluate the effects of water depth and four common land-management practices or treatments, i.e., summer grazing, fall grazing, fall burning, and idle (no active treatment on nest survival of American coots (Fulica americana nesting at Grays Lake, a large montane wetland in southeast Idaho. The best model included the variables year × treatment, and quadratic functions of date, water depth, and nest age; height of vegetation at the nest did not improve the best model. However, results from the before-after-control-impact analysis indicate that management practices affected nest success via vegetation and involved interactions of hydrology, residual vegetation, and habitat composition. Nest success in idled fields changed little between pre- and post-treatment periods, whereas nest success declined in fields that were grazed or burned, with the most dramatic declines the year following treatments. The importance of water depth may be amplified in this wetland system because of rapid water-level withdrawal during the nesting season. Water and land-use values for area ranchers, management for nesting waterbirds, and long-term wetland function are important considerations in management of water levels and vegetation.

Policies with Varying Costs and Benefits: A Land Conservation Classroom Game

Science.gov (United States)

Dissanayake, Sahan T. M.; Jacobson, Sarah A.

2016-01-01

Some policies try to maximize net benefits by targeting different individuals to participate. This is difficult when costs and benefits of participation vary independently, such as in land conservation. The authors share a classroom game that explores cases in which minimizing costs may not maximize benefits and vice versa. The game is a…

Methane Emission By Grazing Livestock. A Synopsis Of 1000 Direct Measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lassey, K.R. [National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Wellington (New Zealand); Ulyatt, M.J. [New Zealand Pastoral Agriculture Research Institute (AgResearch), Palmerston North (New Zealand)

2000-07-01

In a series of field campaigns since 1995, a team of atmospheric and ruminant-nutrition scientists have measured methane emissions directly from individual ruminant livestock freely grazing representative New Zealand pastures. The technique collects integrated 'breath' samples during grazing, using an implanted SF6 source as a conservative calibrated tracer, an approach pioneered by Johnson et al. [1994]. Most of these measurements have been on grazing sheep (942 animal-days to Aug 1999), others on grazing dairy cows (283), with some measurements also on sheep under controlled feeding conditions (305) [eg, Lassey et al., 1997; Ulyatt et al., 1999]. The aim is to characterise the variability of emission rates, including their dependence on pasture quality and physiological condition. The research goal is two-fold: (1) to provide a better scientific basis for assessing the national emissions inventory; and (2) to investigate options for mitigating livestock emissions. Here, we discuss the research strategy and overview the principal research findings. We note in particular, that as a source of enterically fermented methane, sheep may not be merely 'small cattle'. 5 refs.

Holistic Management: Misinformation on the Science of Grazed Ecosystems

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John Carter

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Over 3 billion hectares of lands worldwide are grazed by livestock, with a majority suffering degradation in ecological condition. Losses in plant productivity, biodiversity of plant and animal communities, and carbon storage are occurring as a result of livestock grazing. Holistic management (HM has been proposed as a means of restoring degraded deserts and grasslands and reversing climate change. The fundamental approach of this system is based on frequently rotating livestock herds to mimic native ungulates reacting to predators in order to break up biological soil crusts and trample plants and soils to promote restoration. This review could find no peer-reviewed studies that show that this management approach is superior to conventional grazing systems in outcomes. Any claims of success due to HM are likely due to the management aspects of goal setting, monitoring, and adapting to meet goals, not the ecological principles embodied in HM. Ecologically, the application of HM principles of trampling and intensive foraging are as detrimental to plants, soils, water storage, and plant productivity as are conventional grazing systems. Contrary to claims made that HM will reverse climate change, the scientific evidence is that global greenhouse gas emissions are vastly larger than the capacity of worldwide grasslands and deserts to store the carbon emitted each year.

Voluntary Nonmonetary Conservation Approaches on Private Land: A Review of Constraints, Risks, and Benefits for Raptor Nest Protection

Science.gov (United States)

Santangeli, Andrea; Laaksonen, Toni

2015-02-01

Biodiversity conservation on private land of the developed world faces several challenges. The costs of land are often high, and the attitudes of landowners towards conservation are variable. Scientists and practitioners need to scan for and adopt cost-effective solutions that allow for the long-term sustainability of conservation measures on private land. In this study, we focus on one of such possible solutions: Working with landowners to implement voluntary nonmonetary conservation. We restrict our focus to protection of raptor nests, but the ideas can be applied to other taxa as well. Through a literature review, we show that a voluntary nonmonetary approach for protecting raptor nests has been so far largely neglected and/or rarely reported in the scientific literature. However, results of a questionnaire sent to BirdLife partners across Europe indicate that this approach is more widely used than it appears from the literature. We show that voluntary nonmonetary approaches may represent useful tools to protect raptor nests on private land. We provide a workflow for implementation of such an approach in raptor nest protection, highlighting benefits, potential risks, and constraints in the application of the strategy. We suggest that a voluntary nonmonetary approach may have great potential for cost-effective conservation, but the risks it may entail should be carefully assessed in each case. There is an urgent need to consider and evaluate novel approaches, such as the one described here, which may constitute missed opportunities for cost-effective conservation.

Research Note Identifying key grazing indicators to monitor trends in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Research Note Identifying key grazing indicators to monitor trends in the veld condition of Lambert's Bay Strandveld, South Africa. ... from which a minimum number of species necessary to monitor trends in the condition of the veld were determined, making it user-friendly for land-users, extension officers and others. The key ...

Grazing effects on species composition in different vegetation types (La Palma, Canary Islands)

Science.gov (United States)

Arévalo, J. R.; de Nascimento, L.; Fernández-Lugo, S.; Mata, J.; Bermejo, L.

2011-05-01

Grazing management is probably one of the most extensive land uses, but its effects on plant communities have in many cases been revealed to be contradictory. Some authors have related these contradictions to the stochastic character of grazing systems. Because of that, it is necessary to implement specific analyses of grazing effects on each community, especially in natural protected areas, in order to provide the best information to managers. We studied the effects of grazing on the species composition of the main vegetation types where it takes place (grasslands, shrublands and pine forests) on the island of La Palma, Canary Islands. We used the point-quadrat intersect method to study the species composition of grazed and ungrazed areas, which also were characterized by their altitude, distance to farms, distance to settlements, year of sampling, herbaceous aboveground biomass and soil organic matter. The variables organic matter, productivity and species richness were not significantly affected by grazing. The species composition of the analyzed plant communities was affected more by variables such as altitude or distance to farms than by extensive grazing that has been traditionally carried out on the island of La Palma involving certain practices such as continuous monitoring of animals by goat keepers, medium stocking rates adjusted to the availability of natural pastures, supplementation during the dry season using local forage shrubs or mown pastures and rotating animals within grazing areas Although some studies have shown a negative effect of grazing on endangered plant species, these results cannot be freely extrapolated to the traditional grazing systems that exert a low pressure on plant communities (as has been found in this study). We consider extensive grazing as a viable way of ensuring sustainable management of the studied ecosystems.

The land use patterns for soil organic carbon conservation at Endanga watershed Southeast Sulawesi Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Leomo, S.; Ginting, S.; Sabaruddin, L.; Tufaila, M.; Muhidin

2018-02-01

The Endanga basin is one part of the Konaweeha watershed located in South Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi Province, covering an area of 1,353.67 hectares. The land use patterns in Endanga Watershed contained forests, shrubs, oil palm plantations, pepper fields, and cultivated fields of field rice, corn monoculture and intercropping of peanuts and corn. This watershed needs serious attention because most of its territory is on slope of 15-40%, with erosion hazard levels (EHL) varying from mild erosion to severe erosion. The loss of organic carbon (C-organic) soil is measured from the soil carried along with the surface stream and into the reservoir on various land uses. The result measurement of C-organic soil loss on forest land use is 14.02 kg ha-1, shrubs land 22.71 kg ha-1, oil palm 151.32 kg ha-1, pepper garden 93.69 kg ha-1, field rice 313.80 kg.ha-1, monoculture of maize 142.44 kg ha-1, intercropped maize and corn 51.10 kg ha-1 and open land 1,909.16 kg ha-1. The forest land and shrubs is best in conserving soil C-organic, but economically unfavorable for the community, so land use pattern for intercropping and pepper plantation can be used for soil C-organic conservation

Stakeholder-led science: engaging resource managers to identify science needs for long-term management of floodplain conservation lands

Science.gov (United States)

Bouska, Kristin L.; Lindner, Garth; Paukert, Craig P.; Jacobson, Robert B.

2016-01-01

Floodplains pose challenges to managers of conservation lands because of constantly changing interactions with their rivers. Although scientific knowledge and understanding of the dynamics and drivers of river-floodplain systems can provide guidance to floodplain managers, the scientific process often occurs in isolation from management. Further, communication barriers between scientists and managers can be obstacles to appropriate application of scientific knowledge. With the coproduction of science in mind, our objectives were the following: (1) to document management priorities of floodplain conservation lands, and (2) identify science needs required to better manage the identified management priorities under nonstationary conditions, i.e., climate change, through stakeholder queries and interactions. We conducted an online survey with 80 resource managers of floodplain conservation lands along the Upper and Middle Mississippi River and Lower Missouri River, USA, to evaluate management priority, management intensity, and available scientific information for management objectives and conservation targets. Management objectives with the least information available relative to priority included controlling invasive species, maintaining respectful relationships with neighbors, and managing native, nongame species. Conservation targets with the least information available to manage relative to management priority included pollinators, marsh birds, reptiles, and shore birds. A follow-up workshop and survey focused on clarifying science needs to achieve management objectives under nonstationary conditions. Managers agreed that metrics of inundation, including depth and extent of inundation, and frequency, duration, and timing of inundation would be the most useful metrics for management of floodplain conservation lands with multiple objectives. This assessment provides guidance for developing relevant and accessible science products to inform management of highly

Agricultural Intensification in the Brazilian Agricultural-Forest Frontier: Land Use Responses to Development and Conservation Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Garrett, R.; Koh, I.; le Polain de Waroux, Y.; Lambin, E.; Kastens, J.; Brown, J. C.

2017-12-01

Agricultural expansion, extensive cattle ranching, and deforestation remain pressing challenges for sustainable development and climate mitigation throughout South America. In response to these challenges, national and local governments, as well as private and non-governmental actors have developed new forest conservation governance mechanisms. The objective of this study is to better understand how conservation policies interact with supply chain development to influence land use. In particular, we endeavor to understand the timing and spatial patterns of crop and cattle intensification, an understudied phenomenon that is critical to understanding the future of agricultural-forest frontiers and the impacts of conservation policies. We focus on Mato Grosso, the largest soy and cattle producing state in Brazil, which spans the Cerrado and Amazon biomes and has experienced higher levels of deforestation for agricultural expansion than any other state globally over the last decade. Using a newly created spatially explicit data set of land use intensity, supply chain development, and forest policy, we find that agricultural intensification is occurring rapidly in the region, but is only partially driven by changes in conservation policies. The intensification of cattle production is the result of improvements in deforestation monitoring, penalties, and enforcement, and increased land scarcity. Crop intensification, in contrast, preceded increases in conservation restrictions, and is associated with the positive spillovers resulting from agribusiness agglomeration and development. These results suggest that intensification is not a foregone conclusion of increasing forest conservation restrictions, but is highly dependent on wider development processes. A combined effort to direct agribusiness development away from forest regions via tax credits and subsidized credit, when applied in concert with stringent conservation requirements, could help promote intensification

Livestock grazing intensity affects abundance of Common shrews (Sorex araneus) in two meadows in Denmark

OpenAIRE

Schmidt, Niels M; Olsen, Henrik; Leirs, Herwig

2009-01-01

Abstract Background Current nature conservation in semi-natural grasslands often includes grazing and hay cutting, as well as the abandonment of draining. Semi-natural grassland and in particular meadows constitute important habitat type for a large number of animal species in today's fragmented and intensively cultivated landscape of Europe. Here we focus on the population characteristics of Common shrews Sorex araneus in relation to livestock grazing intensity in two wet meadows in western ...

An investigation on forage yield capacity of kermes oak (Quercus coccifera L.) and grazing planning of Mediterranean maquis scrublands for traditional goat farming.

Science.gov (United States)

Tolunay, Ahmet; Adıyaman, Elif; Akyol, Ayhan; İnce, Duygu; Türkoğlu, Türkay; Ayhan, Veysel

2014-01-01

This study investigated grazing capacities of maquis scrubland and preparation principles of grazing management in forest resources. Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera L.), which is widespread as a main shrub species in maquis vegetation in Turkey, and pure hair goats (Capra hircus L.) feeding on shoots and leaves of this shrub were selected for study. The study was conducted in two stages. Green leaf and shoot samples were taken from kermes oaks in the first stage and the amount of green herbage yield (g ∗ m(-1)) and dry matter yield (kg ∗ ha(-1)) that may be obtained per unit area from these samples was identified. The considered amount of dry matter consumed by pure hair goats daily and the number of goats being fed within 1 year on land of 1 ha according to different land coverage rates of kermes oaks (goat head ∗ ha ∗ yr) were calculated. In the second stage, grazing capacities of sample areas where kermes oak spread were identified and compared with the grazing plan prepared by the forestry administration for this area. Forage yield variance according to land coverage rates of maquis scrublands should be considered when determining optimum animal numbers for grazing per area for sustainable goat farming.

An Investigation on Forage Yield Capacity of Kermes Oak (Quercus coccifera L. and Grazing Planning of Mediterranean Maquis Scrublands for Traditional Goat Farming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmet Tolunay

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated grazing capacities of maquis scrubland and preparation principles of grazing management in forest resources. Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera L., which is widespread as a main shrub species in maquis vegetation in Turkey, and pure hair goats (Capra hircus L. feeding on shoots and leaves of this shrub were selected for study. The study was conducted in two stages. Green leaf and shoot samples were taken from kermes oaks in the first stage and the amount of green herbage yield (g*m−1 and dry matter yield (kg*ha−1 that may be obtained per unit area from these samples was identified. The considered amount of dry matter consumed by pure hair goats daily and the number of goats being fed within 1 year on land of 1 ha according to different land coverage rates of kermes oaks (goat head*ha*yr were calculated. In the second stage, grazing capacities of sample areas where kermes oak spread were identified and compared with the grazing plan prepared by the forestry administration for this area. Forage yield variance according to land coverage rates of maquis scrublands should be considered when determining optimum animal numbers for grazing per area for sustainable goat farming.

The importance of defining focal assemblages when evaluating amphibian and reptile responses to land use.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Michelle E; Nowakowski, A Justin; Donnelly, Maureen A

2016-04-01

Habitat loss and degradation are primary threats to amphibians and reptiles, but the relative effects of common land uses on assemblages and the mechanisms that underlie faunal responses are poorly studied. We reviewed the effects of four prevalent types of habitat alteration (urbanization, agriculture, livestock grazing, and silviculture) on amphibian and reptile species richness and abundance by summarizing reported responses in the literature and by estimating effect sizes across studies for species richness in each land-use type. We then used a multinomial model to classify species as natural habitat specialists, generalists, and disturbed habitat specialists and examined variation in effect sizes for each land-use type according to habitat specialization categories. There were mixed conclusions from individual studies, some reporting negative, neutral, or positive effects of land use on species richness and total abundance. A large proportion of studies reported species-specific effects of individual species abundance. However, in our analysis of effect sizes, we found a general trend of negative effects of land use on species richness. We also demonstrate that habitat associations of common species and species turnover can explain variation in the effect of land use on herpetofauna. Our review highlights the pervasive negative effects of common land uses on amphibians and reptiles, the importance of identifying groups vulnerable to land-use change (e.g., forest-associated species) in conservation studies, and the potential influence of disturbance-associated species on whole assemblage analyses. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

36 CFR 292.22 - Land category assignments.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... land. (iv) Commercial land. (2) Not later than August 12, 1994, a map or maps displaying the privately... availability of this map or maps in the local newspapers of record. (b) Changes in land category assignment.../grazing land so long as the intended use or development is consistent with the standards in § 292.23 and...

Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) increasingly select for grazed areas with increasing distance-to-nest.

Science.gov (United States)

Heldbjerg, Henning; Fox, Anthony D; Thellesen, Peder V; Dalby, Lars; Sunde, Peter

2017-01-01

The abundant and widespread Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is currently declining across much of Europe due to landscape changes caused by agricultural intensification. The proximate mechanisms causing adverse effects to breeding Starlings are unclear, hampering our ability to implement cost-efficient agri-environmental schemes to restore populations to former levels. This study aimed to show how this central foraging farmland bird uses and selects land cover types in general and how use of foraging habitat changes in relation to distance from the nest. We attached GPS-loggers to 17 breeding Starlings at a Danish dairy cattle farm in 2015 and 2016 and analysed their use of different land cover types as a function of distance intervals from the nest and their relative availability. As expected for a central place forager, Starlings increasingly avoided potential foraging areas with greater distance-to-nest: areas ≥ 500 m were selected > 100 times less frequently than areas within 100 m. On average, Starlings selected the land cover category Grazed most frequently, followed by Short Grass, Bare Ground, Meadow and Winter Crops. Starlings compensated for elevated travel costs by showing increasing habitat selection the further they foraged from the nest. Our results highlight the importance of Grazed foraging habitats close to the nest site of breeding Starlings. The ecological capacity of intensively managed farmlands for insectivorous birds like the Starling is decreasing through conversion of the most strongly selected land cover type (Grazed) to the least selected (Winter Crops) which may be further exacerbated through spatial segregation of foraging and breeding habitats.

Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris increasingly select for grazed areas with increasing distance-to-nest.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henning Heldbjerg

Full Text Available The abundant and widespread Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris is currently declining across much of Europe due to landscape changes caused by agricultural intensification. The proximate mechanisms causing adverse effects to breeding Starlings are unclear, hampering our ability to implement cost-efficient agri-environmental schemes to restore populations to former levels. This study aimed to show how this central foraging farmland bird uses and selects land cover types in general and how use of foraging habitat changes in relation to distance from the nest. We attached GPS-loggers to 17 breeding Starlings at a Danish dairy cattle farm in 2015 and 2016 and analysed their use of different land cover types as a function of distance intervals from the nest and their relative availability. As expected for a central place forager, Starlings increasingly avoided potential foraging areas with greater distance-to-nest: areas ≥ 500 m were selected > 100 times less frequently than areas within 100 m. On average, Starlings selected the land cover category Grazed most frequently, followed by Short Grass, Bare Ground, Meadow and Winter Crops. Starlings compensated for elevated travel costs by showing increasing habitat selection the further they foraged from the nest. Our results highlight the importance of Grazed foraging habitats close to the nest site of breeding Starlings. The ecological capacity of intensively managed farmlands for insectivorous birds like the Starling is decreasing through conversion of the most strongly selected land cover type (Grazed to the least selected (Winter Crops which may be further exacerbated through spatial segregation of foraging and breeding habitats.

An Examination of Growing Trends in Land Tenure and Conservation Practice Adoption: Results from a Farmer Survey in Iowa

Science.gov (United States)

Varble, Sarah; Secchi, Silvia; Druschke, Caroline Gottschalk

2016-02-01

Tenants and part-owners are farming an increasing number of acres in the United States, while full-owners are farming fewer acres. This shift in ownership is a potential cause for concern because some previous research indicated that tenant and part-owner farmers were less likely to adopt conservation practices than farmers who owned the land they farmed. If that trend persists, ownership changes would signal a national drop in conservation adoption. Here we examine this issue using a survey of agricultural operators in the Clear Creek watershed in Iowa, a state with intensive agricultural production. We compare adoption of conservation practices, and preferences for conservation information sources and communication channels, between farmers who rent some portion of the land they farm (tenants and part-owners) and farmers who own all of the land they farm (full-owners). We find that renters are more likely to practice conservation tillage than full-owners, though they are less likely to rotate crops. In addition, renters report using federal government employees (specifically, Natural Resource Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency) as their primary sources of conservation information, while full-owners most frequently rely on neighbors, friends, and County Extension. These findings are significant for conservation policy because, unlike some past research, they indicate that renters are not resistant to all types of conservation practices, echoing recent studies finding an increase in conservation adoption among non-full-owners. Our results emphasize the importance of government conservation communication and can inform outreach efforts by helping tailor effective, targeted conservation strategies for owners and renters.

Biophysical-and socioeconomic aspects of land degradation in the Guadalentin (SE-Spain): towards understanding and effective soil conservation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vente, J. de; Sole-Benet, A.; Boix-Fayos, C.; Nainggolan, D.; Romero-Diaz, A.

2009-01-01

Desertification and land degradation have been widely studied in the Guadalentin basin (SE Spain) through various national and international research projects. Most important identified degradation types are due to soil erosion, soil surface crusting, aridity, soil organic matter decline and salinisation. On the one hand, political and socioeconomic drivers have caused important land use and management changes, which have formed an important driver for further land degradation. On the other hand, soil conservation practice were initiated by the government and by individual land users, although there is very limited knowledge on their effectiveness. the objective of this work is to provide and overview of previous studies that addressed land degradation in the Guadalentin and to present an integrated synthesis of the main biophysical and socioeconomic factors identifies in these studies as being responsible for land degradation, with a focus on feasible soil conservation strategies. (Author) 18 refs.

Biophysical-and socioeconomic aspects of land degradation in the Guadalentin (SE-Spain): towards understanding and effective soil conservation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vente, J. de; Sole-Benet, A.; Boix-Fayos, C.; Nainggolan, D.; Romero-Diaz, A.

2009-07-01

Desertification and land degradation have been widely studied in the Guadalentin basin (SE Spain) through various national and international research projects. Most important identified degradation types are due to soil erosion, soil surface crusting, aridity, soil organic matter decline and salinisation. On the one hand, political and socioeconomic drivers have caused important land use and management changes, which have formed an important driver for further land degradation. On the other hand, soil conservation practice were initiated by the government and by individual land users, although there is very limited knowledge on their effectiveness. the objective of this work is to provide and overview of previous studies that addressed land degradation in the Guadalentin and to present an integrated synthesis of the main biophysical and socioeconomic factors identifies in these studies as being responsible for land degradation, with a focus on feasible soil conservation strategies. (Author) 18 refs.

Conservation businesses and conservation planning in a biological diversity hotspot.

Science.gov (United States)

Di Minin, Enrico; Macmillan, Douglas Craig; Goodman, Peter Styan; Escott, Boyd; Slotow, Rob; Moilanen, Atte

2013-08-01

The allocation of land to biological diversity conservation competes with other land uses and the needs of society for development, food, and extraction of natural resources. Trade-offs between biological diversity conservation and alternative land uses are unavoidable, given the realities of limited conservation resources and the competing demands of society. We developed a conservation-planning assessment for the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, which forms the central component of the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany biological diversity hotspot. Our objective was to enhance biological diversity protection while promoting sustainable development and providing spatial guidance in the resolution of potential policy conflicts over priority areas for conservation at risk of transformation. The conservation-planning assessment combined spatial-distribution models for 646 conservation features, spatial economic-return models for 28 alternative land uses, and spatial maps for 4 threats. Nature-based tourism businesses were competitive with other land uses and could provide revenues of >US$60 million/year to local stakeholders and simultaneously help meeting conservation goals for almost half the conservation features in the planning region. Accounting for opportunity costs substantially decreased conflicts between biological diversity, agricultural use, commercial forestry, and mining. Accounting for economic benefits arising from conservation and reducing potential policy conflicts with alternative plans for development can provide opportunities for successful strategies that combine conservation and sustainable development and facilitate conservation action. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Conservation of greater sage-grouse- a synthesis of current trends and future management

Science.gov (United States)

Connelly, John W.; Knick, Steven T.; Braun, Clait E.; Baker, William L.; Beever, Erik A.; Christiansen, Thomas J.; Doherty, Kevin E.; Garton, Edward O.; Hagen, Christian A.; Hanser, Steven E.; Johnson, Douglas H.; Leu, Matthias; Miller, Richard F.; Naugle, David E.; Oyler-McCance, Sara J.; Pyke, David A.; Reese, Kerry P.; Schroeder, Michael A.; Stiver, San J.; Walker, Brett L.; Wisdorn, Michael J.

2011-01-01

Recent analyses of Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations indicate substantial declines in many areas but relatively stable populations in other portions of the species? range. Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) habitats neces-sary to support sage-grouse are being burned by large wildfires, invaded by nonnative plants, and developed for energy resources (gas, oil, and wind). Management on public lands, which con-tain 70% of sagebrush habitats, has changed over the last 30 years from large sagebrush control projects directed at enhancing livestock grazing to a greater emphasis on projects that often attempt to improve or restore ecological integrity. Never-theless, the mandate to manage public lands to provide traditional consumptive uses as well as recreation and wilderness values is not likely to change in the near future. Consequently, demand and use of resources contained in sagebrush land-scapes plus the associated infrastructure to sup-port increasing human populations in the western United States will continue to challenge efforts to conserve Greater Sage-Grouse. The continued widespread distribution of sage-grouse, albeit at very low densities in some areas, coupled with large areas of important sagebrush habitat that are relatively unaffected by the human footprint, sug-gest that Greater Sage-Grouse populations may be able to persist into the future. We summarize the status of sage-grouse populations and habitats, provide a synthesis of major threats and chal-lenges to conservation of sage-grouse, and suggest a roadmap to attaining conservation goals.

Seasonality constraints to livestock grazing intensity.

Science.gov (United States)

Fetzel, Tamara; Havlik, Petr; Herrero, Mario; Erb, Karl-Heinz

2017-04-01

Increasing food production is essential to meet the future food demand of a growing world population. In light of pressing sustainability challenges such as climate change and the importance of the global livestock system for food security as well as GHG emissions, finding ways to increasing food production sustainably and without increasing competition for food crops is essential. Yet, many unknowns relate to livestock grazing, in particular grazing intensity, an essential variable to assess the sustainability of livestock systems. Here, we explore ecological limits to grazing intensity (GI; i.e. the fraction of net primary production consumed by grazing animals) by analysing the role of seasonality in natural grasslands. We estimate seasonal limitations to GI by combining monthly net primary production data and a map of global livestock distribution with assumptions on the length of nonfavourable periods that can be bridged by livestock (e.g. by browsing dead standing biomass, storage systems or biomass conservation). This allows us to derive a seasonality-limited potential GI, which we compare with the GI prevailing in 2000. We find that GI in 2000 lies below its potential on 39% of the total global natural grasslands, which has a potential for increasing biomass extraction of up to 181 MtC/yr. In contrast, on 61% of the area GI exceeds the potential, made possible by management. Mobilizing this potential could increase milk production by 5%, meat production by 4% or contribute to free up to 2.8 Mio km² of grassland area at the global scale if the numerous socio-ecological constraints can be overcome. We discuss socio-ecological trade-offs, which may reduce the estimated potential considerably and require the establishment of sound monitoring systems and an improved understanding of livestock system's role in the Earth system. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The effects of biological soil conservation practices and community perception toward these practices in the Lemo District of Southern Ethiopia

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Tamrat Sinore

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Land degradation is the critical ecological and agricultural challenges in Ethiopia. To combat this, the government and local farmers’ have undertaken soil and water conservation measures (physical, biological and integrated across the country since 1970's. This study investigate effect of elephant grass (P. purpureum and sesbania sesban (S. sesban used as biological land rehabilitation practices on soil properties and farmers’ perception on the practices. Composite soil samples (0–30 cm were randomly collected from lands treated with sesbania, elephant grass, and adjacent degraded grazing land, and a structured questionnaire was used to assess farmers’ perceptions. Statistical results showed that elephant grass and sesbania were significantly (P < .05 improves degraded land soil bulk density, pH, CEC, OC, TN, Av.P, K, Na, Ca, Mg and clay characteristics. Moreover, there was a significant (P < .05 difference between farmers’ perception of the effectiveness of physical, biological and integration of the two practices to control soil erosion. 48% of the farmers perceived that using both biological methods and the integration of biological with physical structures was more successful for controlling erosion and improving soil fertility. Logistic regression analysis revealed strong association (R2 = 0.84 between farmers’ perception on elephant grass and sesbanias' roles in soil conservation and groups of explanatory variables. Among the variables age, education and extension service significantly (P < .05 influenced farmers’ perception on the practices. Generally, elephant grass and sesbania are effective biological practices for rehabilitating lands and improving soil properties through minimizing erosion. Keywords: Soil erosion, Soil and water conservation, Biological soil conservation, Sesbania, Elephant grass

Using management to address vegetation stress related to land-use and climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Middleton, Beth A.; Boudell, Jere; Fisichelli, Nicholas

2017-01-01

While disturbances such as fire, cutting, and grazing can be an important part of the conservation of natural lands, some adjustments to management designed to mimic natural disturbance may be necessary with ongoing and projected climate change. Stressed vegetation that is incapable of regeneration will be difficult to maintain if adults are experiencing mortality, and/or if their early life-history stages depend on disturbance. A variety of active management strategies employing disturbance are suggested, including resisting, accommodating, or directing vegetation change by manipulating management intensity and frequency. Particularly if land-use change is the main cause of vegetation stress, amelioration of these problems using management may help vegetation resist change (e.g. strategic timing of water release if a water control structure is available). Managers could direct succession by using management to push vegetation toward a new state. Despite the historical effects of management, some vegetation change will not be controllable as climates shift, and managers may have to accept some of these changes. Nevertheless, proactive measures may help managers achieve important conservation goals in the future.

Butterfly responses to prairie restoration through fire and grazing

Science.gov (United States)

Vogel, Jennifer A.; Debinski, Diane M.; Koford, Rolf R.; Miller, J.R.

2007-01-01

The development of land for modern agriculture has resulted in losses of native prairie habitat. The small, isolated patches of prairie habitat that remain are threatened by fire suppression, overgrazing, and invasion by non-native species. We evaluated the effects of three restoration practices (grazing only, burning only, and burning and grazing) on the vegetation characteristics and butterfly communities of remnant prairies. Total butterfly abundance was highest on prairies that were managed with burning and grazing and lowest on those that were only burned. Butterfly species richness did not differ among any of the restoration practices. Butterfly species diversity was highest on sites that were only burned. Responses of individual butterfly species to restoration practices were highly variable. In the best predictive regression model, total butterfly abundance was negatively associated with the percent cover of bare ground and positively associated with the percent cover of forbs. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that sites with burned only and grazed only practices could be separated based on their butterfly community composition. Butterfly communities in each of the three restoration practices are equally species rich but different practices yield compositionally different butterfly communities. Because of this variation in butterfly species responses to different restoration practices, there is no single practice that will benefit all species or even all species within habitat-specialist or habitat-generalist habitat guilds. ?? 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socioeconomic contexts of primate conservation: population, poverty, global economic demands, and sustainable land use.

Science.gov (United States)

Estrada, Alejandro

2013-01-01

Recent assessments by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) indicate the existence of about 612 recognized primate species and subspecies (IUCN RedList, 2012), but close to 50% of these taxa are at risk of extinction as a result of human action. In this article, I call attention to underlying regional and global socioeconomic contexts of primate conservation. Using information from FAO and UN databases and other sources, I examine, for the Neotropics, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, trends in forest loss and human demographics and social condition, discuss the impact of global market pressures upon primate habitats, and examine land-use patterns that may favor primate conservation. Between 1990 and 2010, an estimated 149 million ha of forest were lost in the three regions and additional losses are expected in the future. Global human population will increase from 7 billion in 2012 to 9 billion in 2050. Currently, 2 billion people live in the three primate range regions under high levels of poverty. Large-scale deforestation is related to global market demands, especially from developed and developing nations, for food (e.g., cattle), domestic animal feed (e.g., soybeans), biofuel-based crops (e.g., oil palm), and industrial round wood. The growth of protected areas in the three regions has been steady for several decades, but it is not enough to ensure long-term conservation of many primate taxa. Other conservations tools involving sustainable land use and biodiversity conservation corridors are required at the landscape level. The above assessment can easily be applied at the local level by primatologists, giving more precision to conservation initiatives. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Data resources for range-wide assessment of livestock grazing across the sagebrush biome

Science.gov (United States)

Assal, T.J.; Veblen, K.E.; Farinha, M.A.; Aldridge, Cameron L.; Casazza, Michael L.; Pyke, D.A.

2012-01-01

The data contained in this series were compiled, modified, and analyzed for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report "Range-Wide Assessment of Livestock Grazing Across the Sagebrush Biome." This report can be accessed through the USGS Publications Warehouse (online linkage: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1263/). The dataset contains spatial and tabular data related to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Grazing Allotments. We reviewed the BLM national grazing allotment spatial dataset available from the GeoCommunicator National Integrated Land System (NILS) website in 2007 (http://www.geocommunicator.gov). We identified several limitations in those data and learned that some BLM State and/or field offices had updated their spatial data to rectify these limitations, but maintained the data outside of NILS. We contacted appropriate BLM offices (State or field, 25 in all) to obtain the most recent data, assessed the data, established a data development protocol, and compiled data into a topologically enforced dataset throughout the area of interest for this project (that is, the pre-settlement distribution of Greater Sage-Grouse in the Western United States). The final database includes three spatial datasets: Allotments (BLM Grazing Allotments), OUT_Polygons (nonallotment polygons used to ensure topology), and Duplicate_Polygon_Allotments. See Appendix 1 of the aforementioned report for complete methods. The tabular data presented here consists of information synthesized by the Land Health Standard (LHS) analysis (Appendix 2), and data obtained from the BLM Rangeland Administration System (http://www.blm.gov/ras/). In 2008, available LHS data for all allotments in all regions were compiled by BLM in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by a private organization. The BLM provided us with a copy of these data. These data provided three major types of information that were of interest: (1) date(s) (if any) of the most recent LHS evaluation for each

Public-land policy: Babbitt is finding the balance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, E.

1993-03-29

Interior Secretary Bruce E. Babbitt recently outlined his plan for managing his department's land, a plan that also represents the Administration's goals for the 500 million acres of government-owned property. It will strike a balance between resource production and environmental protection, after years of resource exploitation. In fact, the plan overturns a legacy of what critics contend is misguided management. Babbitt intends to sharply cut subsidies for grazing, logging, mining, and water use, while modestly lifting recreation fees. Then he wants to adopt ecosystems management, which aims to preserve habitats to prevent the decline of species and avoid conflicts between development and conservation. When nature meets development head-on, protecting habitat and wildlife will win.

Microbial quality of soil from the Pampa biome in response to different grazing pressures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael S. Vargas

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of different grazing pressures on the activity and diversity of soil bacteria. We performed a long-term experiment in Eldorado do Sul, southern Brazil, that assessed three levels of grazing pressure: high pressure (HP, with 4% herbage allowance (HA, moderate pressure (MP, with 12% HA, and low pressure (LP, with 16% HA. Two reference areas were also assessed, one of never-grazed native vegetation (NG and another of regenerated vegetation after two years of grazing (RG. Soil samples were evaluated for microbial biomass and enzymatic (β-glucosidase, arylsulfatase and urease activities. The structure of the bacterial community and the population of diazotrophic bacteria were evaluated by RFLP of the 16S rRNA and nifH genes, respectively. The diversity of diazotrophic bacteria was assessed by partial sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene. The presence of grazing animals increased soil microbial biomass in MP and HP. The structures of the bacterial community and the populations of diazotrophic bacteria were altered by the different grazing managements, with a greater diversity of diazotrophic bacteria in the LP treatment. Based on the characteristics evaluated, the MP treatment was the most appropriate for animal production and conservation of the Pampa biome.

A Systematic Review of Wild Burro Grazing Effects on Mojave Desert Vegetation, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Abella, Scott R.

2008-06-01

Wild burros ( Equus asinus), protected by the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act on some federal lands but exotic animals many ecologists and resource mangers view as damaging to native ecosystems, represent one of the most contentious environmental management problems in American Southwest arid lands. This review synthesizes the scattered literature about burro effects on plant communities of the Mojave Desert, a center of burro management contentions. I classified 24 documents meeting selection criteria for this review into five categories of research: (i) diet analyses directly determining which plant species burros consume, (ii) utilization studies of individual species, (iii) control-impact comparisons, (iv) exclosure studies, and (v) forage analyses examining chemical characteristics of forage plants. Ten diet studies recorded 175 total species that burros consumed. However, these studies and two exclosure studies suggested that burros preferentially eat graminoid and forb groups over shrubs. One study in Death Valley National Park, for example, found that Achnatherum hymenoides (Indian ricegrass) was 11 times more abundant in burro diets than expected based on its availability. Utilization studies revealed that burros also exhibit preferences within the shrub group. Eighty-three percent of reviewed documents were produced in a 12-year period, from 1972 to 1983, with the most recent document produced in 1988. Because burros remain abundant on many federal lands and grazing may interact with other management concerns (e.g., desert wildfires fueled by exotic grasses), rejuvenating grazing research to better understand both past and present burro effects could help guide revegetation and grazing management scenarios.

Responses of the functional structure of soil microbial community to livestock grazing in the Tibetan alpine grassland.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yunfeng; Wu, Linwei; Lin, Qiaoyan; Yuan, Mengting; Xu, Depeng; Yu, Hao; Hu, Yigang; Duan, Jichuang; Li, Xiangzhen; He, Zhili; Xue, Kai; van Nostrand, Joy; Wang, Shiping; Zhou, Jizhong

2013-02-01

Microbes play key roles in various biogeochemical processes, including carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling. However, changes of microbial community at the functional gene level by livestock grazing, which is a global land-use activity, remain unclear. Here we use a functional gene array, GeoChip 4.0, to examine the effects of free livestock grazing on the microbial community at an experimental site of Tibet, a region known to be very sensitive to anthropogenic perturbation and global warming. Our results showed that grazing changed microbial community functional structure, in addition to aboveground vegetation and soil geochemical properties. Further statistical tests showed that microbial community functional structures were closely correlated with environmental variables, and variations in microbial community functional structures were mainly controlled by aboveground vegetation, soil C/N ratio, and NH4 (+) -N. In-depth examination of N cycling genes showed that abundances of N mineralization and nitrification genes were increased at grazed sites, but denitrification and N-reduction genes were decreased, suggesting that functional potentials of relevant bioprocesses were changed. Meanwhile, abundances of genes involved in methane cycling, C fixation, and degradation were decreased, which might be caused by vegetation removal and hence decrease in litter accumulation at grazed sites. In contrast, abundances of virulence, stress, and antibiotics resistance genes were increased because of the presence of livestock. In conclusion, these results indicated that soil microbial community functional structure was very sensitive to the impact of livestock grazing and revealed microbial functional potentials in regulating soil N and C cycling, supporting the necessity to include microbial components in evaluating the consequence of land-use and/or climate changes. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The role of non-industrial private forest lands in the conservation of southern fire-dependent wildlife

Science.gov (United States)

Christopher E. Moorman; Peter T. Bromley; Mark A. Megalos; David Drake

2002-01-01

Although scientific support for fire as a land management tool has grown, non-industrial private forest (NIPF) landowners often fail to burn on their properties. These lands comprise approximately 70 percent of southern forests, making them critical to the long-term conservation of wildlife and plant species. Natural resource professionals must overcome key constraints...

Biological fire prevention method: Evaluating the effects of goat grazing on the fire-prone mediterranean scrub

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mancilla-Leyton, J. M.; Martin Vicente, A.

2012-11-01

The effect of goat grazing on the shrubby under story of a pine forest in Donana Natural Park was evaluated using non-destructive measures of vegetation volume over a period of twenty-four months. After establishing grazing exclusion fenced plots 350 adult Payoyas goats were introduced. Vegetation was sampled before the introduction of goats and afterwards twice a year, using the point intercept method and thereby obtaining data of height, frequency, cover and biovolume of species. After two years the total biovolume of the vegetation of the un grazed area had increased significantly by 32.9%, while at grazed area, vegetation bio volume decreased significantly by 23.1%, leading to a significant decrease in mean height of the species. Although the number of species remained unchanged throughout the study, significant changes in their relative abundance were found in grazed area. The different responses of scrub species to grazing can be used as a tool to control species sensitive to grazing in shrubby forested areas. Significant reduction of total bio volume due to a reduction in vegetation height will help to reduce fire risk, thus contributing to the conservation of Mediterranean woodlands and forests while also fulfilling an important role in the economic and social lives of the rural population of Mediterranean countries. (Author) 15 refs.

High spatial resolution mapping of the Cerrado's land cover and land use types in the priority area for conservation Chapada da Contagem, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Ribeiro, F.; Roberts, D. A.; Davis, F. W.; Antunes Daldegan, G.; Nackoney, J.; Hess, L. L.

2016-12-01

The Brazilian savanna, Cerrado, is the second largest biome over South America and the most floristically diverse savanna in the world. This biome is considered a conservation hotspot in respect to its biodiversity importance and rapid transformation of its landscape. The Cerrado's natural vegetation has been severely transformed by agriculture and pasture activities. Currently it is the main agricultural frontier in Brazil and one of the most threatened Brazilian biomes. This scenario results in environmental impacts such as ecosystems fragmentation as well as losses in connectivity, biodiversity and gene flow, changes in the microclimate and energy, carbon and nutrients cycles, among others. The Priority Areas for Conservation is a governmental program from Brazil that identifies areas with high conservation priority. One of this program's recommendation is a natural vegetation map including their major ecosystem classes. This study aims to generate more precise information for the Cerrado's vegetation. The main objective of this study is to identify which ecosystems are being prioritized and/or threatened by land use, refining information for further protection. In order to test methods, the priority area for conservation Chapada da Contagem was selected as the study site. This area is ranked as "extremely high priority" by the government and is located in the Federal District and Goias State, Brazil. Satellites with finer spatial resolution may improve the classification of the Cerrado's vegetation. Remote sensing methods and two criteria were tested using RapidEye 3A imagery (5m spatial resolution) collected in 2014 in order to classify the Cerrado's major land cover types of this area, as well as its land use. One criterion considers the Cerrado's major terrestrial ecosystems, which are divided into forest, savanna and grassland. The other involves scaling it down to the major physiognomic groups of each ecosystem. Other sources of environmental dataset such

Conservation Management of Agriculture Land using Geospatial Approach (A Case Study in the Bone Watershed, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia

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Maryati Sri

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Bone Watershed is one of the major watersheds in Gorontalo Province. Bone watershed has a very important role for the people of Gorontalo Province. The role of Bone Watershed is mainly related to the providing clean water, producing oxygen, controlling flood, providing habitat for endemic flora fauna and other environmental functions. The role of Bone Watershed for the community’s economic sector is also very important, the Bone watershed provides livelihood for surrounding communities includes fertile land resources for agriculture and plantations, forest products, and livestock feed. This research is important considering the Bone watershed has limited availability of land for agriculture and the high risk of natural disasters such as floods and landslides. Geospatial data includes topography map, landform map, soil map, integrated with field survey results and soil properties were analized to determine conservation management of agriculture land in the Bone Watershed, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia. The result of this study shows that based on soil properties and physical land characteristics, land use for agriculture should consider appropriate conservation techniques, land capability and respect to local wisdom.

Conservation Management of Agriculture Land using Geospatial Approach (A Case Study in the Bone Watershed, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia)

Science.gov (United States)

Maryati, Sri; Eraku, Sunarty; Kasim, Muh

2018-02-01

Bone Watershed is one of the major watersheds in Gorontalo Province. Bone watershed has a very important role for the people of Gorontalo Province. The role of Bone Watershed is mainly related to the providing clean water, producing oxygen, controlling flood, providing habitat for endemic flora fauna and other environmental functions. The role of Bone Watershed for the community's economic sector is also very important, the Bone watershed provides livelihood for surrounding communities includes fertile land resources for agriculture and plantations, forest products, and livestock feed. This research is important considering the Bone watershed has limited availability of land for agriculture and the high risk of natural disasters such as floods and landslides. Geospatial data includes topography map, landform map, soil map, integrated with field survey results and soil properties were analized to determine conservation management of agriculture land in the Bone Watershed, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia. The result of this study shows that based on soil properties and physical land characteristics, land use for agriculture should consider appropriate conservation techniques, land capability and respect to local wisdom.

Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework: 3. Land Use and Field Boundary Database Development and Structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomer, Mark D; James, David E; Sandoval-Green, Claudette M J

2017-05-01

Conservation planning information is important for identifying options for watershed water quality improvement and can be developed for use at field, farm, and watershed scales. Translation across scales is a key issue impeding progress at watershed scales because watershed improvement goals must be connected with implementation of farm- and field-level conservation practices to demonstrate success. This is particularly true when examining alternatives for "trap and treat" practices implemented at agricultural-field edges to control (or influence) water flows through fields, landscapes, and riparian corridors within agricultural watersheds. We propose that database structures used in developing conservation planning information can achieve translation across conservation-planning scales, and we developed the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) to enable practical planning applications. The ACPF comprises a planning concept, a database to facilitate field-level and watershed-scale analyses, and an ArcGIS toolbox with Python scripts to identify specific options for placement of conservation practices. This paper appends two prior publications and describes the structure of the ACPF database, which contains land use, crop history, and soils information and is available for download for 6091 HUC12 watersheds located across Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and parts of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin and comprises information on 2.74 × 10 agricultural fields (available through /). Sample results examining land use trends across Iowa and Illinois are presented here to demonstrate potential uses of the database. While designed for use with the ACPF toolbox, users are welcome to use the ACPF watershed data in a variety of planning and modeling approaches. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Can conservation funding be left to carbon finance? Evidence from participatory future land use scenarios in Peru, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Ravikumar, Ashwin; Larjavaara, Markku; Larson, Anne; Kanninen, Markku

2017-01-01

Revenues derived from carbon have been seen as an important tool for supporting forest conservation over the past decade. At the same time, there is high uncertainty about how much revenue can reasonably be expected from land use emissions reductions initiatives. Despite this uncertainty, REDD+ projects and conservation initiatives that aim to take advantage of available or, more commonly, future funding from carbon markets have proliferated. This study used participatory multi-stakeholder workshops to develop divergent future scenarios of land use in eight landscapes in four countries around the world: Peru, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Mexico. The results of these future scenario building exercises were analyzed using a new tool, CarboScen, for calculating the landscape carbon storage implications of different future land use scenarios. The findings suggest that potential revenues from carbon storage or emissions reductions are significant in some landscapes (most notably the peat forests of Indonesia), and much less significant in others (such as the low-carbon forests of Zanzibar and the interior of Tanzania). The findings call into question the practicality of many conservation programs that hinge on expectations of future revenue from carbon finance. The future scenarios-based approach is useful to policy-makers and conservation program developers in distinguishing between landscapes where carbon finance can substantially support conservation, and landscapes where other strategies for conservation and land use should be prioritized.

Controlling conservation functions of peat lands at Langgam Sub District, Pelalawan of Riau Province

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P Astuti

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Forest fires in Langgam District, Pelalawan Regency of Riau Province is caused environmental damage which impact on many aspects, especially the social and economic. This study was aimed to identify the natural environment, the impact of deforestation and land, and the potential problems to the spatial environment and to manage of land conservation and the environment. The methodology used in this study-included quantitative analysis with interviews, GIS spatial analysis and qualitative analysis. Results of this study indicated that the destruction of forests covering about 45.71% of total land in Riau Province was peat land. Sixty six percent of the destruction was directed to the use of land and forest production. There were 11 fire spots in the Langgam District. Results of SWOT analysis indicated non-integrated the estate management, lack of coordination among stakeholders, non-integrated institutional management and forestry and plantations, lack of budget, large illegal logging and land conversion made by private and public institutions.

Cattle grazing and its long-term effects on sedge meadows

Science.gov (United States)

Middleton, Beth

2004-01-01

Most people think that wetlands are temporary, that they fill in by natural processes, and eventually become dry land. Some of these outdated ideas have come from the way that this subject has been covered in introductory textbooks in schools (Gibson, 1996). From these texts, we learned incorrectly that over time a lake fills with sediment or organic matter to become a wetland, which dries out to support shrubs and trees, and eventually it is no longer a wetland (Middleton, 1999; Middleton and others, 2004). These old ideas of how vegetation changes (succession) are no longer accepted. Wetland succession should be thought of as a cycle, with natural disturbance driving the changes, depending on the needs of the species. Succession is not something that changes a wetland into something that is not a wetland (Egler, 1978; van der Valk, 1981; Middleton and others, 1991; Klinger, 1996; Middleton, 1999).As an example of how disturbance changes wetlands, I have studied sedge meadows that have become invaded by shrubs after cattle (Bos sp.) have grazed them, in the Lodi Marsh State Natural Area, Wisconsin. Cattle disturbances allowed shrubs to invade sedge meadows, but the cattle also grazed on the shrubs, which kept them small. After the cows were removed, the plant species changed in the sedge meadow from the original sedges (fig. 1), to sedges mixed with growing small shrubs, and eventually to tall shrubs with very small amounts of sedge, called “shrub carr” (Middleton, 2002a). Even though there has been a succession of plant types, the meadows, which began as wetlands, have remained wetlands. The settlers originally found the sedge meadows to be open “sedge” lands and not shrubby. The settlers cut the sedges by hand to feed the cattle. Whitetailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), though probably not bison (Bison bison), grazed these sedge meadows (Middleton 2002a).Subsequent studies have explored methods to control invasive shrubs to restore the biodiversity of

Seasonal use of conservation reserve program lands by white-tailed deer in east-central South Dakota

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Gould, Jeffrey H.; Jenkins, Kurt J.

1993-01-01

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP_, a provision of the 1985 Food Security Act, subsidizes landowners to take highly erodible lands out of cultivation and seed them to perennial cover for 10years. In eastern South Dakota, 0.5 million ha were enrolled in the CRP from 1985 to 1990 (Agric. Stabilization and Conserv. Serv., Brookings, S.D., unpubl. Data), which represents the largest change in conservation land-use practices in the region since the 1956 Soil Bank Program (Goetz 1987).Although the CRP is anticipated to produce substantial benefits for some wildlife species, particularly ground-nesting birds, its significance to white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the northern Great Plains agricultural region is poorly understood. Higgins et al. (1987) speculated that proliferation of CRP grasslands may provide a missing habitat component in intensively managed farmland, thereby enhancing several species of wildlife, including white-tailed deer. Deer managers in the region have expressed concerns that improved cover associated with DRP plantings on private land could attract deer and reduce hunter success rates or lead to increased depredation of adjacent croplands or stored winter forages (L. Rice, S.D. Dep. Game, Fish, and Parks, Rapid City, pers. comm., 1989). Our objectives were to describe variation in deer use of CRP lands by season, diel period, and deer activity class as a means of assessing seasonal importance of CRP fields to white-tailed deer in agricultural Midwest.

Determinants of Persistence and Tolerance of Carnivores on Namibian Ranches: Implications for Conservation on Southern African Private Lands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lindsey, P.A.; Havemann, C.P.; Lines, R.M.; Palazy, L.; Price, A.E.; Retief, T.A.; Rhebergen, T.; Waal, van der C.

2013-01-01

Changing land use patterns in southern Africa have potential to dramatically alter the prospects for carnivore conservation. Understanding these influences is essential for conservation planning. We interviewed 250 ranchers in Namibia to assess human tolerance towards and the distribution of large

Creating Protected Areas on Public Lands: Is There Room for Additional Conservation?

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Rodrigo A Arriagada

Full Text Available Most evaluations of the effectiveness of PAs have relied on indirect estimates based on comparisons between protected and unprotected areas. Such methods can be biased when protection is not randomly assigned. We add to the growing literature on the impact of PAs by answering the following research questions: What is the impact of Chilean PAs on deforestation which occurred between 1986 and 2011? How do estimates of the impact of PAs vary when using only public land as control units? We show that the characteristics of the areas in which protected and unprotected lands are located differ significantly. To satisfactorily estimate the effects of PAs, we use matching methods to define adequate control groups, but not as in previous research. We construct control groups using separately non-protected private areas and non-protected public lands. We find that PAs avoid deforestation when using unprotected private lands as valid controls, however results show no impact when the control group is based only on unprotected public land. Different land management regimes, and higher levels of enforcement inside public lands may reduce the opportunity to add additional conservation benefits when the national systems for PAs are based on the protection of previously unprotected public lands. Given that not all PAs are established to avoid deforestation, results also admit the potential for future studies to include other outcomes including forest degradation (not just deforestation, biodiversity, wildlife, primary forests (not forests in general, among others.

Creating Protected Areas on Public Lands: Is There Room for Additional Conservation?

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Arriagada, Rodrigo A; Echeverria, Cristian M; Moya, Danisa E

2016-01-01

Most evaluations of the effectiveness of PAs have relied on indirect estimates based on comparisons between protected and unprotected areas. Such methods can be biased when protection is not randomly assigned. We add to the growing literature on the impact of PAs by answering the following research questions: What is the impact of Chilean PAs on deforestation which occurred between 1986 and 2011? How do estimates of the impact of PAs vary when using only public land as control units? We show that the characteristics of the areas in which protected and unprotected lands are located differ significantly. To satisfactorily estimate the effects of PAs, we use matching methods to define adequate control groups, but not as in previous research. We construct control groups using separately non-protected private areas and non-protected public lands. We find that PAs avoid deforestation when using unprotected private lands as valid controls, however results show no impact when the control group is based only on unprotected public land. Different land management regimes, and higher levels of enforcement inside public lands may reduce the opportunity to add additional conservation benefits when the national systems for PAs are based on the protection of previously unprotected public lands. Given that not all PAs are established to avoid deforestation, results also admit the potential for future studies to include other outcomes including forest degradation (not just deforestation), biodiversity, wildlife, primary forests (not forests in general), among others.

Effects of grazing management on biodiversity across trophic levels-The importance of livestock species and stocking density in salt marshes

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van Klink, Roel; Nolte, Stefanie; Mandema, Freek; Lagendijk, D. D. Georgette; WallisDeVries, Michiel F.; Bakker, Jan P.; Esselink, Peter; Smit, Christian

2016-01-01

European coastal salt marshes are important for the conservation of numerous species of specialist plants, invertebrates, breeding and migratory birds. When these marshes are managed for nature conservation purposes, livestock grazing is often used to counter the dominance of the tall grass

Conservation Reserve Program effects on floodplain land cover management.

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Jobe, Addison; Kalra, Ajay; Ibendahl, Elise

2018-05-15

Growing populations and industrialized agriculture practices have eradicated much of the United States wetlands along river floodplains. One program available for the restoration of floodplains is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The current research explores the effects CRP land change has on flooding zones, utilizing Flood Modeller and HEC-RAS. Flood Modeller is proven a viable tool for flood modeling within the United States when compared to HEC-RAS. Application of the software is used in the Nodaway River system located in the western halves of Iowa and Missouri to model effects of introducing new forest areas within the region. Flood stage during the conversion first decreases in the early years, before rising to produce greater heights. Flow velocities where CRP land is present are reduced for long-term scopes. Velocity reduction occurs as the Manning's roughness increases due to tree diameter and brush density. Flood zones become more widespread with the implementation of CRP. Future model implementations are recommended to witness the effects of smaller flood recurrence intervals. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emergy analysis of cropping-grazing system in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, L.X.; Yang, Z.F.; Chen, G.Q.

2007-01-01

An ecological energetic evaluation is presented in this paper as a complement to economic account for the cropping-grazing system in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China in the year 2000. Based on Odum's well-known concept of emergy in terms of embodied solar energy as a unified measure for environmental resources, human or animal labors and industrial products, a systems diagram is developed for the crop and livestock productions with arms and sub-arms for free renewable natural resource input, purchased economic investment, yields of and interactive fluxes between the cropping and grazing sub-industries. In addition to conventional systems indices of the emergy yield ratio (EYR), emergy investment ratio (EIR), environmental load ratio (ELR) and environmental sustainability index (ESI) introduced for congregated systems ecological assessment with essential implication for sustainability, new indicators of soil emergy cost (SEC), self-support intensity (SSI) and self-support orientation (SSO) are defined to characterize the desertification and internal recycling associated with the special agricultural system. Extensive emergy accounting is made for the cropping-grazing system as a whole as well as for the cropping and grazing subsystems. The overall cropping-grazing system is shown with outstanding production competence compared with agricultural systems in some other provinces and the national average in China, though confronted with severe desertification associated with soil loss. The production of crops has higher emergy density and yield rate per unit area as well as higher rate of soil loss than grazing system. The soil emergy cost defined as the soil loss emergy divided by the yield emergy is estimated to be of the same value for both of the subsystems, but the grazing activity is with less extraction intensity, leaving rangeland to rest and rehabilitate. Suggestions with regard to the local sustainability and national ecological security in

Study of Plant Species Richness in Habitats with Different Grazing Intensities at Golestan National Park and Surrounding Area

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A. Bagheri

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Considering the importance of plant diversity and to evaluate the effect of grazing pressure on species richness and structure of plant communities, this experiment was conducted at Golestan National Park and its surrounding areas in the north east of Iran. Sampling was conducted in intact and abandoned habitats and habitats under seasonal and heavy grazing, using Modified Whitaker Plot in 1, 10,100 and 1000 m2 spatial scales. Results showed that the composition of plant species from different habitats was different. In addition the increasing intensity of grazing increased the importance of therophytes and decreased the role of hemicryptophytes and phanerophytes and also decreasd the amount of species richness. Mean species richness of studied habitat showed a significant difference in all four sampling spatial scales. The results showed that plant species richness decreased in the areas affected by heavy grazing and conservation against grazing plays an important role in maintaining species richness.

Fungi regulate response of N2O production to warming and grazing in a Tibetan grassland

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Zhong, Lei; Wang, Shiping; Xu, Xingliang; Wang, Yanfen; Rui, Yichao; Zhou, Xiaoqi; Shen, Qinhua; Wang, Jinzhi; Jiang, Lili; Luo, Caiyun; Gu, Tianbao; Ma, Wenchao; Chen, Guanyi

2018-03-01

Lack of understanding of the effects of warming and winter grazing on soil fungal contribution to nitrous oxide (N2O) production has limited our ability to predict N2O fluxes under changes in climate and land use management, because soil fungi play an important role in driving terrestrial N cycling. Here, we examined the effects of 10 years' warming and winter grazing on soil N2O emissions potential in an alpine meadow. Our results showed that soil bacteria and fungi contributed 46 % and 54 % to nitrification, and 37 % and 63 % to denitrification, respectively. Neither warming nor winter grazing affected the activity of enzymes responsible for overall nitrification and denitrification. However, warming significantly increased the enzyme activity of bacterial nitrification and denitrification to 53 % and 55 %, respectively. Warming significantly decreased enzyme activity of fungal nitrification and denitrification to 47 % and 45 %, respectively, while winter grazing had no such effect. We conclude that soil fungi could be the main source for N2O production potential in the Tibetan alpine grasslands. Warming and winter grazing may not affect the potential for soil N2O production potential, but climate warming can alter biotic pathways responsible for N2O production. These findings indicate that characterizing how fungal nitrification/denitrification contributes to N2O production, as well as how it responds to environmental and land use changes, can advance our understanding of N cycling. Therefore, our results provide some new insights about ecological controls on N2O production and lead to refine greenhouse gas flux models.

Insect herbivory and vertebrate grazing impact food limitation and grasshopper populations during a severe outbreak

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Interspecific competition between distantly related herbivores, as well as between large vertebrate herbivores and phytophagous insects, has received little attention. Livestock grazing is the dominant land use in western North American grasslands, where phytophagous insects can be the dominant herb...

The ability of land owners and their cooperatives to leverage payments greater than opportunity costs from conservation contracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Lennox, Gareth D; Armsworth, Paul R

2013-06-01

In negotiations over land-right acquisitions, landowners have an informational advantage over conservation groups because they know more about the opportunity costs of conservation measures on their sites. This advantage creates the possibility that landowners will demand payments greater than the required minimum, where this minimum required payment is known as the landowner’s willingness to accept (WTA). However, in recent studies of conservation costs, researchers have assumed landowners will accept conservation with minimum payments. We investigated the ability of landowners to demand payments above their WTA when a conservation group has identified multiple sites for protection. First, we estimated the maximum payment landowners could potentially demand, which is set when groups of landowners act as a cooperative. Next, through the simulation of conservation auctions, we explored the amount of money above landowners’ WTA (i.e., surplus) that conservation groups could cede to secure conservation agreements, again investigating the influence of landowner cooperatives. The simulations showed the informational advantage landowners held could make conservation investments up to 42% more expensive than suggested by the site WTAs. Moreover, all auctions resulted in landowners obtaining payments greater than their WTA; thus, it may be unrealistic to assume landowners will accept conservation contracts with minimum payments. Of particular significance for species conservation, conservation objectives focused on overall species richness,which therefore recognize site complementarity, create an incentive for land owners to form cooperatives to capture surplus. To the contrary, objectives in which sites are substitutes, such as the maximization of species occurrences, create a disincentive for cooperative formation.

Effects of grazing management on biodiversity across trophic levels – The importance of livestock species and stocking density in salt marshes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klink, van Roel; Nolte, Stefanie; Mandema, Freek S.; Lagendijk, D.D.G.; Wallis de Vries, Michiel; Bakker, Jan P.; Esselink, Peter; Smit, Christian

2016-01-01

European coastal salt marshes are important for the conservation of numerous species of specialist plants, invertebrates, breeding and migratory birds. When these marshes are managed for nature conservation purposes, livestock grazing is often used to counter the dominance of the tall grass

Distribution of lithium in agricultural and grazing land soils at European continental scale (GEMAS project)

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Negrel, Philippe; Reimann, Clemens; Ladenberger, Anna; Birke, Manfred

2017-04-01

The environmental chemistry of Li has received attention because Li has been shown to have numerous and important implications for human health and agriculture and the stable isotope composition of lithium is a powerful geochemical tool that provides quantitative information about Earth processes such as sediment recycling, global chemical weathering and its role in the carbon cycle, hydrothermal alteration, and groundwater evolution. However, the role of bedrock sources, weathering and climate changes in the repartition of Li at the continental scale has been scarcely investigated. Agricultural soil (Ap-horizon, 0-20 cm) and grazing land soil (Gr-horizon, 0-10 cm) samples were collected from a large part of Europe (33 countries, 5.6 million km2) as a part of the GEMAS (GEochemical Mapping of Agricultural and grazing land Soil) soil mapping project. GEMAS soil data have been used to provide a general view of element mobility and source rocks at the continental scale, either by reference to average crustal abundances or to normalized patterns of element mobility during weathering processes. The survey area includes a diverse group of soil parent materials with varying geological history, a wide range of climate zones and landscapes. The concentrations of Li in European soil were determined by ICP-MS after a hot aqua regia extraction, and their spatial distribution patterns generated by means of a GIS software. Due to the partial nature of the aqua regia extraction, the mean concentration of Li in the European agricultural soil (ca 11.4 mg/kg in Ap and Gr soils) is about four times lower than in the Earth's upper continental crust (UCC = 41 mg/kg). The combined plot histogram - density trace one- dimensional scattergram - boxplot of the aqua regia data displays the univariate data distribution of Li. The one-dimensional scattergram and boxplot highlight the existence of many outliers at the lower end of the Li distribution and very few at the upper end. Though the

The need for speed: informed land acquisitions for conservation in a dynamic property market.

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McDonald-Madden, Eve; Bode, Michael; Game, Edward T; Grantham, Hedley; Possingham, Hugh P

2008-11-01

Land acquisition is a common approach to biodiversity conservation but is typically subject to property availability on the public market. Consequently, conservation plans are often unable to be implemented as intended. When properties come on the market, conservation agencies must make a choice: purchase immediately, often without a detailed knowledge of its biodiversity value; survey the parcel and accept the risk that it may be removed from the market during this process; or not purchase and hope a better parcel comes on the market at a later date. We describe both an optimal method, using stochastic dynamic programming, and a simple rule of thumb for making such decisions. The solutions to this problem illustrate how optimal conservation is necessarily dynamic and requires explicit consideration of both the time period allowed for implementation and the availability of properties.

The Role of Rural Communities in Conservation of Rangelands in Mahneshan Township

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Kobra Karimi

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the action of rangeland-depended livestock holders regarding rangeland conservation, including protection and rehabilitation activities and to analyse relevant influencing factors, using a mixed method of survey and case study. The data were collected through analysing existing documents, focus groups, semi-structured and structured interviews using questionnaires submitted to 204 rural livestock holders in the Mahneshan Township. The quantitative data were analysed using SPSS and AMOS software. According to the results farmers’ knowledge regarding the role, importance and factors affecting rangeland degradation was relatively high, however they had a low level of knowledge and action about mechanical conservation techniques. The action of livestock holders in terms of biological conservation activities and grazing management showed a positive and signifincat corrletaion with variables such as implementing of rangeland projects, their interaction with external institutions, participating in extension training courses, education level and irrigated and rainfed agricultural land size. Moreover, based on a path analysis, 37% of the variance of the farmers’ actions regarding the rangeland conservation was explained by the variables such as rangeland rehabilitation actions, farmers’ conservation knowledge, farmers’ interaction with natural resources experts, beekeeping, and participating in extension training courses. Promotional and extension activities and farmers’ interaction with experts have a positive effect in enhancing farmers’ knowledge and actions for sustainable rangeland use and conservation.

The effects of burning and grazing on soil carbon dynamics in managed Peruvian tropical montane grasslands

Science.gov (United States)

Oliver, Viktoria; Oliveras, Imma; Kala, Jose; Lever, Rebecca; Arn Teh, Yit

2017-12-01

Montane tropical soils are a large carbon (C) reservoir, acting as both a source and a sink of CO2. Enhanced CO2 emissions originate, in large part, from the decomposition and losses of soil organic matter (SOM) following anthropogenic disturbances. Therefore, quantitative knowledge of the stabilization and decomposition of SOM is necessary in order to understand, assess and predict the impact of land management in the tropics. In particular, labile SOM is an early and sensitive indicator of how SOM responds to changes in land use and management practices, which could have major implications for long-term carbon storage and rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of grazing and fire history on soil C dynamics in the Peruvian montane grasslands, an understudied ecosystem, which covers approximately a quarter of the land area in Peru. A density fractionation method was used to quantify the labile and stable organic matter pools, along with soil CO2 flux and decomposition measurements. Grazing and burning together significantly increased soil CO2 fluxes and decomposition rates and reduced temperature as a driver. Although there was no significant effect of land use on total soil C stocks, the combination of burning and grazing decreased the proportion of C in the free light fraction (LF), especially at the lower depths (10-20 and 20-30 cm). In the control soils, 20 % of the material recovered was in the free LF, which contained 30 % of the soil C content. In comparison, the burnt-grazed soil had the smallest recovery of the free LF (10 %) and a significantly lower C content (14 %). The burnt soils had a much higher proportion of C in the occluded LF (12 %) compared to the not-burnt soils (7 %) and there was no significant difference among the treatments in the heavy fraction (F) ( ˜ 70 %). The synergistic effect of burning and grazing caused changes to the soil C dynamics. CO2 fluxes were increased and the dominant

The effects of burning and grazing on soil carbon dynamics in managed Peruvian tropical montane grasslands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Oliver

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Montane tropical soils are a large carbon (C reservoir, acting as both a source and a sink of CO2. Enhanced CO2 emissions originate, in large part, from the decomposition and losses of soil organic matter (SOM following anthropogenic disturbances. Therefore, quantitative knowledge of the stabilization and decomposition of SOM is necessary in order to understand, assess and predict the impact of land management in the tropics. In particular, labile SOM is an early and sensitive indicator of how SOM responds to changes in land use and management practices, which could have major implications for long-term carbon storage and rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of grazing and fire history on soil C dynamics in the Peruvian montane grasslands, an understudied ecosystem, which covers approximately a quarter of the land area in Peru. A density fractionation method was used to quantify the labile and stable organic matter pools, along with soil CO2 flux and decomposition measurements. Grazing and burning together significantly increased soil CO2 fluxes and decomposition rates and reduced temperature as a driver. Although there was no significant effect of land use on total soil C stocks, the combination of burning and grazing decreased the proportion of C in the free light fraction (LF, especially at the lower depths (10–20 and 20–30 cm. In the control soils, 20 % of the material recovered was in the free LF, which contained 30 % of the soil C content. In comparison, the burnt–grazed soil had the smallest recovery of the free LF (10 % and a significantly lower C content (14 %. The burnt soils had a much higher proportion of C in the occluded LF (12 % compared to the not-burnt soils (7 % and there was no significant difference among the treatments in the heavy fraction (F ( ∼  70 %. The synergistic effect of burning and grazing caused changes to the soil C dynamics. CO2

Conservation covenants on private land: issues with measuring and achieving biodiversity outcomes in Australia.

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Fitzsimons, James A; Carr, C Ben

2014-09-01

Conservation covenants and easements have become essential tools to secure biodiversity outcomes on private land, and to assist in meeting international protection targets. In Australia, the number and spatial area of conservation covenants has grown significantly in the past decade. Yet there has been little research or detailed policy analysis of conservation covenanting in Australia. We sought to determine how conservation covenanting agencies were measuring the biodiversity conservation outcomes achieved on covenanted properties, and factors inhibiting or contributing to measuring these outcomes. In addition, we also investigated the drivers and constraints associated with actually delivering the biodiversity outcomes, drawing on detailed input from covenanting programs. Although all conservation covenanting programs had the broad aim of maintaining or improving biodiversity in their covenants in the long term, the specific stated objectives of conservation covenanting programs varied. Programs undertook monitoring and evaluation in different ways and at different spatial and temporal scales. Thus, it was difficult to determine the extent Australian conservation covenanting agencies were measuring the biodiversity conservation outcomes achieved on covenanted properties on a national scale. Lack of time available to covenantors to undertake management was one of the biggest impediments to achieving biodiversity conservation outcomes. A lack of financial resources and human capital to monitor, knowing what to monitor, inconsistent monitoring methodologies, a lack of benchmark data, and length of time to achieve outcomes were all considered potential barriers to monitoring the biodiversity conservation outcomes of conservation covenants.

Allelopathic cover crop prior to seeding is more important than subsequent grazing/mowing in grassland establishment

Science.gov (United States)

Milchunas, Daniel G.; Vandever, Mark W.; Ball, Leonard O.; Hyberg, Skip

2011-01-01

The effects of grazing, mowing, and type of cover crop were evaluated in a previous winter wheat–fallow cropland seeded to grassland under the Conservation Reserve Program in eastern Colorado. Prior to seeding, the fallow strips were planted to forage sorghum or wheat in alternating strips (cover crops), with no grazing, moderate to heavy grazing, and mowing (grazing treatments) superimposed 4 yr after planting and studied for 3 yr. Plots previously in wheat had more annual and exotic species than sorghum plots. Concomitantly, there were much greater abundances of perennial native grass and all native species in sorghum than wheat cropped areas. The competitive advantage gained by seeded species in sorghum plots resulted in large increases in rhizomatous western wheatgrass. Sorghum is known to be allelopathic and is used in crop agriculture rotations to suppress weeds and increase crop yields, consistent with the responses of weed and desired native species in this study. Grazing treatment had relatively minor effects on basal and canopy cover composition of annual or exotic species versus perennial native grass or native species. Although grazing treatment never was a significant main effect, it occasionally modified cover crop or year effects. Opportunistic grazing reduced exotic cheatgrass by year 3 but also decreased the native palatable western wheatgrass. Mowing was a less effective weed control practice than grazing. Vegetative basal cover and aboveground primary production varied primarily with year. Common management practices for revegetation/restoration currently use herbicides and mowing as weed control practices and restrict grazing in all stages of development. Results suggest that allelopathic cover crop selection and opportunistic grazing can be effective alternative grass establishment and weed control practices. Susceptibility, resistance, and interactions of weed and seeded species to allelopathic cover species/cultivars may be a fruitful area

A 100-Year Review: A century of change in temperate grazing dairy systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Roche, J R; Berry, D P; Bryant, A M; Burke, C R; Butler, S T; Dillon, P G; Donaghy, D J; Horan, B; Macdonald, K A; Macmillan, K L

2017-12-01

From 1917 to 2017, dairy grazing systems have evolved from uncontrolled grazing of unimproved pastures by dual-purpose dairy-beef breeds to an intensive system with a high output per unit of land from a fit-for-purpose cow. The end of World War I signaled significant government investments in agricultural research institutes around the world, which coincided with technological breakthroughs in milk harvesting and a recognition that important traits in both plants and animals could be improved upon relatively rapidly through genetic selection. Uptake of milk recording and herd testing increased rapidly through the 1920s, as did the recognition that pastures that were rested in between grazing events yielded more in a year than those continuously grazed. This, and the invention and refinement of the electric fence, led to the development of "controlled" rotational grazing. This, in itself, facilitated greater stocking rates and a 5 to 10% increase in milk output per hectare but, perhaps more importantly, it allowed a more efficient use of nitrogen fertilizer, further increasing milk output/land area by 20%. Farmer inventions led to the development of the herringbone and rotary milking parlors, which, along with the "unshortable" electric fence and technological breakthroughs in sperm dilution rates, allowed further dairy farm expansion. Simple but effective technological breakthroughs in reproduction ensured that cows were identified in estrus early (a key factor in maintaining the seasonality of milk production) and enabled researchers to quantify the anestrus problem in grazing herds. Genetic improvement of pasture species has lagged its bovine counterpart, but recent developments in multi-trait indices as well as investment in genetic technologies should significantly increase potential milk production per hectare. Decades of research on the use of feeds other than pasture (i.e., supplementary feeds) have provided consistent milk production responses when the

Grazing winter rye cover crop in a cotton no-till system: yield and economics

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Winter cover crop adoption in conservation management systems continues to be limited in the US but could be encouraged if establishment costs could be offset. A 4-yr field experiment was conducted near Watkinsville, Georgia in which a rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop was either grazed by catt...

Equine Grazing in Managed Subalpine Wetlands: Effects on Arthropods and Plant Structure as a Function of Habitat

Science.gov (United States)

Holmquist, Jeffrey G.; Schmidt-Gengenbach, Jutta; Haultain, Sylvia A.

2013-12-01

Grazing management necessarily emphasizes the most spatially extensive vegetation assemblages, but landscapes are mosaics, often with more mesic vegetation types embedded within a matrix of drier vegetation. Our primary objective was to contrast effects of equine grazing on both subalpine vegetation structure and associated arthropods in a drier reed grass ( Calamagrostis muiriana) dominated habitat versus a wetter, more productive sedge habitat ( Carex utriculata). A second objective was to compare reed grass and sedge as habitats for fauna, irrespective of grazing. All work was done in Sequoia National Park (CA, USA), where detailed, long-term records of stock management were available. We sampled paired grazed and control wet meadows that contained both habitats. There were moderate negative effects of grazing on vegetation, and effects were greater in sedge than in reed grass. Conversely, negative grazing effects on arthropods, albeit limited, were greater in the drier reed grass, possibly due to microhabitat differences. The differing effects on plants and animals as a function of habitat emphasize the importance of considering both flora and fauna, as well as multiple habitat types, when making management decisions. Sedge supported twice the overall arthropod abundance of reed grass as well as greater diversity; hemipteran and dipteran taxa were particularly abundant in sedge. Given the greater grazing effects on sedge vegetation, greater habitat provision for terrestrial arthropods, and value as aquatic arthropod habitat, the wetter sedge assemblage is worthy of additional consideration by managers when planning for grazing and other aspects of land usage.

Impact of cutting and sheep grazing on ground-active spiders and carabids in intertidal salt marshes (Western France

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Pétillon, J.

2007-12-01

Full Text Available The aims of this study were to characterize spider (Araneae and ground beetle (Coleoptera Carabidae communities in managed (cutting and sheep grazing and non-managed salt marshes and to assess the efficiency of management regimes in these particular ecosystems. The two groups were studied during 2002 in salt marshes of the Mont Saint-Michel Bay (NW France using pitfall traps. By opening soil and vegetation structures cutting and grazing enhanced the abundances of some halophilic species of spiders and ground beetles. Nevertheless, grazing appeared to be too intensive as spider species richness decreased. We discuss the implications of management practices in terms of nature conservation and their application in the particular area of intertidal salt marshes.

Projected use of grazed forages in the United States: 2000 to 2050: A technical document supporting the 2000 USDA Forest Service RPA Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Larry W. van Tassell; E. Tom Bartlett; John E. Mitchell

2001-01-01

Scenario analysis techniques were used to combine projections from 35 grazed forage experts to estimate future forage demand scenarios and examine factors that are anticipated to impact the use of grazed forages in the South, North, and West Regions of the United States. The amount of land available for forage production is projected to decrease in all regions while...

Restoring sand shinnery oak prairies with herbicide and grazing in New Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Zavaleta, Jennifer C.; Haukos, David A.; Grisham, Blake A.; Boal, Clint W.; Dixon, Charles

2016-01-01

Sand shinnery oak (Quercus havardii) prairies are increasingly disappearing and increasingly degraded in the Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico. Restoring and managing sand shinnery oak prairie can support biodiversity, specific species of conservation concern, and livestock production. We measured vegetation response to four treatment combinations of herbicide (tebuthiuron applied at 0.60 kg/ha) and moderate-intensity grazing (50% removal of annual herbaceous production) over a 10-year period in a sand shinnery oak prairie of eastern New Mexico. We compared the annual vegetation response to the historical climax plant community (HCPC) as outlined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Ecological Site Description. From 2 to 10 years postapplication, tebuthiuron-treated plots had reduced shrub cover with twice as much forb and grass cover as untreated plots. Tebuthiuron-treated plots, regardless of the presence of grazing, most frequently met HCPC. Tebuthiuron and moderate-intensity grazing increased vegetation heterogeneity and, based on comparison of the HCPC, successfully restored sand shinnery oak prairie to a vegetation composition similar to presettlement.

Biological soil crusts across disturbance–recovery scenarios: effect of grazing regime on community dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Concostrina-Zubiri, L; Huber-Sannwald, E; Martínez, I; Flores Flores, J L; Reyes-Agüero, J A; Escude, A; Belnap, J

Grazing represents one of the most common disturbances in drylands worldwide, affecting both ecosystem structure and functioning. Despite the efforts to understand the nature and magnitude of grazing effects on ecosystem components and processes, contrasting results continue to arise. This is particularly remarkable for the biological soil crust (BSC) communities (i.e., cyanobacteria, lichens, and bryophytes), which play an important role in soil dynamics. Here we evaluated simultaneously the effect of grazing impact on BSC communities (resistance) and recovery after livestock exclusion (resilience) in a semiarid grassland of Central Mexico. In particular, we examined BSC species distribution, species richness, taxonomical group cover (i.e., cyanobacteria, lichen, bryophyte), and composition along a disturbance gradient with different grazing regimes (low, medium, high impact) and along a recovery gradient with differently aged livestock exclosures (short-, medium-, long-term exclusion). Differences in grazing impact and time of recovery from grazing both resulted in slight changes in species richness; however, there were pronounced shifts in species composition and group cover. We found we could distinguish four highly diverse and dynamic BSC species groups: (1) species with high resistance and resilience to grazing, (2) species with high resistance but low resilience, (3) species with low resistance but high resilience, and (4) species with low resistance and resilience. While disturbance resulted in a novel diversity configuration, which may profoundly affect ecosystem functioning, we observed that 10 years of disturbance removal did not lead to the ecosystem structure found after 27 years of recovery. These findings are an important contribution to our understanding of BCS dynamics from a species and community perspective placed in a land use change context.

Biological soil crusts across disturbance-recovery scenarios: effect of grazing regime on community dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Concostrina-Zubiri, L.; Huber-Sannwald, E.; Martínez, I.; Flores Flores, J. L.; Reyes-Agüero, J. A.; Escudero, A.; Belnap, Jayne

2014-01-01

Grazing represents one of the most common disturbances in drylands worldwide, affecting both ecosystem structure and functioning. Despite the efforts to understand the nature and magnitude of grazing effects on ecosystem components and processes, contrasting results continue to arise. This is particularly remarkable for the biological soil crust (BSC) communities (i.e., cyanobacteria, lichens, and bryophytes), which play an important role in soil dynamics. Here we evaluated simultaneously the effect of grazing impact on BSC communities (resistance) and recovery after livestock exclusion (resilience) in a semiarid grassland of Central Mexico. In particular, we examined BSC species distribution, species richness, taxonomical group cover (i.e., cyanobacteria, lichen, bryophyte), and composition along a disturbance gradient with different grazing regimes (low, medium, high impact) and along a recovery gradient with differently aged livestock exclosures (short-, medium-, long-term exclusion). Differences in grazing impact and time of recovery from grazing both resulted in slight changes in species richness; however, there were pronounced shifts in species composition and group cover. We found we could distinguish four highly diverse and dynamic BSC species groups: (1) species with high resistance and resilience to grazing, (2) species with high resistance but low resilience, (3) species with low resistance but high resilience, and (4) species with low resistance and resilience. While disturbance resulted in a novel diversity configuration, which may profoundly affect ecosystem functioning, we observed that 10 years of disturbance removal did not lead to the ecosystem structure found after 27 years of recovery. These findings are an important contribution to our understanding of BCS dynamics from a species and community perspective placed in a land use change context.

Grazing intensity affects the environmental impact of dairy systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguirre-Villegas, H A; Passos-Fonseca, T H; Reinemann, D J; Larson, R

2017-08-01

Dairy products are major components of the human diet but are also important contributors to global environmental impacts. This study evaluated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, net energy intensity (NEI), and land use of confined dairy systems with increasing levels of pasture in the diet. A Wisconsin farm was modeled to represent practices adopted by dairy operations in a humid continental climate typical in the Great Lakes region and other climates that have large differences in seasonal temperatures. Five grazing scenarios (all of which contained some portion of confinement) were modeled based on different concentrations of dry matter intake from pasture and feed supplementation from corn grain, corn silage, and soybean meal. Scenarios that incorporate grazing consisted of 5 mo of pasture feeding from May to September and 7 mo of confined feeding from October to April. Environmental impacts were compared within the 5 scenarios that incorporate grazing and across 2 entirely confined scenarios with and without on-farm electricity production through anaerobic digestion (AD). To conduct a fair comparison, all scenarios were evaluated based on the same total amount of milk produced per day where resource inputs were adjusted according to the characteristics of each scenario. A cradle-to-farm gate life cycle assessment evaluated the environmental burdens that were partitioned by allocation between milk and meat and by system expansion when biogas-based electricity was produced. Overall, results for all scenarios were comparable. Enteric methane was the greatest contributor to GHG emissions, and the production of crops was the most energy-intense process. For the confined scenario without AD, GHG emissions were 0.87 kg of CO 2 equivalents, NEI was 1.59 MJ, and land use was 1.59 m 2 /kg of fat- and protein-corrected milk (FPCM). Anaerobic digestion significantly reduced emissions to 0.28 kg of CO 2 equivalents/kg of FPCM and reduced NEI to -1.26 MJ/kg of FPCM, indicating

Changes in historical Iowa land cover as context for assessing the environmental benefits of current and future conservation efforts on agricultural lands

Science.gov (United States)

Gallant, Alisa L.; Sadinski, Walt; Roth, Mark F.; Rewa, Charles A.

2011-01-01

Conservationists and agriculturists face unprecedented challenges trying to minimize tradeoffs between increasing demands for food, fiber, feed, and biofuels and the resulting loss or reduced values of other ecosystem services, such as those derived from wetlands and biodiversity (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment 2005a, 2005c; Maresch et al. 2008). The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-234, Stat. 923, HR 2419, also known as the 2008 Farm Bill) reauthorized the USDA to provide financial incentives for agricultural producers to reduce environmental impacts via multiple conservation programs. Two prominent programs, the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), provide incentives for producers to retire environmentally sensitive croplands, minimize erosion, improve water quality, restore wetlands, and provide wildlife habitat (USDA FSA 2008a, 2008b; USDA NRCS 2002). Other conservation programs (e.g., Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program) provide incentives to implement structural and cultural conservation practices to improve the environmental performance of working agricultural lands. Through its Conservation Effects Assessment Project, USDA is supporting evaluation of the environmental benefits obtained from the public investment in conservation programs and practices to inform decisions on where further investments are warranted (Duriancik et al. 2008; Zinn 1997).

Traps and transformations influencing the financial viability of tourism on private-land conservation areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Clements, Hayley S; Cumming, Graeme S

2018-04-01

The ability of private conservation organizations to remain financially viable is a key factor influencing their effectiveness. One-third of financially motivated private-land conservation areas (PLCAs) surveyed in South Africa are unprofitable, raising questions about landowners' abilities to effectively adapt their business models to the socioeconomic environment. In any complex system, options for later adaptation can be constrained by starting conditions (path dependence). We tested 3 hypothesized drivers of path dependence in PLCA ecotourism and hunting business models: (H1) the initial size of a PLCA limits the number of mammalian game and thereby predators that can be sustained; (H2) initial investments in infrastructure limit the ability to introduce predators; and (H3) rainfall limits game and predator abundance. We further assessed how managing for financial stability (optimized game stocking) or ecological sustainability (allowing game to fluctuate with environmental conditions) influenced the ability to overcome path dependence. A mechanistic PLCA model based on simple ecological and financial rules was run for different initial conditions and management strategies, simulating landowner options for adapting their business model annually. Despite attempts by simulated landowners to increase profits, adopted business models after 13 years were differentiated by initial land and infrastructural assets, supporting H1 and H2. A conservation organization's initial assets can cause it to become locked into a financially vulnerable business model. In our 50-year simulation, path dependence was overcome by fewer of the landowners who facilitated natural ecological variability than those who maintained constant hunting rates and predator numbers, but the latter experienced unsustainably high game densities in low rainfall years. Management for natural variability supported long-term ecological sustainability but not shorter term socioeconomic sustainability for

Ecosystem Management and Land Conservation Can Substantially Contribute to California's Climate Mitigation Goals

Science.gov (United States)

Marvin, D.; Cameron, D. R.; Passero, M. C.; Remucal, J. M.

2017-12-01

California has been a global leader in climate change policy through its early adoption of ambitious GHG reduction goals, committing to steep reductions through 2030 and beyond. Modeling efforts focused on future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy and other sectors in California have shown varying capacity to meet the emissions reductions targets established by the state. These efforts have not included potential reductions from changes in ecosystem management, restoration, and conservation. This study simulates the future GHG reduction potential of these land-based activities (e.g., changes to forest management, avoided conversion of grasslands to agriculture) when applied to California lands at three plausible rates of policy implementation relative to current efforts. We then compare the reduction potential of the activities against "business-as-usual" (BAU) emissions projections for the California to highlight the contribution of the biosphere toward reaching the state's GHG 2030 and 2050 reduction targets. By 2030, an Ambitious land-based activity implementation scenario could contribute as much as 146.7 MMTCO2e or 17.4% of the cumulative reductions needed to meet the state's 2030 goal, greater than the individual contributions of four other economic sectors, including those from the Industrial and Agriculture sectors. On an annual basis, the Ambitious scenario could result in reductions as high as 17.93 MMTCO2e yr-1 or 13.4% of the state's 2030 reduction goal. Most reductions come from changes in forest management, such as extending rotation times for harvest and reducing stocking density, thereby promoting accelerated growth. Such changes comprise 59.8% to 67.4% of annual projected emissions reductions in 2050 for the Ambitious and Limited scenarios, respectively. Implementation of a range of land-based emissions reduction activities can materially contribute to one of the most ambitious mitigation targets globally. This study provides a flexible

The grazing capacity of sweetveld: 2. A model to estimate grazing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The relations between grazing capacity and three independent variables were investigated in the False Thornveld of the Eastern Cape. The variables were veld condition, rainfall and density of woody species. These relations were used to develop a preliminary model to assess grazing capacity in the veld type. Despite its ...

Evaluation of Themeda triandra as an indicator for monitoring the effects of grazing and fire in the Bontebok National Park

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Novellie

2010-07-01

Conservation implications: The conservation objectives of maintaining (1 large mammal herbivory as an ecological process and (2 plant species diversity may be difficult to reconcile with each other in the highly fragmented renosterveld and lowland fynbos ecosystems. This paper explores a rapid approach to monitoring impacts of bontebok and other grazing ungulates.

Effect of land use types in Miesa Watershed on soil quality and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of land use types on physicochemical and biological properties of soil and hence on soil fertility and soil productivity. In order to investigate soil fertility status, soil samples collected from different land use types (cultivated land, grazing land and natural forest) from the ...

Changes in Carbon Emissions in Colombian Savannas Derived From Recent Land use and Land Cover Change

Science.gov (United States)

Etter, A.; Sarmiento, A.

2007-12-01

The global contribution of carbon emissions from land use dynamics and change to the global carbon (C) cycle is still uncertain, a major concern in global change modeling. Carbon emission from fires in the tropics is significant and represents 9% of the net primary production, and 50% of worldwide C emissions from fires are attributable to savanna fires. Such emissions may vary significantly due to differences in ecosystem types. Most savanna areas are devoted to grazing land uses making methane emissions also important in savanna ecosystems. Land use change driven by intensification of grazing and cropping has become a major factor affecting C emission dynamics from savanna regions. Colombia has some 17 MHa of mesic savannas which have been historically burned. Due to changes in market demands and improved accessibility during the last 20 years, important areas of savannas changed land use from predominantly extensive grazing to crops and intensive grazing systems. This research models and evaluates the impacts of such land use changes on the spatial and temporal burning patterns and C emissions in the Orinoco savannas of Colombia. We address the effects of land use change patterns using remote sensing data from MODIS and Landsat, ecosystem mapping products, and spatial GIS analysis. First we map the expansion of the agricultural frontier from the 1980s-2000s. We then model the changes in land use from the 1980s using a statistical modeling approach to analyze and quantify the impact of accessibility, ecosystem type and land tenure. We calculate the effects on C emissions from fire regimes and other sources of C based on patterns and extent of burned areas in the 2000s for different savanna ecosystem types and land uses. In the Llanos the fire regime exhibits a marked seasonal variability with most fire events occurring during the dry season between December-March. Our analysis shows that fire frequencies vary consistently between 0.6 and 2.8 fires.yr-1 per 2

High spatial resolution mapping of land cover types in a priority area for conservation in the Brazilian savanna

Science.gov (United States)

Ribeiro, F.; Roberts, D. A.; Hess, L. L.; Davis, F. W.; Caylor, K. K.; Nackoney, J.; Antunes Daldegan, G.

2017-12-01

Savannas are heterogeneous landscapes consisting of highly mixed land cover types that lack clear distinct boundaries. The Brazilian Cerrado is a Neotropical savanna considered a biodiversity hotspot for conservation due to its biodiversity richness and rapid transformation of its landscape by crop and pasture activities. The Cerrado is one of the most threatened Brazilian biomes and only 2.2% of its original extent is strictly protected. Accurate mapping and monitoring of its ecosystems and adjacent land use are important to select areas for conservation and to improve our understanding of the dynamics in this biome. Land cover mapping of savannas is difficult due to spectral similarity between land cover types resulting from similar vegetation structure, floristically similar components, generalization of land cover classes, and heterogeneity usually expressed as small patch sizes within the natural landscape. These factors are the major contributor to misclassification and low map accuracies among remote sensing studies in savannas. Specific challenges to map the Cerrado's land cover types are related to the spectral similarity between classes of land use and natural vegetation, such as natural grassland vs. cultivated pasture, and forest ecosystem vs. crops. This study seeks to classify and evaluate the land cover patterns across an area ranked as having extremely high priority for future conservation in the Cerrado. The main objective of this study is to identify the representativeness of each vegetation type across the landscape using high to moderate spatial resolution imagery using an automated scheme. A combination of pixel-based and object-based approaches were tested using RapidEye 3A imagery (5m spatial resolution) to classify the Cerrado's major land cover types. The random forest classifier was used to map the major ecosystems present across the area, and demonstrated to have an effective result with 68% of overall accuracy. Post

Livestock grazing intensity affects abundance of Common shrews (Sorex araneus) in two meadows in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Niels Martin; Olsen, Henrik; Leirs, Herwig

2009-01-01

habitat type for a large number of animal species in today's fragmented and intensively cultivated landscape of Europe. Here we focus on the population characteristics of Common shrews Sorex araneus in relation to livestock grazing intensity in two wet meadows in western Denmark. Results: High grazing...... as well as in most other European countries, the amount of land covered by semi-natural grassland has decreased dramatically during the 20th century concurrent with the general intensification of the agricultural production. To reverse this trend, actions are being taken in many places to either maintain...

The Effect of Different Type of Herbivores, Grazing Types and Grazing Intensities on Alpine Basiphillous Vegetation of the Romanian Carpathians

Science.gov (United States)

Ballová, Zuzana; Pekárik, Ladislav; Šibík, Jozef

2017-04-01

The major purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that there are significant differences in vegetation structure, plant species composition, and soil chemical properties in relation to type of grazing animals, various levels of grazing intensity and grazing type, and if potential differences alter with ecosystem productivity (increase in more productive ecosystems). The study was conducted in three mountain ranges of the Romanian Carpathians with a predominance of alkaline substrates (the Bucegi Mts, the Little Retezat Mts and the Ceahlău Massif). Statistical analyses were performed in R statistical software environment. The effects of grazing animals (cattle, horses and sheep), grazing types (fence, regular, irregular) and grazing intensity (low, medium, high) on the community structure were tested using ordination methods. In the case of soil properties, General Linear Mixed Model was applied. Special statistical approach eliminated the differences between the examined mountains and sites. Type of grazing animal does not significantly influence species cover but it is related to specific species occurrence. According to our results, grazing horses had similar effects as cattle compared to sheep. Grazing in restricted areas (surrounded by fence) and regular unrestricted grazing were more similar if compared to irregular grazing. When comparing the intensity of grazing, high and medium intensity were more similar to each other than to the low intensity grazing. Cattle grazed sites had significantly higher lichens cover, while the sheep patches were covered with increased overall herb layer (forbs, graminoids and low shrubs together). Medium grazing intensity decreased the lichens cover, cover of overall herb layer, and total vegetation cover compared to high and low grazing intensity. Grazing type had important impact on the lichens cover and cover of overall herb layer. The lichens cover appeared to decrease while the cover of overall herb layer

Greenhouse gas fluxes of grazed and hayed wetland catchments in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Ecoregion

Science.gov (United States)

Finocchiaro, Raymond G.; Tangen, Brian A.; Gleason, Robert A.

2014-01-01

Wetland catchments are major ecosystems in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) and play an important role in greenhouse gases (GHG) flux. However, there is limited information regarding effects of land-use on GHG fluxes from these wetland systems. We examined the effects of grazing and haying, two common land-use practices in the region, on GHG fluxes from wetland catchments during 2007 and 2008. Fluxes of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2), along with soil water content and temperature, were measured along a topographic gradient every other week during the growing season near Ipswich, SD, USA. Closed, opaque chambers were used to measure fluxes of soil and plant respiration from native sod catchments that were grazed or left idle, and from recently restored catchments which were seeded with native plant species; half of these catchments were hayed once during the growing season. Catchments were adjacent to each other and had similar soils, soil nitrogen and organic carbon content, precipitation, and vegetation. When compared with idle catchments, grazing as a land-use had little effect on GHG fluxes. Likewise, haying had little effect on fluxes of CH4 and N2O compared with non-hayed catchments. Haying, however, did have a significant effect on combined soil and vegetative CO2 flux in restored wetland catchments owing to the immediate and comprehensive effect haying has on plant productivity. This study also examined soil conditions that affect GHG fluxes and provides cumulative annual estimates of GHG fluxes from wetland catchment in the PPR.

Use of Land Use Land Cover Change Mapping Products in Aiding Coastal Habitat Conservation and Restoration Efforts of the Mobile Bay NEP

Science.gov (United States)

Spruce, Joseph P.; Swann, Roberta; Smooth, James

2010-01-01

The Mobile Bay region has undergone significant land use land cover change (LULC) over the last 35 years, much of which is associated with urbanization. These changes have impacted the region s water quality and wildlife habitat availability. In addition, much of the region is low-lying and close to the Gulf, which makes the region vulnerable to hurricanes, climate change (e.g., sea level rise), and sometimes man-made disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. Land use land cover change information is needed to help coastal zone managers and planners to understand and mitigate the impacts of environmental change on the region. This presentation discusses selective results of a current NASA-funded project in which Landsat data over a 34-year period (1974-2008) is used to produce, validate, refine, and apply land use land cover change products to aid coastal habitat conservation and restoration needs of the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MB NEP). The project employed a user defined classification scheme to compute LULC change mapping products for the entire region, which includes the majority of Mobile and Baldwin counties. Additional LULC change products have been computed for select coastal HUC-12 sub-watersheds adjacent to either Mobile Bay or the Gulf of Mexico, as part of the MB NEP watershed profile assessments. This presentation will include results of additional analyses of LULC change for sub-watersheds that are currently high priority areas, as defined by MB NEP. Such priority sub-watersheds include those that are vulnerable to impacts from the DWH oil spill, as well as sub-watersheds undergoing urbanization. Results demonstrating the nature and permanence of LULC change trends for these higher priority sub-watersheds and results characterizing change for the entire 34-year period and at approximate 10-year intervals across this period will also be presented. Future work will include development of value-added coastal habitat quality

Successive sheep grazing reduces population density of Brandt's voles in steppe grassland by altering food resources: a large manipulative experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Guoliang; Yin, Baofa; Wan, Xinrong; Wei, Wanhong; Wang, Guiming; Krebs, Charles J; Zhang, Zhibin

2016-01-01

Livestock grazing has shaped grassland ecosystems around the world. Previous studies indicated grazing showed various impacts on small rodents; however, most studies were conducted over 1-2 years without controlling for confounding factors such as immigration/emigration and predation in rodents. Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) are generally recognized as pests because of food overlap with domestic herbivores, but are also important for biodiversity conservation because they provide nests or food to many birds. Fully understanding the ecological relationship between domestic herbivores and small mammals is essential to making ecosystem management decisions. To address these needs, we carried out a field experiment during the period 2010-2013 to assess the effects of sheep grazing on vegetation and the population density of Brandt's voles along a gradient of three grazing intensities by using 12 large-scale enclosures. Responses of Brandt's voles to livestock grazing varied with grazing intensity and year. As compared to the control group, sheep grazing had no effect on vole abundance in the first year but an overall negative effect on vole abundance in the following 3 years. Successive grazing caused decreases in survival and male body mass of voles, but had no significant effect on fecundity. Negative effects of grazing were associated with a grazing-induced deterioration in both food quantity (reflected by biomass and cover of less-preferred plants), and food quality (measured by tannin and total phenol content). Our findings highlight the urgent need for more flexible management of yearly rotational grazing to optimize livestock production while maintaining species diversity and ecosystem health.

Eaten out of house and home: impacts of grazing on ground-dwelling reptiles in Australian grasslands and grassy woodlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Howland, Brett; Stojanovic, Dejan; Gordon, Iain J; Manning, Adrian D; Fletcher, Don; Lindenmayer, David B

2014-01-01

Large mammalian grazers can alter the biotic and abiotic features of their environment through their impacts on vegetation. Grazing at moderate intensity has been recommended for biodiversity conservation. Few studies, however, have empirically tested the benefits of moderate grazing intensity in systems dominated by native grazers. Here we investigated the relationship between (1) density of native eastern grey kangaroos, Macropus giganteus, and grass structure, and (2) grass structure and reptiles (i.e. abundance, richness, diversity and occurrence) across 18 grassland and grassy Eucalyptus woodland properties in south-eastern Australia. There was a strong negative relationship between kangaroo density and grass structure after controlling for tree canopy cover. We therefore used grass structure as a surrogate for grazing intensity. Changes in grazing intensity (i.e. grass structure) significantly affected reptile abundance, reptile species richness, reptile species diversity, and the occurrence of several ground-dwelling reptiles. Reptile abundance, species richness and diversity were highest where grazing intensity was low. Importantly, no species of reptile was more likely to occur at high grazing intensities. Legless lizards (Delma impar, D. inornata) were more likely to be detected in areas subject to moderate grazing intensity, whereas one species (Hemiergis talbingoensis) was less likely to be detected in areas subject to intense grazing and three species (Menetia greyii, Morethia boulengeri, and Lampropholis delicata) did not appear to be affected by grazing intensity. Our data indicate that to maximize reptile abundance, species richness, species diversity, and occurrence of several individual species of reptile, managers will need to subject different areas of the landscape to moderate and low grazing intensities and limit the occurrence and extent of high grazing.

Eaten out of house and home: impacts of grazing on ground-dwelling reptiles in Australian grasslands and grassy woodlands.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brett Howland

Full Text Available Large mammalian grazers can alter the biotic and abiotic features of their environment through their impacts on vegetation. Grazing at moderate intensity has been recommended for biodiversity conservation. Few studies, however, have empirically tested the benefits of moderate grazing intensity in systems dominated by native grazers. Here we investigated the relationship between (1 density of native eastern grey kangaroos, Macropus giganteus, and grass structure, and (2 grass structure and reptiles (i.e. abundance, richness, diversity and occurrence across 18 grassland and grassy Eucalyptus woodland properties in south-eastern Australia. There was a strong negative relationship between kangaroo density and grass structure after controlling for tree canopy cover. We therefore used grass structure as a surrogate for grazing intensity. Changes in grazing intensity (i.e. grass structure significantly affected reptile abundance, reptile species richness, reptile species diversity, and the occurrence of several ground-dwelling reptiles. Reptile abundance, species richness and diversity were highest where grazing intensity was low. Importantly, no species of reptile was more likely to occur at high grazing intensities. Legless lizards (Delma impar, D. inornata were more likely to be detected in areas subject to moderate grazing intensity, whereas one species (Hemiergis talbingoensis was less likely to be detected in areas subject to intense grazing and three species (Menetia greyii, Morethia boulengeri, and Lampropholis delicata did not appear to be affected by grazing intensity. Our data indicate that to maximize reptile abundance, species richness, species diversity, and occurrence of several individual species of reptile, managers will need to subject different areas of the landscape to moderate and low grazing intensities and limit the occurrence and extent of high grazing.

Are there consistent grazing indicators in Drylands? Testing plant functional types of various complexity in South Africa's Grassland and Savanna Biomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Linstädter, Anja; Schellberg, Jürgen; Brüser, Katharina; Moreno García, Cristian A; Oomen, Roelof J; du Preez, Chris C; Ruppert, Jan C; Ewert, Frank

2014-01-01

Despite our growing knowledge on plants' functional responses to grazing, there is no consensus if an optimum level of functional aggregation exists for detecting grazing effects in drylands. With a comparative approach we searched for plant functional types (PFTs) with a consistent response to grazing across two areas differing in climatic aridity, situated in South Africa's grassland and savanna biomes. We aggregated herbaceous species into PFTs, using hierarchical combinations of traits (from single- to three-trait PFTs). Traits relate to life history, growth form and leaf width. We first confirmed that soil and grazing gradients were largely independent from each other, and then searched in each biome for PFTs with a sensitive response to grazing, avoiding confounding with soil conditions. We found no response consistency, but biome-specific optimum aggregation levels. Three-trait PFTs (e.g. broad-leaved perennial grasses) and two-trait PFTs (e.g. perennial grasses) performed best as indicators of grazing effects in the semi-arid grassland and in the arid savanna biome, respectively. Some PFTs increased with grazing pressure in the grassland, but decreased in the savanna. We applied biome-specific grazing indicators to evaluate if differences in grazing management related to land tenure (communal versus freehold) had effects on vegetation. Tenure effects were small, which we mainly attributed to large variability in grazing pressure across farms. We conclude that the striking lack of generalizable PFT responses to grazing is due to a convergence of aridity and grazing effects, and unlikely to be overcome by more refined classification approaches. Hence, PFTs with an opposite response to grazing in the two biomes rather have a unimodal response along a gradient of additive forces of aridity and grazing. The study advocates for hierarchical trait combinations to identify localized indicator sets for grazing effects. Its methodological approach may also be useful

Simulating grazing practices in a complete livestock system model: estimating soil carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions in grazed versus un-grazed agroecosystems using the Manure-DNDC model

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, E. E.; Dorich, C.; Contosta, A.; Varner, R. K.

2017-12-01

In livestock agroecosystems, the combined contributions of enteric fermentation, manure management, and livestock grazing and/or feed production play an important role in agroecosystem carbon (C) storage and GHG losses, with complete livestock system models acting as important tools to evaluate the full impacts of these complex systems. The Manure-DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) model is one such example, simulating impacts on C and nitrogen cycling, estimating methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and ammonium dynamics in fields, manure storage, and enteric emissions. This allows the evaluation of differences in GHG and soil C impacts between conventional and organic dairy production systems, which differ in their use of grazed pasture versus confined feeding operations. However, Manure-DNDC has received limited testing in representing variations in grazed pasture management (i.e. intensive rotational grazing versus standard grazing practices). Using a set of forage biomass, soil C, and GHG emissions data collected at four sites across New England, we parameterized and validated Manure-DNDC estimations of GHG emissions and soil C in grazed versus un-grazed systems. Soil observations from these sites showed little effect from grazing practices, but larger soil carbon differences between farms. This may be due to spatial variation in SOC, making it difficult to measure and model, or due to controls of edaphic properties that make management moot. However, to further address these questions, model development will be needed to improve Manure-DNDC simulation of rotational grazing, as high stocking density grazing over short periods resulted in forage not re-growing sufficiently within the model. Furthermore, model simulations did not account for variation in interactions between livestock and soil given variability in field microclimates, perhaps requiring simulations that divide a single field into multiple paddocks to move towards more accurate evaluation of

The environmental handling in the Japan: Project of conservation of lands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tascon Carvajal, R.

1993-01-01

The politics and the techniques are described continued by the Japan to conserve the fertility of the soils, avoiding their erosion, by means of projects of conservation of lands. The basic steps are indicated to continue and the alternatives to use to diminish the erosion of the soil caused by the water. The plan begins with the identification of the area to protect of the erosion, then it proceeds to its characterization by means of the investigation of the natural and socioeconomic elements that they affect the erosive processes, that which is achieved through a recognition of the area; later on the erosion degree is determined for areas using the universal equation of the erosion and its proceeds to analyze the measures to control it of agreement with the available technological packages; the selected package is analyzed in all its components and a socioeconomic evaluation is made before of the same. Once outlined in all their details it is carried out their execution

Effect of land tenure and stakeholders attitudes on optimization of conservation practices in agricultural watersheds

Science.gov (United States)

Piemonti, A. D.; Babbar-Sebens, M.; Luzar, E. J.

2012-12-01

Modeled watershed management plans have become valuable tools for evaluating the effectiveness and impacts of conservation practices on hydrologic processes in watersheds. In multi-objective optimization approaches, several studies have focused on maximizing physical, ecological, or economic benefits of practices in a specific location, without considering the relationship between social systems and social attitudes on the overall optimality of the practice at that location. For example, objectives that have been commonly used in spatial optimization of practices are economic costs, sediment loads, nutrient loads and pesticide loads. Though the benefits derived from these objectives are generally oriented towards community preferences, they do not represent attitudes of landowners who might operate their land differently than their neighbors (e.g. farm their own land or rent the land to someone else) and might have different social/personal drivers that motivate them to adopt the practices. In addition, a distribution of such landowners could exist in the watershed, leading to spatially varying preferences to practices. In this study we evaluated the effect of three different land tenure types on the spatial-optimization of conservation practices. To perform the optimization, we used a uniform distribution of land tenure type and a spatially varying distribution of land tenure type. Our results show that for a typical Midwestern agricultural watershed, the most optimal solutions (i.e. highest benefits for minimum economic costs) found were for a uniform distribution of landowners who operate their own land. When a different land-tenure was used for the watershed, the optimized alternatives did not change significantly for nitrates reduction benefits and sediment reduction benefits, but were attained at economic costs much higher than the costs of the landowner who farms her/his own land. For example, landowners who rent to cash-renters would have to spend ~120

Assessing the effectiveness of sustainable land management policies for combating desertification: A data mining approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Salvati, L; Kosmas, C; Kairis, O; Karavitis, C; Acikalin, S; Belgacem, A; Solé-Benet, A; Chaker, M; Fassouli, V; Gokceoglu, C; Gungor, H; Hessel, R; Khatteli, H; Kounalaki, A; Laouina, A; Ocakoglu, F; Ouessar, M; Ritsema, C; Sghaier, M; Sonmez, H; Taamallah, H; Tezcan, L; de Vente, J; Kelly, C; Colantoni, A; Carlucci, M

2016-12-01

This study investigates the relationship between fine resolution, local-scale biophysical and socioeconomic contexts within which land degradation occurs, and the human responses to it. The research draws on experimental data collected under different territorial and socioeconomic conditions at 586 field sites in five Mediterranean countries (Spain, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco). We assess the level of desertification risk under various land management practices (terracing, grazing control, prevention of wildland fires, soil erosion control measures, soil water conservation measures, sustainable farming practices, land protection measures and financial subsidies) taken as possible responses to land degradation. A data mining approach, incorporating principal component analysis, non-parametric correlations, multiple regression and canonical analysis, was developed to identify the spatial relationship between land management conditions, the socioeconomic and environmental context (described using 40 biophysical and socioeconomic indicators) and desertification risk. Our analysis identified a number of distinct relationships between the level of desertification experienced and the underlying socioeconomic context, suggesting that the effectiveness of responses to land degradation is strictly dependent on the local biophysical and socioeconomic context. Assessing the latent relationship between land management practices and the biophysical/socioeconomic attributes characterizing areas exposed to different levels of desertification risk proved to be an indirect measure of the effectiveness of field actions contrasting land degradation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

National-Scale Changes in Soil Profile C and N in New Zealand Pastures are Determined by Land Use

Science.gov (United States)

Schipper, L. A.; Parfitt, R.; Ross, C.; Baisden, W. T.; Claydon, J.; Fraser, S.

2010-12-01

Grazed pasture is New Zealand’s predominant agricultural land-use and has been relatively recently developed from forest and native grasslands/shrub communities. From the 1850s onwards, land was cleared and exotic pastures established. Phosphorus fertilizer was increasingly used after 1950 which accelerated N fixation by clover. In the last two decades N fertilizers have been used, and grazing intensity has increased, thus affecting soil C and N. Re-sampling of 31 New Zealand soil profiles under grazed pasture measured surprisingly large losses of C and N over the last 2-3 decades (Schipper et al., 2007 Global Change Biology 13:1138-1144). These profiles were predominantly on the most intensively grazed flat land. We extended this re-sampling to 83 profiles (to 90 cm depth), to investigate whether changes in soil C and N stocks also occurred in less intensively managed pasture. Archived soils samples were analysed for total soil C and N alongside the newly collected samples. Intact cores were collected to determine bulk density through the profile. Over an average of 27 years, soils (0-30 cm) in flat dairy pastures significantly lost 0.73±0.16 Mg C ha-1y-1 and 57±16 kg N ha-1y-1 while we observed no change in soil C or N in flat pasture grazed by “dry stock” (e.g., sheep, beef), or in grazed tussock grasslands. Grazed hill country soils (0-30 cm) gained 0.52±0.18 Mg C ha-1y-1 and 66±18 kg N ha-1y-1. The losses of C and N were strongly correlated and C:N ratio has generally declined suggesting soils are becoming N saturated. Losses and gains also occurred in soil layers below 30 cm demonstrating that organic matter throughout the profile was responding to land use. The losses under dairying may be due to greater grazing pressure, fertilizer inputs and exports of C and N. There is evidence that grazing pressure reduces inputs of C below ground, reduces soil microbial C, and that dairy cow urine can mobilise C and N. Gains in hill country pastures may be due

Balance between climate change mitigation benefits and land use impacts of bioenergy: conservation implications for European birds.

Science.gov (United States)

Meller, Laura; Thuiller, Wilfried; Pironon, Samuel; Barbet-Massin, Morgane; Hof, Andries; Cabeza, Mar

2015-07-01

Both climate change and habitat modification exert serious pressure on biodiversity. Although climate change mitigation has been identified as an important strategy for biodiversity conservation, bioenergy remains a controversial mitigation action due to its potential negative ecological and socio-economic impacts which arise through habitat modification by land-use change. While the debate continues, the separate or simultaneous impacts of both climate change and bioenergy on biodiversity have not yet been compared. We assess projected range shifts of 156 European bird species by 2050 under two alternative climate change trajectories: a baseline scenario, where the global mean temperature increases by 4°C by the end of the century, and a 2 degrees scenario, where global concerted effort limits the temperature increase to below 2°C. For the latter scenario, we also quantify the pressure exerted by increased cultivation of energy biomass as modelled by IMAGE2.4, an integrated land-use model. The global bioenergy use in this scenario is in the lower end of the range of previously estimated sustainable potential. Under the assumptions of these scenarios, we find that the magnitude of range shifts due to climate change is far greater than the impact of land conversion to woody bioenergy plantations within the European Union, and that mitigation of climate change reduces the exposure experienced by species. However, we identified potential for local conservation conflict between priority areas for conservation and bioenergy production. These conflicts must be addressed by strict bioenergy sustainability criteria that acknowledge biodiversity conservation needs beyond existing protected areas and apply also to biomass imported from outside the European Union.

Private landowners and environmental conservation: a case study of social-psychological determinants of conservation program participation in Ontario

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Drescher

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Preservation of biodiversity and continued provision of ecosystem services increasingly relies on environmental conservation on private lands. Despite a multitude of past studies, our knowledge of the motives, opportunities, and challenges of private land conservation, especially on nonworking lands, where financial incentives are less relevant, remains incomplete. A key reason is that a variety of theoretical approaches, resulting in diverging study results, have been used to investigate private land conservation. To help remedy this problem, the current study rigorously examined several established social-psychological determinants of proenvironmental behaviors and developed a comprehensive model, which merged elements from previous studies, to investigate landowner participation in a government-sponsored private land conservation program for nonworking lands. The results are based on analysis of a mailed survey of 800 program-eligible landowners. Contrasting program participants with nonparticipants, we elicited information such as about values, worldviews, socio-demographic characteristics, and property attributes that led landowners to participate in this conservation program. The results of our study illustrate the complex relationships among values, worldviews, norms, attitudes, and behaviors emphasizing the importance of proenvironmental worldviews and of formal education for increasing the likelihood of enrollment in this government-sponsored private land conservation program. Against expectation, neither personal norms, household income, political leaning, nor the size of the eligible property area were found to be important in directly determining the decision to enroll in this conservation program. However, an association of political leaning with stated personal obligation for private land conservation was found. Our results highlight the relationship between formal education and achievement of private land conservation goals

Comparison of evapotranspiration components and water-use efficiency among different land use patterns of temperate steppe in the Northern China pastoral-farming ecotone.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yuzhe; Fan, Jiangwen; Hu, Zhongmin; Shao, Quanqin; Harris, Warwick

2016-06-01

Water-use efficiency (WUE), which links carbon and water cycles, is an important indicator of assessing the interactions between ecosystems and regional climate. Using chamber methods with and without plant removal treatments, we investigated WUE and evapotranspiration (ET) components in three ecosystems with different land-use types in Northern China pastoral-farming ecotone. In comparison, ET of the ecosystems with grazing exclusion and cultivating was 6.7 and 13.4 % higher than that of the ecosystem with free grazing. The difference in ET was primarily due to the different magnitudes of soil water evaporation (E) rather than canopy transpiration (T). Canopy WUE (WUEc, i.e., the ratio of gross primary productivity to T) at the grazing excluded and cultivated sites was 17 and 36 % higher than that at the grazing site. Ecosystem WUE (WUEnep, i.e., the ratio of net ecosystem productivity to ET) at the cultivated site was 34 and 28 % lower in comparison with grazed and grazing excluded stepped, respectively. The varied leaf area index (LAI) of different land uses was correlated with microclimate and ecosystem vapor/carbon exchange. The LAI changing with land uses should be the primary regulation of grassland WUE. These findings facilitate the mechanistic understanding of carbon-water relationships at canopy and ecosystem levels and projection of the effects of land-use change on regional climate and productivity.

[Impact of rural land market on farm household's behavior of soil & water conservation and its regional difference: A case study of Xingguo, Shangrao, and Yujiang County in Jiangxi province ecologically vulnerable districts].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Tai-Yang; Huang, Xian-jin

2006-02-01

The paper analyzed the farm households' decision-making progress of soil & water conservation and its two-stage conceptual model. It also discussed the impacts of rural land market on the farm households' behavior of soil & water conservation. Given that, the article established models for the relations between the land market and soil & water conservation, and the models' parameters were estimated with Heckman's two-stage approach by using the farm household questionnaires in Xingguo, Shangrao and Yujiang counties of Jiangxi province. The paper analyzed the impact o f rural land market on farm household's behavior of soil & water conservation and its regional difference with the result of model estimation. The results show that the perception of soil & water loss and the tax & fee on the farm land have significant influence upon the soil and water conservation from the view of the population; however, because of different social and economic condition, and soil & water loss, there are differences of the influence among the three sample counties. These differences go as follows in detail: In Xingguo County, the rent-in land area and its cost have remarkable effect on the farm households' soil & water conservation behavior; In Yujiang County, the rent-in land area, rent-in cost and rent-out land area remarkably influence the farm households' behavior of soil and water conservation, with the influence of the rent-in land area being greater than Xingguo County; In Shangrao County, only rent-out land area has significant influence on the behaviors of soil & water conservation; In all samples, Xingguo County and Yujiang County samples, the rent-out income has no significant influence on the farm household's decision-making behavior soil and water conservation. Finally, the paper put forward some suggestions on how to bring the soil & water loss under control and use land resource in sustainable ways.

Conservation planning on eroded land based of local wisdom in Kintamani sub-district, province of Bali

Science.gov (United States)

Sri Sumarniasih, Made; Antara, Made

2017-01-01

Location determination is based on the compilation of soil type’s map, land use map and slope map. Uniformity of soil type, slope and land use is classified into one unit of land, so that there are 48 units of land to be use as sample points. The purpose of this research are to identify patterns of land use, determine the amount of erosion, the amount of erosion that is tolerable and erosion control through a conservation plan based on local wisdom. The erosion prediction used USLE method, erosion of tolerated (Edp) using the formula Hammer. Results of laboratory and field observations having analyzed using USLE showed some level of erosion on land use in the Kintamani classified from very mild to very severe: 4.79 to 370.60 t ha-1yr-1, while Edp ranges from 30.00 to 48.00 t ha-1 yr-1. erosion Severe to very severe found on the use of mixed garden/citrus garden, dry land and shrubs/ reeds. The planned of use of land is intercropping annuals with horticultural crops (cabbage), citrus trees intercropped with flower of gumitir and bush land planting with elephant grass on a slope of less than 25% and planted of trees on land with a slope above 25%.

Effects of seasonal changes in feeding management under part-time grazing on terpene concentrations of ewes' milk.

Science.gov (United States)

Abilleira, Eunate; Virto, Mailo; Nájera, Ana Isabel; Albisu, Marta; Pérez-Elortondo, Francisco José; Ruiz de Gordoa, Juan Carlos; de Renobales, Mertxe; Barron, Luis Javier R

2011-05-01

Terpene composition of ewes' raw milk from nine commercial flocks was analysed from February to July. Ewes' diet consisted of concentrate and conserved forage in winter (indoor feeding) and part-time grazing from spring (transition and outdoor feeding). Regardless of the feeding, limonene and β-phellandrene were the most abundant monoterpenes and β-caryophyllene showed the highest concentrations among sesquiterpenes. Terpene content increased in the milks of commercial flocks when animals were reared under grazing management. Monoterpenes were detected in the milks of all the commercial flocks throughout the season, whereas sesquiterpenes were only detected in the milks from flocks grazing on non-cultivated community-owned grasslands in which a higher biodiversity of plant species grew. These preliminary results indicated that β-caryophyllene could be a potential pasture-diet marker in the case of milks from animals grazing a higher biodiversity of plant species but in-depth studies including information on terpene composition of plants ingested by the animals are necessary to evaluate the suitability of β-caryophyllene or another terpenoid compound as pasture biomarker.

36 CFR 293.7 - Grazing of livestock.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Grazing of livestock. 293.7...-PRIMITIVE AREAS § 293.7 Grazing of livestock. (a) The grazing of livestock, where such use was established..., shall be permitted to continue under the general regulations covering grazing of livestock on the...

50 CFR 35.9 - Livestock grazing.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Livestock grazing. 35.9 Section 35.9... NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM WILDERNESS PRESERVATION AND MANAGEMENT General Rules § 35.9 Livestock grazing. (a) The grazing of livestock, where established prior to the date of legislation which designates...

community participatory sustainable land management byelaw

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ACSS

2014-02-11

Feb 11, 2014 ... Public SWC investments were largely based Focus on low cost SLM practices on food for work or cash ... land and environmental protection, livestock production and marketing agency, .... Government policy prohibit free grazing, but SWC structures destroyed, trees trampled and .... Nutrient flows and.

77 FR 17496 - Fisheries and Habitat Conservation and Migratory Birds Programs; Final Land-Based Wind Energy...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-26

...] RIN 1018-AX45 Fisheries and Habitat Conservation and Migratory Birds Programs; Final Land-Based Wind...) established the Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee (Committee) under the Federal Advisory Committee... concern over certain issues such as the effects of wind turbine noise on wildlife, these issues have not...

Fire management, managed relocation, and land conservation options for long-lived obligate seeding plants under global changes in climate, urbanization, and fire regime.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonebrake, Timothy C; Syphard, Alexandra D; Franklin, Janet; Anderson, Kurt E; Akçakaya, H Resit; Mizerek, Toni; Winchell, Clark; Regan, Helen M

2014-08-01

Most species face multiple anthropogenic disruptions. Few studies have quantified the cumulative influence of multiple threats on species of conservation concern, and far fewer have quantified the potential relative value of multiple conservation interventions in light of these threats. We linked spatial distribution and population viability models to explore conservation interventions under projected climate change, urbanization, and changes in fire regime on a long-lived obligate seeding plant species sensitive to high fire frequencies, a dominant plant functional type in many fire-prone ecosystems, including the biodiversity hotspots of Mediterranean-type ecosystems. First, we investigated the relative risk of population decline for plant populations in landscapes with and without land protection under an existing habitat conservation plan. Second, we modeled the effectiveness of relocating both seedlings and seeds from a large patch with predicted declines in habitat area to 2 unoccupied recipient patches with increasing habitat area under 2 projected climate change scenarios. Finally, we modeled 8 fire return intervals (FRIs) approximating the outcomes of different management strategies that effectively control fire frequency. Invariably, long-lived obligate seeding populations remained viable only when FRIs were maintained at or above a minimum level. Land conservation and seedling relocation efforts lessened the impact of climate change and land-use change on obligate seeding populations to differing degrees depending on the climate change scenario, but neither of these efforts was as generally effective as frequent translocation of seeds. While none of the modeled strategies fully compensated for the effects of land-use and climate change, an integrative approach managing multiple threats may diminish population declines for species in complex landscapes. Conservation plans designed to mitigate the impacts of a single threat are likely to fail if additional

Water conservation in semiarid dryland agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willis, W.O.

1980-01-01

Factors affecting water conservation in semiarid dryland regions are discussed. Because precipitation is the only source of water for plant growth in most semiarid regions, a good understanding of precipitation patterns (quantity, distribution, and their probable frequency) is needed for each dryland area. The various dryland practices, e.g. tillage, cultivars, residue management, fertility, erosion control, and grazing, must be considered as integral parts of an entire system to develop best management practices and to gain most efficient water conservation for food and fiber production. (author)

Solid-state 13C NMR experiments reveal effects of aggregate size on the chemical composition of particulate organic matter in grazed steppe soils

Science.gov (United States)

Steffens, M.; Kölbl, A.; Kögel-Knabner, I.

2009-04-01

Grazing is one of the most important factors that may reduce soil organic matter (SOM) stocks and subsequently deteriorate aggregate stability in grassland topsoils. Land use management and grazing reduction are assumed to increase the input of OM, improve the soil aggregation and change species composition of vegetation (changes depth of OM input). Many studies have evaluated the impact of grazing cessation on SOM quantity. But until today little is known about the impact of grazing cessation on the chemical quality of SOM in density fractions, aggregate size classes and different horizons. The central aim of this study was to analyse the quality of SOM fractions in differently sized aggregates and horizons as affected by increased inputs of organic matter due to grazing exclusion. We applied a combined aggregate size, density and particle size fractionation procedure to sandy steppe topsoils with different organic matter inputs due to different grazing intensities (continuously grazed = Cg, winter grazing = Wg, ungrazed since 1999 = Ug99, ungrazed since 1979 = Ug79). Three different particulate organic matter (POM; free POM, in aggregate occluded POM and small in aggregate occluded POM) and seven mineral-associated organic matter fractions were separated for each of three aggregate size classes (coarse = 2000-6300 m, medium = 630-2000 m and fine =

Are there consistent grazing indicators in Drylands? Testing plant functional types of various complexity in South Africa's Grassland and Savanna Biomes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anja Linstädter

Full Text Available Despite our growing knowledge on plants' functional responses to grazing, there is no consensus if an optimum level of functional aggregation exists for detecting grazing effects in drylands. With a comparative approach we searched for plant functional types (PFTs with a consistent response to grazing across two areas differing in climatic aridity, situated in South Africa's grassland and savanna biomes. We aggregated herbaceous species into PFTs, using hierarchical combinations of traits (from single- to three-trait PFTs. Traits relate to life history, growth form and leaf width. We first confirmed that soil and grazing gradients were largely independent from each other, and then searched in each biome for PFTs with a sensitive response to grazing, avoiding confounding with soil conditions. We found no response consistency, but biome-specific optimum aggregation levels. Three-trait PFTs (e.g. broad-leaved perennial grasses and two-trait PFTs (e.g. perennial grasses performed best as indicators of grazing effects in the semi-arid grassland and in the arid savanna biome, respectively. Some PFTs increased with grazing pressure in the grassland, but decreased in the savanna. We applied biome-specific grazing indicators to evaluate if differences in grazing management related to land tenure (communal versus freehold had effects on vegetation. Tenure effects were small, which we mainly attributed to large variability in grazing pressure across farms. We conclude that the striking lack of generalizable PFT responses to grazing is due to a convergence of aridity and grazing effects, and unlikely to be overcome by more refined classification approaches. Hence, PFTs with an opposite response to grazing in the two biomes rather have a unimodal response along a gradient of additive forces of aridity and grazing. The study advocates for hierarchical trait combinations to identify localized indicator sets for grazing effects. Its methodological approach may

76 FR 11506 - Fisheries and Habitat Conservation and Migratory Birds Programs; Draft Land-Based Wind Energy...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-02

...] RIN 1018-AX45 Fisheries and Habitat Conservation and Migratory Birds Programs; Draft Land-Based Wind... Impacts from Wind Turbines (Interim Guidance). As stated in the notice, the comment period on the draft... Minimizing Wildlife Impacts from Wind Turbines. We expect to issue final Guidelines for public use after...

Malleefowl conservation in New South Wales: a review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Priddel, D.; Wheeler, R.

1999-01-01

Together with land clearance, grazing by stock and inappropriate fire regimes, predation by the introduced European red fox Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) has decimated populations of malleefowl Leipoa ocellata Gould, 1840. The decline of the malleefowl has been most pronounced in New South Wales,

Challenges and opportunities in mapping land use intensity globally

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuemmerle, Tobias; Erb, Karlheinz; Meyfroidt, Patrick

2013-01-01

Future increases in land-based production will need to focus more on sustainably intensifying existing production systems. Unfortunately, our understanding of the global patterns of land use intensity is weak, partly because land use intensity is a complex, multidimensional term, and partly becau...... challenges and opportunities for mapping land use intensity for cropland, grazing, and forestry systems, and identify key issues for future research....... we lack appropriate datasets to assess land use intensity across broad geographic extents. Here, we review the state of the art regarding approaches for mapping land use intensity and provide a comprehensive overview of available global-scale datasets on land use intensity. We also outline major...

A catchment-scale model to predict spatial and temporal burden of E. coli on pasture from grazing livestock.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliver, David M; Bartie, Phil J; Louise Heathwaite, A; Reaney, Sim M; Parnell, Jared A Q; Quilliam, Richard S

2018-03-01

Effective management of diffuse microbial water pollution from agriculture requires a fundamental understanding of how spatial patterns of microbial pollutants, e.g. E. coli, vary over time at the landscape scale. The aim of this study was to apply the Visualising Pathogen &Environmental Risk (ViPER) model, developed to predict E. coli burden on agricultural land, in a spatially distributed manner to two contrasting catchments in order to map and understand changes in E. coli burden contributed to land from grazing livestock. The model was applied to the River Ayr and Lunan Water catchments, with significant correlations observed between area of improved grassland and the maximum total E. coli per 1km 2 grid cell (Ayr: r=0.57; pE. coli burden between seasons in both catchments, with summer and autumn predicted to accrue higher E. coli contributions relative to spring and winter (PE. coli loading to land as driven by stocking density and livestock grazing regimes. Resulting risk maps therefore provide the underpinning evidence to inform spatially-targeted decision-making with respect to managing sources of E. coli in agricultural environments. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modelling nitrous oxide emissions from grazed grassland systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Junye; Cardenas, Laura M.; Misselbrook, Tom H.; Cuttle, Steve; Thorman, Rachel E.; Li Changsheng

2012-01-01

Grazed grassland systems are an important component of the global carbon cycle and also influence global climate change through their emissions of nitrous oxide and methane. However, there are huge uncertainties and challenges in the development and parameterisation of process-based models for grazed grassland systems because of the wide diversity of vegetation and impacts of grazing animals. A process-based biogeochemistry model, DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC), has been modified to describe N 2 O emissions for the UK from regional conditions. This paper reports a new development of UK-DNDC in which the animal grazing practices were modified to track their contributions to the soil nitrogen (N) biogeochemistry. The new version of UK-DNDC was tested against datasets of N 2 O fluxes measured at three contrasting field sites. The results showed that the responses of the model to changes in grazing parameters were generally in agreement with observations, showing that N 2 O emissions increased as the grazing intensity increased. - Highlights: ► Parameterisation of grazing system using grazing intensity. ► Modification of UK D NDC for the UK soil and weather conditions. ► Validation of the UK D NDC against measured data of N 2 O emissions in three UK sites. ► Estimating influence of animal grazing practises on N 2 O emissions. - Grazing system was parameterised using grazing intensity and UK-DNDC model was modified and validated against measured data of N 2 O emissions in three UK sites.

'The Finn line' - a historical curiosity or a juridicial rality? The Sami reindeer herders' land rights in southern Sami areas evaluated from land consolidation practice (In Norwegian with Summary in English

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Øyvind Ravna

2005-04-01

Full Text Available Attitudes towards the land rights of Sami reindeer herders have changed considerably during the last 100 years. So, too, has consideration of how such rights should be treated by Land Consolidation Courts. This paper reviews changes in attitudes to the Sami land rights with respect to how these are considered in Land Con¬solidation Courts in southern Sami areas in Norway. The review also considers changing attitudes regarding the competence of Land Consolidation Courts to deal with such matters. There were several cases in the 20th Century in which Land Consolidation Courts treated Sami land rights in a restricted and unfortunate manner. Legal practice, however, was not always like that, evidenced by the so-called 'Finn line' (Norwegian: 'finnelinja' -'Finn' is an archaic name for Sami. This boundary was established during a land consolidation case in 1873 and was confirmed in 1883. At that time, Sami land rights were evidently accepted as appurtenant right in privately owned mountain pasture and the Sami were treated in the same way as others who enjoyed rights of usufruct on it. The regulation of 1883 included rules governing compensation for grazing damage on farming land. In particular, responsibility for grazing damage was divided between owners and the reindeer herders, providing these looked after their animals properly, 'The Finn line' subsequently achieved wider importance. The case of 1873¬1883 has been referred to several times as a valuable and valid precedent for a way in which to organize grazing conflicts in other Sami areas. It was used in 1964 as evidence of the special rights of Sami reindeer people in the Brekken common land case. The Sami won this case in 1968 and, in its judgement, the Norwegian Supreme Court of Justice emphasised the importance of the line (Rt. 1968, p. 394. Although, owing to changes in land use practices, the 'Finn line' no longer has any practical significance, its juridical significance remains

Lucerne varieties for continuous grazing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Søegaard, Karen

2012-01-01

severe grazing with heifers in two cutting/grazing managements. Two new varieties, Verbena and Camporegio, and an older variety Luzelle were established in 2009 in pure stands and in two different mixtures with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne). Camporegio had the lowest yield, the lowest competitive...... strength, the lowest plant density in spring, and the density was most reduced during grazing. The results could not confirm significant differences between the new and the older varieties. The results for Luzelle were generally between Verbena and Camporegio. The varieties did not differ in herbage...

Definition of Management Zones for Enhancing Cultivated Land Conservation Using Combined Spatial Data

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yan; Shi, Zhou; Wu, Hao-Xiang; Li, Feng; Li, Hong-Yi

2013-10-01

The loss of cultivated land has increasingly become an issue of regional and national concern in China. Definition of management zones is an important measure to protect limited cultivated land resource. In this study, combined spatial data were applied to define management zones in Fuyang city, China. The yield of cultivated land was first calculated and evaluated and the spatial distribution pattern mapped; the limiting factors affecting the yield were then explored; and their maps of the spatial variability were presented using geostatistics analysis. Data were jointly analyzed for management zone definition using a combination of principal component analysis with a fuzzy clustering method, two cluster validity functions were used to determine the optimal number of cluster. Finally one-way variance analysis was performed on 3,620 soil sampling points to assess how well the defined management zones reflected the soil properties and productivity level. It was shown that there existed great potential for increasing grain production, and the amount of cultivated land played a key role in maintaining security in grain production. Organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, elevation, thickness of the plow layer, and probability of irrigation guarantee were the main limiting factors affecting the yield. The optimal number of management zones was three, and there existed significantly statistical differences between the crop yield and field parameters in each defined management zone. Management zone I presented the highest potential crop yield, fertility level, and best agricultural production condition, whereas management zone III lowest. The study showed that the procedures used may be effective in automatically defining management zones; by the development of different management zones, different strategies of cultivated land management and practice in each zone could be determined, which is of great importance to enhance cultivated land conservation

Productivity of grasslands under continuous and rotational grazing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lantinga, E.A.

1985-01-01

In the Netherlands, rotational grazing, with grazing periods of 2 to 5 days, is the most common grazing system at present. In contrast with other countries of North-western Europe, the continuous grazing system is used here only to a limited extent. However, the results of numerous

Sustainability, arid grasslands and grazing: New applications for technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pregenzer, A.L.; Parmenter, R.; Passell, H.D.; Budge, T.; Vande Caste, J.

1999-12-08

The study of ecology is taking on increasing global importance as the value of well-functioning ecosystems to human well-being becomes better understood. However, the use of technological systems for the study of ecology lags behind the use of technologies in the study of other disciplines important to human well-being, such as medicine, chemistry and physics. The authors outline four different kinds of large-scale data needs required by land managers for the development of sustainable land use strategies, and which can be obtained with current or future technological systems. They then outline a hypothetical resource management scenario in which data on all those needs are collected using remote and in situ technologies, transmitted to a central location, analyzed, and then disseminated for regional use in maintaining sustainable grazing systems. They conclude by highlighting various data-collection systems and data-sharing networks already in operation.

Are There Consistent Grazing Indicators in Drylands? Testing Plant Functional Types of Various Complexity in South Africa’s Grassland and Savanna Biomes

Science.gov (United States)

Linstädter, Anja; Schellberg, Jürgen; Brüser, Katharina; Moreno García, Cristian A.; Oomen, Roelof J.; du Preez, Chris C.; Ruppert, Jan C.; Ewert, Frank

2014-01-01

Despite our growing knowledge on plants’ functional responses to grazing, there is no consensus if an optimum level of functional aggregation exists for detecting grazing effects in drylands. With a comparative approach we searched for plant functional types (PFTs) with a consistent response to grazing across two areas differing in climatic aridity, situated in South Africa’s grassland and savanna biomes. We aggregated herbaceous species into PFTs, using hierarchical combinations of traits (from single- to three-trait PFTs). Traits relate to life history, growth form and leaf width. We first confirmed that soil and grazing gradients were largely independent from each other, and then searched in each biome for PFTs with a sensitive response to grazing, avoiding confounding with soil conditions. We found no response consistency, but biome-specific optimum aggregation levels. Three-trait PFTs (e.g. broad-leaved perennial grasses) and two-trait PFTs (e.g. perennial grasses) performed best as indicators of grazing effects in the semi-arid grassland and in the arid savanna biome, respectively. Some PFTs increased with grazing pressure in the grassland, but decreased in the savanna. We applied biome-specific grazing indicators to evaluate if differences in grazing management related to land tenure (communal versus freehold) had effects on vegetation. Tenure effects were small, which we mainly attributed to large variability in grazing pressure across farms. We conclude that the striking lack of generalizable PFT responses to grazing is due to a convergence of aridity and grazing effects, and unlikely to be overcome by more refined classification approaches. Hence, PFTs with an opposite response to grazing in the two biomes rather have a unimodal response along a gradient of additive forces of aridity and grazing. The study advocates for hierarchical trait combinations to identify localized indicator sets for grazing effects. Its methodological approach may also be

Environmental impact of converting Conservation Reserve Program land to perennial bioenergy crops in Illinois.

Science.gov (United States)

Blanc-Betes, E.; Hudiburg, T. W.; Khanna, M.; DeLucia, E. H.

2017-12-01

Reducing dependence on fossil fuels by the 20% by 2022 mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act would require 35 billion Ga of ethanol and the loss of 9 to 12 Mha of food producing land to biofuel production, challenging our ability to develop a sustainable bioenergy source while meeting the food demands of a growing population. There are currently 8.5 Mha of land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a US government funded program to incentivize the retirement of environmentally sensitive cropland out of conventional crop production. About 63% of CRP land area could potentially be converted to energy crops, contributing to biofuel targets without displacing food. With high yields and low fertilization and irrigation requirements, perennial cellulosic crops (e.g. switchgrass and Miscanthus) not only would reduce land requirements by up to 15% compared to prairies or corn-based biofuel, but also serve other conservation goals such as C sequestration in soils, and water and air quality improvement. Here, we use the DayCent biogeochemical model to assess the potential of CRP land conversion to switchgrass or Miscanthus to provide a sustainable source of biofuel, reduce GHG emissions and increase soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in the area of Illinois, which at present contributes to 10% of the biofuel production in the US. Model simulations indicate that the replacement of traditional corn-soy rotation with CRP reduces GHG emissions by 3.3 Mg CO2-eq ha-1 y-1 and increases SOC storage at a rate of 0.5 Mg C ha-1 y-1. Conversion of CRP land to cellulosic perennials would further reduce GHG emissions by 1.1 Mg CO2-eq ha-1 y-1 for switchgrass and 6.2 Mg CO2-eq ha-1 y-1 for Miscanthus, and increase C sequestration in soils (1.7 Tg C for switchgrass and 7.7 Tg C for Miscanthus in 30 years). Cellulosic energy crops would increase average annual yields by approximately 5.6 Mg ha-1 for switchgrass and 13.6 Mg ha-1 for Miscanthus, potentially

Institutions, sustainable land use and consumer welfare: the case of forest and grazing lands in northern Ethiopia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gebreegziabher, Z.; Gabremedhin, B.; Mekonnen, A.

2012-01-01

Land is an essential factor of production. Institutions that govern its efficient use determine the sustainability of this essential resource. In Ethiopia all land is publicly owned. Such an institutional setting is said to have resulted in the major degradation of Ethiopia's land resources and

The relative roles of climate and land use in the degradation of a terrestrial ecosystem: a case study from Kjarardalur, West Iceland

Science.gov (United States)

Erlendsson, Egill; Gísladóttir, Guðrún

2016-04-01

Around AD 870 the virgin environment of Iceland became populated by humans and mammal land herbivores. Since then, the island has lost nearly all of its native birch woodland, resulting in dramatic degradation of landscapes and ecosystems, attributed mainly to over-exploitation of woodlands and late-medieval climate deterioration. As part of policy making in agriculture, a heated debate is ongoing over limitations to sheep grazing in pastures suffering from long-term degradation. In this context the history of climate and land use is of great importance. Those who consider grazing a minimal attribute to land degradation argue that the harsh climate conditions of the little ice age are the primary mechanism behind the current degraded landscape. Others err on the side of caution and propose a careful approach to grazing. This study forms a contribution to the historical context of the impact of grazing upon the Icelandic terrestrial ecosystem. Using the analyses of pollen and spores from coprophilous fungi as principal methods, we present data about historical environmental change from within two different land holdings in Kjarardalur Valley, West Iceland. One dataset comes from within a landholding governed by the chieftain farm Reykholt, the other comes from within the land of the indipendent farm, Norðtunga. In the past the valley was used primarily as a pasture, associated with shielings (organised seasonal grazing). Pollen data from the pasture in Kjarardalur Valley, West Iceland, demonstrate a rapid loss of birch (Betula pubescens) woodland from grazing areas owned by the major farm and institution, Reykholt. The suppressive nature of grazing is demonstrated by the expansion of woodland as soon when animal stocks are reduced, probably as a consequence of the bubonic plague after AD 1402. Resumed exploitation of resources eventually depleted all birch woodland from the Reykholt landholding and precipitated soil erosion. The trajectory of environmental change

Effects of grazing strategy on limiting nitrate leaching in grazed grass-clover pastures on coarse sandy soil

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Elly Møller; Eriksen, Jørgen; Søegaard, Karen

2012-01-01

-term mean. The experiment was initiated in a 4-yr-old grass-clover sward in south Denmark. Three treatments were as follows grazing only (G), spring cut followed by grazing (CG) and both spring and autumn cuts with summer grazing (CGC). Nitrate leaching was calculated by extracting water isolates from 80 cm......Urinations of ruminants on grazed pastures increase the risk of nitrate leaching. The study investigated the effect of reducing the length of the grazing season on nitrate leaching from a coarse sandy, irrigated soil during 2006–2007 and 2007–2008. In both years, precipitation was above the long...... depth using ceramic suction cups. Because of considerable variation in measured nitrate concentrations, the 32 installed suction cups per treatment were insufficient to reveal differences between treatments. However, weighted nitrate leaching estimations for G, CG and CGC showed estimated mean nitrate N...

State of Conservation of the Native Forests in Entre Ríos (Argentina) and Changes in Land Use

Science.gov (United States)

Sabattini, R. A.; Sione, S. M.; Ledesma, S. G.; Sabattini, J. A.; Wilson, M. G.

2012-04-01

The native forest area of Entre Ríos province (Argentina) is associated with a constant change in land use, with an increase in recent years in agricultural use, especially for soybean crop. In addition, since its inadequate management has triggered degradation processes of the natural forest structure, the implementation of strategies for the restoration and conservation of native forests has become a priority. The aim of this study was to diagnose the conservation state of the native forest in the basin of the Estacas Stream (Entre Ríos, Argentina) after the change in land use, to help design guidelines for the restoration and sustainable management of these ecosystems. The field study was conducted in October 2010, in a representative area of the native forest of 73,000 ha. Using Landsat 5-TM images (INPE), environments were separated by manual vectorization, identifying and classifying native forests and other lands (agricultural, urban). Using a field exploratory survey (58 geo-referenced sampling points), we developed patterns corresponding to the different types of forests, contrasting this information with the digital data of the images. The native forests were classified according to type (high/low forest, open/closed forest, savanna), successional stage (climax, successional or regeneration forest) and degree of disturbance (weed growth, erosion, fire), and their frequency determined. Each classification was assessed by a contingency matrix, and global reliability index and the Kappa index. The information obtained generated a classification map of native forests in the basin scale. We found that the native forest covered an area of 42,726.91 ha, accounting for 58.52% of the total basin area, and that the rest corresponded to other land uses. The most frequent native forests (59.09%) were climax forest, but accounted for only 8.2% of the basin area. Within this group, the most important were the low and open forest, with Prosopis affinis and Prosopis

Caring for the land : best practice in soil and water conservation in Beressa watershed, highlands of Ethiopia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Amsalu Taye, A.

2006-01-01

Land degradation in the form of soil erosion and nutrient loss is a major constraint to farming activities and agricultural development in the highlands of Ethiopia. Though large-scale conservation projects have been initiated and carried out by the government during the past few decades, the

The effects of land use types and soil depth on soil properties of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The effects of land use types and soil depth on soil properties of Agedit watershed, Northwest Ethiopia. ... immediate intervention to protect the remnant forests and to replenish the degraded soil properties for sustainable agricultural productivity. Keywords: cultivation, deforestation, grazing, land management, soil fertility ...

Finite land resources and competition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haberl, Helmut; Mbow, Cheikh; Deng, Xiangzheng

2014-01-01

Rising demand for land-based products (food, feed, fi ber, and bioenergy) as well as conservation of forests and carbon sinks create increasing competition for land. Landuse competition has many drivers, takes different forms, and can have many significant implications for ecosystems as well......: production versus production (e.g., food vs. fuel), production versus conservation (e.g., food production vs. conservation), and built-up environment versus production or conservation (e.g., food vs. urban). Sustainability impacts that result from land-use competition are analyzed and found to differ...... and energy systems, “ land architecture” (i.e., the significance of spatial confi gurations), and multiscale models to assess local-global connections and impacts....

Grazing Affects Exosomal Circulating MicroRNAs in Cattle

Science.gov (United States)

Muroya, Susumu; Ogasawara, Hideki; Hojito, Masayuki

2015-01-01

Circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) are associated with physiological adaptation to acute and chronic aerobic exercise in humans. To investigate the potential effect of grazing movement on miRNA circulation in cattle, here we profiled miRNA expression in centrifugally prepared exosomes from the plasma of both grazing and housed Japanese Shorthorn cattle. Microarray analysis of the c-miRNAs resulted in detection of a total of 231 bovine exosomal miRNAs in the plasma, with a constant expression level of let-7g across the duration and cattle groups. Expression of muscle-specific miRNAs such as miR-1, miR-133a, miR-206, miR-208a/b, and miR-499 were undetectable, suggesting the mildness of grazing movement as exercise. According to validation by quantitative RT-PCR, the circulating miR-150 level in the grazing cattle normalized by the endogenous let-7g level was down-regulated after 2 and 4 months of grazing (P cattle equalized when the grazing cattle were returned to a housed situation. Likewise, the levels of miR-19b, miR-148a, miR-221, miR-223, miR-320a, miR-361, and miR-486 were temporarily lowered in the cattle at 1 and/or 2 month of grazing compared to those of the housed cattle (P cattle at 2 months of grazing (P = 0.044). The elevation of miR-451 level in the plasma was coincident with that in the biceps femoris muscle of the grazing cattle (P = 0.008), which suggests the secretion or intake of miR-451 between skeletal muscle cells and circulation during grazing. These results revealed that exosomal c-miRNAs in cattle were affected by grazing, suggesting their usefulness as molecular grazing markers and functions in physiological adaptation of grazing cattle associated with endocytosis, focal adhesion, axon guidance, and a variety of intracellular signaling, as predicted by bioinformatic analysis. PMID:26308447

Grasslands, wetlands, and agriculture: the fate of land expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program in the Midwestern United States

Science.gov (United States)

Morefield, Philip E.; LeDuc, Stephen D.; Clark, Christopher M.; Iovanna, Richard

2016-09-01

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is the largest agricultural land-retirement program in the United States, providing many environmental benefits, including wildlife habitat and improved air, water, and soil quality. Since 2007, however, CRP area has declined by over 25% nationally with much of this land returning to agriculture. Despite this trend, it is unclear what types of CRP land are being converted, to what crops, and where. All of these specific factors greatly affect environmental impacts. To answer these questions, we quantified shifts in expiring CRP parcels to five major crop-types (corn, soy, winter and spring wheat, and sorghum) in a 12-state, Midwestern region of the United States using a US Department of Agriculture (USDA), field-level CRP database and USDA’s Cropland Data Layer. For the years 2010 through 2013, we estimate almost 30%, or more than 530 000 ha, of expiring CRP land returned to the production of these five crops in our study area, with soy and corn accounting for the vast majority of these shifts. Grasslands were the largest type of CRP land converted (360 000 ha), followed by specifically designated wildlife habitat (76 000 ha), and wetland areas (53 000 ha). These wetland areas were not just wetlands themselves, but also a mix of land covers enhancing or protecting wetland ecosystem services (e.g., wetland buffers). Areas in the Dakotas, Nebraska, and southern Iowa were hotspots of change, with the highest areas of CRP land moving back to agriculture. By contrast, we estimate only a small amount (˜3%) of the expiring land shifted into similar, non-CRP land-retirement or easement programs. Reconciling needs for food, feed, fuel, and healthy ecosystems is an immense challenge for farmers, conservationists, and state and federal agencies. Reduced enrollment and the turnover of CRP land from conservation to agriculture raises questions about sustaining ecosystem services in this region.

Mountain pastures of Qilian Shan: plant communities, grazing impact and degradation status (Gansu province, NW China)

Science.gov (United States)

Baranova, Alina; Schickhoff, Udo; Shunli, Wang; Ming, Jin

2015-04-01

Qilian Mountains are the water source region for the low arid reaches of HeiHe river basin (Gansu province, NW China). Due to overstocking and overgrazing during the last decades adverse ecological ef¬fects, in particular on soil properties and hydrological cycle, are to be expected in growing land areas. Vegetation cover is very important to prevent erosion process and to sustain stable subsurface runoff and ground water flow. The aim of this research is to identify plant communities, detecting grazing-induced and spatially differentiated changes in vegetation patterns, and to evaluate status of pasture land degradation.The study area is located in the spring/autumn pasture area of South Qilian Mountains between 2600-3600 m a.s.l., covering five main vegetation types: spruce forest, alpine shrubland, shrubby grassland, mountain grassland, degraded mountain grassland. In order to analyze gradual changes in vegetation patterns along altitudinal and grazing gradients and to classify related plant communities, quantitative and qualitative relevé data were collected (coverage, species composition, abundance of unpalatable plants, plant functional types, etc.). Vegetation was classified using hierarchical cluster analyses. Indirect Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) was used to analyze variation in relationships between vegetation, environmental factors, and grazing impact. According to DCA results, distribution of the plant communities was strongly affected by altitude and exposition. Grassland floristic gradients showed greater dependence on grazing impact, which correlated contrarily with soil organic content, soil moisture and pH. Highest numbers of species richness and alpha diversity were detected in alpine shrubland vegetation type. Comparing the monitoring data for the recent nine years, a trend of deterioration, species successions and shift in dominant species becomes obvious. Species indicating degrading site environmental conditions were identified

Testing Extended Accounts in Scheduled Conservation of Open Woodlands with Permanent Livestock Grazing: Dehesa de la Luz Estate Case Study, Arroyo de la Luz, Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pablo Campos

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Standard Economic Accounts for Agriculture and Forestry do not measure the ecosystem services and intermediate products embedded in the final products recorded, and omit the private non-commercial intermediate products and self-consumption of private amenities. These limitations of the standard accounts are addressed by the extended Agroforestry Accounting System, which is being tested at the publicly-owned Dehesa de la Luz agroforestry estate. The extended accounts simulate conservation forestry of holm oak and cork oak for the current as well as successive rotation cycles during which scheduled conservation of the cultural woodland landscape of the Dehesa de la Luz is carried out, improving the natural physical growth of the firewood and cork. The estimated results for 2014 reveal that private ecosystem services make up 50% of the firewood and grazing products consumed; the private environmental income accounts for 13% of the total private income; and the private environmental asset represents 53% of the total opening capital. The net value added is more than 2.3 times the amount estimated using the standard accounts. The landowner donates intermediate products of non-commercial services at a value of 85 €/ha, which are used to enhance the supply of public products.

Antimicrobial resistance in faecal samples from buffalo, wildebeest and zebra grazing together with and without cattle in Tanzania.

Science.gov (United States)

Katakweba, A A S; Møller, K S; Muumba, J; Muhairwa, A P; Damborg, P; Rosenkrantz, J T; Minga, U M; Mtambo, M M A; Olsen, J E

2015-04-01

The aim of this study was to determine whether the practice of co-grazing with cattle and wild life constitutes a risk of transmission of antibiotic resistant bacteria to wild ungulates. Faecal samples were collected from buffalo (n = 35), wildebeest (n = 40), zebra (n = 40) and cattle (N = 20) from Mikumi National Park, Tanzania (MNP), where cattle is prohibited and from Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) where co-grazing is practiced. The number of coliforms and enterococci resistant to selected antibiotics was determined. Wild life generally harboured higher number of resistant Escherichia coli and Enterococci than cattle, but with no general influence in wild life of co-grazing with cattle. Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci were detected in wild life samples, and E. coli resistant to cefotaxime and enrofloxacin were observed among isolates from all wild life, but not from cattle. Culture independent estimates of the number of sulII gene copies obtained by qPCR did not differ between wild life from the two sample sites, while tetW was significantly higher in samples from MPN than from NCA. Antibiotic resistant bacteria were not more frequently found in ungulates grazing together with cattle than ungulates without this interaction. This study did not indicate that transmission of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a frequent event following co-grazing of wild life and cattle. © 2014 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Grazing function g and collimation angular acceptance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen G. Peggs

2009-11-01

Full Text Available The grazing function g is introduced—a synchrobetatron optical quantity that is analogous (and closely connected to the Twiss and dispersion functions β, α, η, and η^{′}. It parametrizes the rate of change of total angle with respect to synchrotron amplitude for grazing particles, which just touch the surface of an aperture when their synchrotron and betatron oscillations are simultaneously (in time at their extreme displacements. The grazing function can be important at collimators with limited acceptance angles. For example, it is important in both modes of crystal collimation operation—in channeling and in volume reflection. The grazing function is independent of the collimator type—crystal or amorphous—but can depend strongly on its azimuthal location. The rigorous synchrobetatron condition g=0 is solved, by invoking the close connection between the grazing function and the slope of the normalized dispersion. Propagation of the grazing function is described, through drifts, dipoles, and quadrupoles. Analytic expressions are developed for g in perfectly matched periodic FODO cells, and in the presence of β or η error waves. These analytic approximations are shown to be, in general, in good agreement with realistic numerical examples. The grazing function is shown to scale linearly with FODO cell bend angle, but to be independent of FODO cell length. The ideal value is g=0 at the collimator, but finite nonzero values are acceptable. Practically achievable grazing functions are described and evaluated, for both amorphous and crystal primary collimators, at RHIC, the SPS (UA9, the Tevatron (T-980, and the LHC.

Contribution of the Land and Water Development Division of FAO to soil and water conservation in developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Massoud, F.I.

1980-01-01

The Land and Water Development Division of FAO has played an active role in promoting soil conservation measures. It has provided advice and expert assistance to many countries and is involved in more than fifty field programmes related to soil conservation. It conducts seminars, workshops, and training courses and provides fellowships for individuals. Technical and education material has been published. Maps have been developed showing the present degradation and risk of degradation in Africa and methodology used in assessment of soil degradation is outlined. (author)

Does grazing of cover crops impact biologically active soil C and N fractions under inversion and no tillage management

Science.gov (United States)

Cover crops are a key component of conservation cropping systems. They can also be a key component of integrated crop-livestock systems by offering high-quality forage during short periods between cash crops. The impact of cattle grazing on biologically active soil C and N fractions has not receiv...

Sustainable and resource-conserving utilization of global land areas and biomass; Globale Landflaechen und Biomasse nachhaltig und ressourcenschonend nutzen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jering, Almut; Klatt, Anne; Seven, Jan; Ehlers, Knut; Guenther, Jens; Ostermeier, Andreas; Moench, Lars

2012-10-15

The contribution under consideration reports on the state of the art of biomass based land use as well as on existing and future global development trends. An ecologically compatible and socially equitable utilization of resources as well as priorities in the production and utilization of biomass are described in order to achieve their goals. Approaches to action, measures and policy recommendations are presented with respect to the development of a globally sustainable, resource-conserving utilization of land.

Corticosterone metabolite concentrations in greater sage-grouse are positively associated with the presence of cattle grazing

Science.gov (United States)

Jankowski, M.D.; Russell, Robin E.; Franson, J. Christian; Dusek, Robert J.; Hines, M.K.; Gregg, M.; Hofmeister, Erik K.

2014-01-01

The sagebrush biome in the western United States is home to the imperiled greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and encompasses rangelands used for cattle production. Cattle grazing activities have been implicated in the range-wide decline of the sage-grouse, but no studies have investigated the relationship between the physiological condition of sage-grouse and the presence of grazing cattle. We sampled 329 sage-grouse across four sites (two grazed and two ungrazed) encompassing 13 600 km2 during the spring and late summer–early autumn of 2005 to evaluate whether demographic factors, breeding status, plasma protein levels, and residence in a cattle-grazed habitat were associated with the stress hormone corticosterone. Corticosterone was measured in feces as immunoreactive corticosterone metabolites (ICM). Males captured during the lekking season exhibited higher ICM levels than all others. Prenesting female sage-grouse captured in a grazed site had higher ICM levels than those in ungrazed sites and prenesting female plasma protein levels were negatively correlated with ICM concentrations. With the use of a small-scale spatial model, we identified a positive correlation between cattle pat count and sage-grouse ICM levels. Our model indicated that ICM levels increased by 2.60 ng · g-1 dry feces for every increase in the number of cow pats found in the vicinity. Management practices will benefit from future research regarding the consistency and mechanism(s) responsible for this association and, importantly, how ICM levels and demographic rates are related in this species of conservation concern.

Reserve selection with land market feedbacks.

Science.gov (United States)

Butsic, Van; Lewis, David J; Radeloff, Volker C

2013-01-15

How to best site reserves is a leading question for conservation biologists. Recently, reserve selection has emphasized efficient conservation: maximizing conservation goals given the reality of limited conservation budgets, and this work indicates that land market can potentially undermine the conservation benefits of reserves by increasing property values and development probabilities near reserves. Here we propose a reserve selection methodology which optimizes conservation given both a budget constraint and land market feedbacks by using a combination of econometric models along with stochastic dynamic programming. We show that amenity based feedbacks can be accounted for in optimal reserve selection by choosing property price and land development models which exogenously estimate the effects of reserve establishment. In our empirical example, we use previously estimated models of land development and property prices to select parcels to maximize coarse woody debris along 16 lakes in Vilas County, WI, USA. Using each lake as an independent experiment, we find that including land market feedbacks in the reserve selection algorithm has only small effects on conservation efficacy. Likewise, we find that in our setting heuristic (minloss and maxgain) algorithms perform nearly as well as the optimal selection strategy. We emphasize that land market feedbacks can be included in optimal reserve selection; the extent to which this improves reserve placement will likely vary across landscapes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The grazing pattern of Muturu cattle under range system | Nweze ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Eighty Muturu cattle were grazed on rangeland, twice daily for two years to determine their grazing pattern. Twenty bulls and cows each between two to four years and forty calves between one to three months were used. The field grazing time (FGT), active grazing time (GT) and grazing travel time (GTT) were monitored.

Ecology of grazing lawns in Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Hempson, GP

2014-09-01

Full Text Available otherwise outcompete lawn species for light. Regular grazing that prevents shading and maintains sward quality is thus the cornerstone of grazing lawn dynamics. The strong interplay between abiotic conditions and disturbance factors, which are central...

Carbon budgets for an irrigated intensively grazed dairy pasture and an unirrigated winter-grazed pasture

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, John E.; Laubach, Johannes; Barthel, Matti; Fraser, Anitra; Phillips, Rebecca L.

2016-05-01

Intensification of pastoral agriculture is occurring rapidly across New Zealand, including increasing use of irrigation and fertiliser application in some regions. While this enables greater gross primary production (GPP) and livestock grazing intensity, the consequences for the net ecosystem carbon budget (NECB) of the pastures are poorly known. Here, we determined the NECB over one year for an irrigated, fertilised and rotationally grazed dairy pasture and a neighbouring unirrigated, unfertilised, winter-grazed pasture. Primary terms in the NECB calculation were: net ecosystem production (NEP), biomass carbon removed by grazing cows and carbon (C) input from their excreta. Annual NEP was measured using the eddy-covariance method. Carbon removal was estimated with plate-meter measurements calibrated against biomass collections, pre- and post-grazing. Excreta deposition was calculated from animal feed intake. The intensively managed pasture gained C (NECB = 103 ± 42 g C m-2 yr-1) but would have been subject to a non-significant C loss if cattle excreta had not been returned to the pasture. The unirrigated pasture was C-neutral (NECB = -13 ± 23 g C m-2 yr-1). While annual GPP of the former was almost twice that of the latter (2679 vs. 1372 g C m-2 yr-1), ecosystem respiration differed by only 68 % between the two pastures (2271 vs. 1352 g C m-2 yr-1). The ratio of GPP to the total annual water input of the irrigated pasture was 37 % greater than that of the unirrigated pasture, i.e. the former used the water input more efficiently than the latter to produce biomass. The NECB results agree qualitatively with those from many other eddy-covariance studies of grazed grasslands, but they seem to be at odds with long-term carbon-stock studies of other New Zealand pastures.

Impact of communal land use and conservation on woody vegetation structure in the Lowveld savannas of South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Wessels, Konrad J

2011-01-01

Full Text Available @yahoo.co 0378-1127/ doi Please cite this article in press as: Wessels, K.J., et al., Impact of communal land use and conservation on woody vegetation structure in the Lowveld savannas of South Africa. Forest Ecol. Manage. (2010), doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2010....09.012 d in revised form 24 August 2010 d 7 September 2010 y words: R l land use r National Park y vegetation structure l wood a Using airborne LiDAR from the Carnegie Airborne Observatory (CAO), we quantified and compared tree canopy cover...

Changes in woody species composition following establishing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Wolde-mekuria

diversity and aboveground standing biomass, and (2) identify soil characteristics, which ... exclosures on degraded communal grazing lands can be effective in restoring degraded native ... litation and soil and water conservation programs in.

Integrated modelling of anthropogenic land-use and land-cover change on the global scale

Science.gov (United States)

Schaldach, R.; Koch, J.; Alcamo, J.

2009-04-01

In many cases land-use activities go hand in hand with substantial modifications of the physical and biological cover of the Earth's surface, resulting in direct effects on energy and matter fluxes between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. For instance, the conversion of forest to cropland is changing climate relevant surface parameters (e.g. albedo) as well as evapotranspiration processes and carbon flows. In turn, human land-use decisions are also influenced by environmental processes. Changing temperature and precipitation patterns for example are important determinants for location and intensity of agriculture. Due to these close linkages, processes of land-use and related land-cover change should be considered as important components in the construction of Earth System models. A major challenge in modelling land-use change on the global scale is the integration of socio-economic aspects and human decision making with environmental processes. One of the few global approaches that integrates functional components to represent both anthropogenic and environmental aspects of land-use change, is the LandSHIFT model. It simulates the spatial and temporal dynamics of the human land-use activities settlement, cultivation of food crops and grazing management, which compete for the available land resources. The rational of the model is to regionalize the demands for area intensive commodities (e.g. crop production) and services (e.g. space for housing) from the country-level to a global grid with the spatial resolution of 5 arc-minutes. The modelled land-use decisions within the agricultural sector are influenced by changing climate and the resulting effects on biomass productivity. Currently, this causal chain is modelled by integrating results from the process-based vegetation model LPJmL model for changing crop yields and net primary productivity of grazing land. Model output of LandSHIFT is a time series of grid maps with land-use/land-cover information

Application of MODIS Land Products to Assessment of Land Degradation of Alpine Rangeland in Northern India with Limited Ground-Based Information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masahiro Tasumi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Land degradation of alpine rangeland in Dachigam National Park, Northern India, was evaluated in this study using MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS land products. The park has been used by a variety of livestock holders. With increasing numbers of livestock, the managers and users of the park are apprehensive about degradation of the grazing land. However, owing to weak infrastructure for scientific and statistical data collection and sociopolitical restrictions in the region, a lack of quality ground-based weather, vegetation, and livestock statistical data had prevented scientific assessment. Under these circumstances, the present study aimed to assess the rangeland environment and its degradation using MODIS vegetation, snow, and evapotranspiration products as primary input data for assessment. The result of the analysis indicated that soil water content and the timing of snowmelt play an important role in grass production in the area. Additionally, the possibility of land degradation in heavily-grazed rangeland was indicated via a multiple regression analysis at a decadal timescale, whereas weather conditions, such as rainfall and snow cover, primarily explained year-by-year differences in grass production. Although statistical uncertainties remain in the results derived in this study, the satellite-based data and the analyses will promote understanding of the rangeland environment and suggest the potential for unsustainable land management based on statistical probability. This study provides an important initial evaluation of alpine rangeland, for which ground-based information is limited.

78 FR 25758 - Migratory Birds; Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance: Module 1-Land-Based Wind Energy, Version 2

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-02

...-FXMB123209EAGL0L2] RIN 1018-AX53 Migratory Birds; Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance: Module 1-- Land-Based Wind... Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia... Act (BGEPA) (16 U.S.C. 668-668c), the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) (16 U.S.C. 703-12), and the...

Herbage intake by grazing dairy cows

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meijs, J.A.C.

1981-01-01

An extensive review of the literature is given of
- nine possible methods for estimating herbage intake by grazing ruminants, with special attention to the sward-cutting and indirect animal methods
- the factors determining the herbage intake by grazing ruminants.

The

North American Bats and Mines Project: A cooperative approach for integrating bat conservation and mine-land reclamation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ducummon, S.L. [Bat Conservation International, Austin, TX (United States)

1997-12-31

Inactive underground mines now provide essential habitat for more than half of North America`s 44 bat species, including some of the largest remaining populations. Thousands of abandoned mines have already been closed or are slated for safety closures, and many are destroyed during renewed mining in historic districts. The available evidence suggests that millions of bats have already been lost due to these closures. Bats are primary predators of night-flying insects that cost American farmers and foresters billions of dollars annually, therefore, threats to bat survival are cause for serious concern. Fortunately, mine closure methods exist that protect both bats and humans. Bat Conservation International (BCI) and the USDI-Bureau of Land Management founded the North American Bats and Mines Project to provide national leadership and coordination to minimize the loss of mine-roosting bats. This partnership has involved federal and state mine-land and wildlife managers and the mining industry. BCI has trained hundreds of mine-land and wildlife managers nationwide in mine assessment techniques for bats and bat-compatible closure methods, published technical information on bats and mine-land management, presented papers on bats and mines at national mining and wildlife conferences, and collaborated with numerous federal, state, and private partners to protect some of the most important mine-roosting bat populations. Our new mining industry initiative, Mining for Habitat, is designed to develop bat habitat conservation and enhancement plans for active mining operations. It includes the creation of cost-effective artificial underground bat roosts using surplus mining materials such as old mine-truck tires and culverts buried beneath waste rock.

Land-use history as a guide for forest conservation and management.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitlock, Cathy; Colombaroli, Daniele; Conedera, Marco; Tinner, Willy

2018-02-01

Conservation efforts to protect forested landscapes are challenged by climate projections that suggest substantial restructuring of vegetation and disturbance regimes in the future. In this regard, paleoecological records that describe ecosystem responses to past variations in climate, fire, and human activity offer critical information for assessing present landscape conditions and future landscape vulnerability. We illustrate this point drawing on 8 sites in the northwestern United States, New Zealand, Patagonia, and central and southern Europe that have undergone different levels of climate and land-use change. These sites fall along a gradient of landscape conditions that range from nearly pristine (i.e., vegetation and disturbance shaped primarily by past climate and biophysical constraints) to highly altered (i.e., landscapes that have been intensely modified by past human activity). Position on this gradient has implications for understanding the role of natural and anthropogenic disturbance in shaping ecosystem dynamics and assessments of present biodiversity, including recognizing missing or overrepresented species. Dramatic vegetation reorganization occurred at all study sites as a result of postglacial climate variations. In nearly pristine landscapes, such as those in Yellowstone National Park, climate has remained the primary driver of ecosystem change up to the present day. In Europe, natural vegetation-climate-fire linkages were broken 6000-8000 years ago with the onset of Neolithic farming, and in New Zealand, natural linkages were first lost about 700 years ago with arrival of the Maori people. In the U.S. Northwest and Patagonia, the greatest landscape alteration occurred in the last 150 years with Euro-American settlement. Paleoecology is sometimes the best and only tool for evaluating the degree of landscape alteration and the extent to which landscapes retain natural components. Information on landscape-level history thus helps assess current

How grazing affects soil quality of soils formed in the glaciated northeastern United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, Alissa H; Amador, José A

2018-02-21

Historically, much of the New England landscape was converted to pasture for grazing animals and harvesting hay. Both consumer demand for local sustainably produced food, and the number of small farms is increasing in RI, highlighting the importance of characterizing the effects livestock have on the quality of pasture soils. To assess how livestock affect pasture on Charlton and Canton soils series in RI, we examined soil quality in farms raising beef cattle (Bos taurus), sheep (Ovis aries), and horses (Equus ferus caballus), using hayed pastures as a control. We sampled three pastures per livestock type and three control hayed pastures in May, August, and October 2012. Hay fields and pastures grazed by sheep had statistically significant (P soil quality than pastures grazed by beef cattle or horses. This was driven by parameters including penetration resistance, bulk density, aggregate stability, and infiltration rate. Hayfields also showed higher soil quality measures than grazed pastures for organic matter content and active C. In addition, significant differences in nitrate and phosphate concentrations were observed among livestock types. Respiration and infiltration rates, pH, and ammonium concentrations, on the other hand, did not differ significantly among pasture types. When all soil quality indicators in this study were weighed equally, soil quality scores followed the order: hay > sheep > beef cattle > horses. The results of our study provide baseline data on the effect different types of livestock have on pasture soil quality in RI, which may be useful in making sound land use and agricultural management decisions.

Key sources and seasonal dynamics of greenhouse gas fluxes from yak grazing systems on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yang; Yan, Caiyu; Matthew, Cory; Wood, Brennon; Hou, Fujiang

2017-01-01

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock grazing systems are contributing to global warming. To examine the influence of yak grazing systems on GHG fluxes and relationships between GHG fluxes and environmental factors, we measured carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes over three key seasons in 2012 and 2013 from a range of potential sources, including: alpine meadows, dung patches, manure heaps and yak night pens, on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We also estimated the total annual global warming potential (GWP, CO2-equivalents) from family farm grazing yaks using our measured results and other published data. In this study, GHG fluxes per unit area from night pens and composting manure heaps were higher than from dung patches and alpine meadows. Increased moisture content and surface temperature of soil and manure were major factors increasing CO2 and CH4 fluxes. High contributions of CH4 and N2O (21.1% and 44.8%, respectively) to the annual total GWP budget (334.2 tonnes) strongly suggest these GHG other than CO2 should not be ignored when estimating GWP from the family farm grazing yaks on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau for the purposes of determining national and regional land use policies or compiling global GHG inventories.

Linking remote-sensing and ecosystem services modeling to support and assess management for regenerative grazing in the South Gobi, Mongolia

Science.gov (United States)

Chaplin-Kramer, R.; Kowal, V. A.; Sharp, R.

2017-12-01

Managing and monitoring supply chain sustainability is a major challenge and opportunity for business, especially in rangelands, heavily managed and often degraded natural systems that provide significant resources and raw materials for production. One of the largest and most threatened rangeland systems in the world is in Mongolia, which has seen a rapid rise in grazing pressure due to increasing global demand for cashmere along with privatization of a formerly government-run livestock industry. A new opportunity is emerging for remote-sensing to improve the management decisions of the producers and their incentive-setters, leading to a more sustainable rangeland system and better outcomes for biodiversity and people in this unique and imperiled landscape. Oyu Tolgoi (OT), the Mongolian subsidiary of the mining company Rio Tinto, in cooperation with Kering, an apparel conglomerate that sources cashmere from the region, are providing financial incentives to improve grazing patterns through a Sustainable Cashmere program, in order to restore the degraded rangeland ecosystem in the Gobi desert region. We present a framework and approach for predicting the effect of changing grazing practices on biodiversity and ecosystem services, which we are developing into decision-support tools for OT, Kering, and their local partner Wildlife Conservation Society to quantify the impacts of their programs and where these interventions will have greatest benefit. Our approach integrates remote-sensing and ecosystem modeling to scale up field monitoring data and forecast future impacts. Our rangeland production model, based on the soil-vegetation model CENTURY and the livestock model GRAZPLAN, predicts biomass production and plant species composition changes, and can feed into ecosystem services models such as soil retention and water regulation in the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs) software suite. This presents a significant advance in ecosystem

Impacts of out-migration on land management in mountain areas

OpenAIRE

Schwilch, Gudrun; Jaquet, Stéphanie; Liniger, Hanspeter; Sudmeier-Rieux, K.; Penna, I.; Jaboyedoff, M.; Kaenzig, R.

2013-01-01

INTRODUCTION Out-migration from mountain areas is leaving behind half families and elderly to deal with managing the land alongside daily life challenges. A potential reduction of labour force as well as expertise on cropping practices, maintenance of terraces and irrigation canals, slope stabilization, grazing, forest and other land management practices are further challenged by changing climate conditions and increased environmental threats. An understanding of the resilience of managed...

Grain-dependent responses of mammalian diversity to land use and the implications for conservation set-aside.

Science.gov (United States)

Wearn, Oliver R; Carbone, Chris; Rowcliffe, J Marcus; Bernard, Henry; Ewers, Robert M

2016-07-01

Diversity responses to land-use change are poorly understood at local scales, hindering our ability to make forecasts and management recommendations at scales which are of practical relevance. A key barrier in this has been the underappreciation of grain-dependent diversity responses and the role that β-diversity (variation in community composition across space) plays in this. Decisions about the most effective spatial arrangement of conservation set-aside, for example high conservation value areas, have also neglected β-diversity, despite its role in determining the complementarity of sites. We examined local-scale mammalian species richness and β-diversity across old-growth forest, logged forest, and oil palm plantations in Borneo, using intensive camera- and live-trapping. For the first time, we were able to investigate diversity responses, as well as β-diversity, at multiple spatial grains, and across the whole terrestrial mammal community (large and small mammals); β-diversity was quantified by comparing observed β-diversity with that obtained under a null model, in order to control for sampling effects, and we refer to this as the β-diversity signal. Community responses to land use were grain dependent, with large mammals showing reduced richness in logged forest compared to old-growth forest at the grain of individual sampling points, but no change at the overall land-use level. Responses varied with species group, however, with small mammals increasing in richness at all grains in logged forest compared to old-growth forest. Both species groups were significantly depauperate in oil palm. Large mammal communities in old-growth forest became more heterogeneous at coarser spatial grains and small mammal communities became more homogeneous, while this pattern was reversed in logged forest. Both groups, however, showed a significant β-diversity signal at the finest grain in logged forest, likely due to logging-induced environmental heterogeneity. The �

The Mechanism Forming the Cell Surface of Tip-Growing Rooting Cells Is Conserved among Land Plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Honkanen, Suvi; Jones, Victor A S; Morieri, Giulia; Champion, Clement; Hetherington, Alexander J; Kelly, Steve; Proust, Hélène; Saint-Marcoux, Denis; Prescott, Helen; Dolan, Liam

2016-12-05

To discover mechanisms that controlled the growth of the rooting system in the earliest land plants, we identified genes that control the development of rhizoids in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. 336,000 T-DNA transformed lines were screened for mutants with defects in rhizoid growth, and a de novo genome assembly was generated to identify the mutant genes. We report the identification of 33 genes required for rhizoid growth, of which 6 had not previously been functionally characterized in green plants. We demonstrate that members of the same orthogroup are active in cell wall synthesis, cell wall integrity sensing, and vesicle trafficking during M. polymorpha rhizoid and Arabidopsis thaliana root hair growth. This indicates that the mechanism for constructing the cell surface of tip-growing rooting cells is conserved among land plants and was active in the earliest land plants that existed sometime more than 470 million years ago [1, 2]. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Conserving what, where and how? Cost-efficient measures to conserve biodiversity in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Anders Højgård; Strange, Niels; Anthon, Signe

2016-01-01

Biodiversity conservation efforts in Europe have traditionally focused on farmland and open nature areas such as grasslands, heathlands and meadows, while little attention has been devoted to conservation actions in forest. Using detailed information on the geographical distribution of about 900...... terrestrial species in Denmark we apply systematic conservation planning techniques to identify how to protect biodiversity at the lowest cost to society. The results suggest that conservation actions in forest should be given a higher priority. Thus, three to four times the number of forest species...... are protected per million € compared with species living in open land natural areas. Furthermore, a gap analysis finds the current designation of Natura 2000 and other protected areas is skewed toward open land natural areas, and insufficient to meet the conservation targets on forest species....

Changes in soil carbon cycling accompanying conversion of row-crop fields to grazing dairy pastures

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, A.; Kramer, M. G.; Hill, N.; Machmuller, M. B.; Cyle, K.

2011-12-01

Increasingly, the dairy industry in the eastern US is transitioning from total confinement dairy systems (TCD) toward pasture-based, management intensive grazing dairy (MiGD) systems. This transition is driven by the fact that MiGDs require substantially less operating capital and are more economically efficient than TCD systems. Consequently, the impact of this transition and shift in land-use practice on carbon dynamics may be considerable. Land-use in a Management intensive Grazing Dairy (MiGD) system is fundamentally different than conventional confinement dairies and conventional no-till pastures. The forage system involves rotational grazing at optimal digestibility, when the plants are immature (~20-days) and consequently protein-rich. MiGD cows spend >90% of their time in the field and deposit > 90% of their waste directly to the soil surface. Thus, little above ground plant residues are directly returned to the soil, but rather substantial C inputs derive from bovine manure. We sampled a MiGD-chronosequence of row-crop to MiGD conversion established in 2007 in eastern Georgia. All soils across the MiGD-chronosequence, all occur in relative (40 km) close proximity to one another, are deep, well-drained, fine and fine sandy loam Ultisols formed on Coastal Plain sediments. Prior to MiGD established, the soils were farmed for > 50 yrs using conventional tillage techniques. Our current sampling to 1m depths captures fields at 0, 2, 3, and 5 yrs since conversion. Total soil carbon (C) and the carbon concentration of the clay fraction increased following conversion, with the greatest increases occurring between 3 and 5 yrs since conversion. These C increases were limited to the upper 40cm of the soil, with minimal change occurring at depth. Characterization of the protein and ligand content of these soils via 13C NMR and chemolytic techniques as a function of soil particle density and size is in progress and will be presented along with estimates of carbon

How Does “Hunger” Level Impact Grazing Behavior?

Science.gov (United States)

Grazing behavior can be influenced through feeding and grazing management decisions. Research at our USDA-ARS lab showed that ruminal fill, or how ‘hungry’ the cow is, can affect grazing behavior. Cows that had less ruminal fill took a bigger bite that was shallow and wide, compared to a ‘full’ cow ...

Annual methane budgets of sheep grazing systems were regulated by grazing intensities in the temperate continental steppe: A two-year case study

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Lei; Zhong, Mengying; Zhu, Yuhao; Yang, Helong; Johnson, Douglas A.; Rong, Yuping

2018-02-01

Methane (CH4) emission from animal husbandry accounts for a large percentage of anthropogenic contributions to CH4 emissions. Fully understanding of grazing management effects on the CH4 budget is essential for mitigating CH4 emissions in the temperate grazing steppe systems. Annual CH4 budgets for the sheep grazed steppes at various grazing intensities, un-grazing (UG, 0 sheep ha-1year-1), defer grazing (DG, 1.0 sheep ha-1 year-1), moderate grazing (MG, 1.43 sheep ha-1year-1), and heavy grazing (HG, 2.43 sheep ha-1year-1) were assessed across 2012-2014 in the agro-pastoral region of northern China. Annual soil CH4 uptake averaged across 2012-2014 were 1.1 ± 0.1, 2.4 ± 0.2, 2.2 ± 0.2, and 1.3 ± 0.1 kg CH4-C ha-1 for UG, DG (only 2013-2014), MG and HG sites. Non-growing season CH4 uptake comprised 50.0 ± 4.3% of annual CH4 uptake in 2012-2013 and 37.7 ± 2.0% in 2013-2014. DG and MG significantly promoted annual soil CH4 uptake (P 0.05). Bell-shaped relationship was presented between stocking rates and soil CH4 uptake (r2 = 0.59, P budgets for the grazed grasslands were -1.1 ± 0.1, 5.7 ± 0.6, 11.5 ± 1.5 and 15.5 ± 1.3 kg CH4-C ha-1 year-1 in UG, DG (only 2013-2014), MG and HG across 2012-2014. Soil CH4 uptake could offset 29.7 ± 5.6, 15.9 ± 4.3 and 6.8 ± 1.0% of total annual CH4 emissions from sheep, sheepfold and faeces in DG, MG, and HG. All grazed steppes are sources for atmospheric CH4 and the magnitude is regulated by grazing intensities. Sheep CH4 emissions for 1-g liveweight gain were 0.21, 0.32 and 0.37 g CH4-C in DG, MG and HG, respectively. DG is the recommended grazing management in this region to achieve greater herbage mass, higher sheep performance and lower CH4 emissions simultaneously.

EnviroAtlas - Acres of USDA Farm Service Agency Conservation Reserve Program land by 12-Digit HUC for the Conterminous United States.

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This EnviroAtlas dataset shows the acres of land enrolled in the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The CRP is administered by...

Effect of Grazing Intensity on Some Soil Chemical Characteristics in Gardaneh Zanburi Rangeland of Arsanjan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

zeinab khademolhosseini

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Introduction:Changes caused by grazing on range ecosystem are generally assessed based on the soil conditions and vegetation. Livestock as one of the major elements in range land ecosystems has different effects on different parts of this ecosystem. One of these impacts is excessive livestock grazing capacity which can have different effects on soils and plants in various intensities. Materials and Methods:Gardaneh ZanbooriRangelandis located in Arsanjan in Fars province. This isanareaof mountains, hillsandplains with the maximum height of 2280 meters and minimum height of 1640 meters above sea level. Related areas were separated under three different management methods of enclosure, moderate grazing and heavy grazing. These three areas are considered as symbolic areas of grazing intensity including the reference area where no grazing intensity was observed, the key area where medium to heavy grazing was applied and critical area where heavy grazing was used. These areas were similar in all characteristics such as topography, soil type and rainfall and differed only in their grazing intensity factor. Then, soil samples were collected. Random systematic soil sampling was conducted at two horizons of 0 -15 and 15 -30 cm. Therefore, five profiles in each area (enclosure, moderate grazing and heavy grazing, a total of 15 soil profiles, were excavated and two samples were taken in each profile (one sample from each horizon. Finally, the thirty soil samples were transported to the laboratory. Samples were dried in the air laboratory and passed a two millimeter sieve after smashing. Factors such as N, P, K, OM, EC and PH were measured in each sample In the laboratory, the percentage of P was determined by the Olsen method while the percentage of K was determined using the flamephotometry method. Moreover, N was measured using the Kjeldhal method. C was measured by the Walkley and Black method. The percentage of OM was found by carbon multiplying

Energy-conserving perennial agriculture for marginal land in southern Appalachia. Final technical report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Williams, G.

1982-01-30

USDA economists predict the end of surplus farm production in the US within this decade. More and more marginal land will be cropped to provide feed for the growing world population and to produce energy. Much of this potential cropland in Southern Appalachia is poorly suited to annual crops, such as corn. Perennial crops are much better suited to steep, rocky, and wet sites. Research was undertaken on the theoretical potentials of perennial species with high predicted yields of protein, carbohydrates, or oils. Several candidate staple perennial crops for marginal land in Southern Appalachia were identified, and estimates were made of their yields, energy input requirements, and general suitabilities. Cropping systems incorporating honeylocust, persimmon, mulberry, jujube, and beech were compared with corn cropping systems. It appears that these candidate staple perennials show distinct advantages for energy conservation and environmental preservation. Detailed economic analyses must await actual demonstration trials, but preliminary indications for ethanol conversion systems with honeylocust are encouraging. It is suggested that short-term loans to farmers undertaking this new type of agriculture would be appropriate to solve cash-flow problems.

Soil Respiration in Semiarid Temperate Grasslands under Various Land Management.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhen Wang

Full Text Available Soil respiration, a major component of the global carbon cycle, is significantly influenced by land management practices. Grasslands are potentially a major sink for carbon, but can also be a source. Here, we investigated the potential effect of land management (grazing, clipping, and ungrazed enclosures on soil respiration in the semiarid grassland of northern China. Our results showed the mean soil respiration was significantly higher under enclosures (2.17 μmol.m(-2.s(-1 and clipping (2.06 μmol.m(-2.s(-1 than under grazing (1.65 μmol.m-(2.s(-1 over the three growing seasons. The high rates of soil respiration under enclosure and clipping were associated with the higher belowground net primary productivity (BNPP. Our analyses indicated that soil respiration was primarily related to BNPP under grazing, to soil water content under clipping. Using structural equation models, we found that soil water content, aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP and BNPP regulated soil respiration, with soil water content as the predominant factor. Our findings highlight that management-induced changes in abiotic (soil temperature and soil water content and biotic (ANPP and BNPP factors regulate soil respiration in the semiarid temperate grassland of northern China.

Soil Respiration in Semiarid Temperate Grasslands under Various Land Management.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhen; Ji, Lei; Hou, Xiangyang; Schellenberg, Michael P

2016-01-01

Soil respiration, a major component of the global carbon cycle, is significantly influenced by land management practices. Grasslands are potentially a major sink for carbon, but can also be a source. Here, we investigated the potential effect of land management (grazing, clipping, and ungrazed enclosures) on soil respiration in the semiarid grassland of northern China. Our results showed the mean soil respiration was significantly higher under enclosures (2.17 μmol.m(-2).s(-1)) and clipping (2.06 μmol.m(-2).s(-1)) than under grazing (1.65 μmol.m-(2).s(-1)) over the three growing seasons. The high rates of soil respiration under enclosure and clipping were associated with the higher belowground net primary productivity (BNPP). Our analyses indicated that soil respiration was primarily related to BNPP under grazing, to soil water content under clipping. Using structural equation models, we found that soil water content, aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and BNPP regulated soil respiration, with soil water content as the predominant factor. Our findings highlight that management-induced changes in abiotic (soil temperature and soil water content) and biotic (ANPP and BNPP) factors regulate soil respiration in the semiarid temperate grassland of northern China.

Transitions and coexistence along a grazing gradient in the Eurasian steppe

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Haiyan; Taube, Friedelm; Zhang, Yingjun; Bai, Yongfei; Hu, Shuijin

2017-04-01

Ecological resilience theory has often been applied to explain species coexistence and range condition assessment of various community states and to explicate the dynamics of ecosystems. Grazing is a primary disturbance that can alter rangeland resilience by causing hard-to-reverse transitions in grasslands. Yet, how grazing affects the coexistence of plant functional group (PFG) and transition remains unclear. We conducted a six-year grazing experiment in a typical steppe of Inner Mongolia, using seven grazing intensities (0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6.0, 7.5 and 9.0 sheep/ hectare) and two grazing systems (i.e. a continuous annual grazing as in the traditional grazing system, and a mixed grazing system combining grazing and haymaking), to examine grazing effects on plant functional group shifts and species coexistence in the semi-arid grassland system. Our results indicate that the relative richness of dominant bunchgrasses and forbs had a compensatory coexistence at all grazing intensities, and the richness of rhizomatous grasses fluctuated but was persistent. The relative productivity of dominant bunchgrasses and rhizomatous grasses had compensatory interactions with grazing intensity and grazing system. Dominant bunchgrasses and rhizomatous grasses resist grazing effects by using their dominant species functional traits: high specific leaf area and low leaf nitrogen content. Our results suggest that: 1. Stabilizing mechanisms beyond grazing management are more important in determining plant functional group coexistence and ecological resilience. 2. Plant functional group composition is more important in influencing ecosystem functioning than diversity. 3. Ecosystem resilience at a given level is related to the biomass of dominant PFG, which is determined by a balanced shift between dominant species biomass. The relatively even ecosystem resilience along the grazing gradient is attributed to the compensatory interactions of dominant species in their biomass variations

Four hurdles for conservation on private land: the case of the golden lion tamarin, Atlantic Forest, Brazil.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ralf Christopher Buckley

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Many threatened species worldwide rely on patches of remnant vegetation in private landholdings. To establish private reserves that contribute effectively to conservation involves a wide range of complex and interacting ecological, legal, social and financial factors. These can be seen as a series of successive hurdles, each with multiple bars, which must all be surmounted. The golden lion tamarin, Leontopithecus rosalia, is restricted to the Atlantic Forest biome in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This forest is largely cleared. There are many small remnant patches on private lands, able to support tamarins. Local NGO’s have successfully used limited funds to contribute to tamarin conservation in a highly cost effective way. We examined the mechanisms by analysing documents and interviewing landholders and other stakeholders. We found that the local NGOs successfully identified landholdings where ecological, legal, social and some financial hurdles had already been crossed, and helped landholders over the final financial hurdle by funding critical cost components. This cost <5% of the price of outright land purchase. This approach is scaleable for golden lion tamarin elsewhere within the Atlantic Forest biome, and applicable for other species and ecosystems worldwide.

As Long as it is Not My Land: Landowners and Oak Woodland Conservation in Spain and California

Science.gov (United States)

Huntsinger, L.; Oviedo, J. L.; Plieninger, T.

2009-04-01

In Spain and California, landowners have a crucial role to play in the conservation of oak woodlands. The value of environmental services from private oak woodlands used for extensive agriculture has drawn the attention of policymakers and conservationists, and policy strategies for maintenance of traditional extensive agriculture are emergent in both places. These strategies require landowner participation. Surveys of landowners in each place reveal similarities in management practices, goals, attitudes, and demographics, as well as some interesting points of divergence. Despite very different institutional and political contexts, landowner attitudes show some striking similarities. Both favor a degree of government protection of natural resources, but would prefer that this would not include regulation of activities on their own lands. With a relatively stable woodland ecologically, and a high rate of urban out-migration into woodland areas, the more visible initiatives in California today focus on landowner education, and tax relief for temporary or permanent restrictions on land conversion. Non-governmental organizations have taken an increasingly visible role in the brokering of purchased or donated land title restrictions for conservation. These programs have resulted in an apparent decline in oak harvest and some limitations on development, but have not often directly influenced regeneration or management on private lands. In contrast, with more stable patterns of population distribution and less stable woodland ecological dynamics, Spanish incentive programs approach regeneration and management issues more directly, with subsidies for oak planting and maintenance, and price advantages for the products of traditional agriculture. The results of a twenty-year longitudinal study in California show a shift towards an increasing focus on amenities by California oak woodland landowners, whether they are ranch owners with hundreds of hectares of woodland, or

Conservation Agriculture for combating land degradation in Central Asia: a synthesis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.P.A. Lamers

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This manuscript reviews scientific findings on agricultural systems, associated land degradation and selected remedies such as Conservation Agricultural (CA practices to counterbalance these. In particular, this review addresses the research findings onCA practices conducted in the rainfed and irrigated systems in Central Asia. The arid and semi-arid croplands in this region are vulnerable to different types of soil and environmental degradation, and particularly to degradation caused by intensive tillage, irrigation water mismanagement, and cropping practices, especially in the Aral Sea Basin. Overall, the evidence shows that various CA elements, such as permanent beds, seems to be technically suitable for the major cropping systems and despite the heterogeneous conditions in the region. CA practices can contribute to combating on-going land degradation. No-till seeding along with the maintenance of a permanent soil coverage e.g. by residue retention, reduces wind and water erosion, increases water infiltration and storage which can reduce crop water stress, improve soil quality and increase soil organic matter. Further, CA practices can lead to similar or even higher crop yields while reducing production resource needs and costs considerably, including fuel, seeds, agrochemicals, water and labour. Nevertheless, the growing research evidence on the productivity, economic and environmental benefits that can be harnessed with CA, still is from a limited number of studies and hence more research at local scale is needed.

Response of mountain meadows to grazing by recreational pack stock

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, David N.; Van Wagtendonk, Jan W.; McClaran, Mitchel P.; Moore, Peggy E.; McDougald, Neil K.

2004-01-01

Effects of recreational pack stock grazing on mountain meadows in Yosemite National Park were assessed in a 5-year study. Yosemite is a designated wilderness, to be managed such that its natural conditions are preserved. Studies were conducted in 3 characteristic meadow types: shorthair sedge (Carex filifolia Nutt.), Brewer's reed grass (Calamagrostis breweri Thurber), and tufted hairgrass [Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) Beauv.]. Horses and mules grazed experimental plots at intensities of 15 to 69% utilization for 4 seasons. In all 3 meadows, grazing caused decreases in productivity. The mean reduction after 4 years of grazing was 18% in the shorthair sedge meadow, 17% in the Brewer's reed grass meadow, and 22% in the tufted hairgrass meadow. Grazing also caused shifts in basal groundcover (usually a reduction in vegetation cover and increase in bare soil cover), and changes in species composition. Productivity and vegetation cover decreased as percent utilization increased, while bare soil cover increased as utilization increased. Changes in species composition were less predictably related to differences in grazing intensity. Passive management of grazing is insufficient in wilderness areas that are regularly used by groups with recreational stock. Wilderness managers need to monitor meadow conditions and the grazing intensities that occur. Our study suggests that biomass and ground cover are more sensitive indicators of grazing impact than species composition. Managers must make decisions about maximum acceptable levels of grazing impact and then develop guidelines for maximum use levels, based on data such as ours that relates grazing intensity to meadow response.

Semi-arid grassland bird responses to patch-burn grazing and drought

Science.gov (United States)

Skagen, Susan K.; Augustine, David J.; Derner, Justin D.

2018-01-01

As grassland birds of central North America experience steep population declines with changes in land use, management of remaining tracts becomes increasingly important for population viability. The integrated use of fire and grazing may enhance vegetation heterogeneity and diversity in breeding birds, but the subsequent effects on reproduction are unknown. We examined the influence of patch-burn grazing management in shortgrass steppe in eastern Colorado on habitat use and reproductive success of 3 grassland bird species, horned lark (Eremophila alpestris), lark bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys), and McCown’s longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii), at several spatial scales during 2011 and 2012. Although no simple direct relationship to patch-burn grazing treatment existed, habitat selection depended on precipitation- and management-induced vegetation conditions and spatial scale. All species selected taller-than-expected vegetation at the nest site, whereas at the territory scale, horned larks and McCown’s longspurs selected areas with low vegetation height and sparse cover of tall plants (taller than the dominant shortgrasses). Buntings nested primarily in unburned grassland under average rainfall. Larks and longspurs shifted activity from patch burns during average precipitation (2011) to unburned pastures during drought (2012). Daily survival rate (DSR) of nests varied with time in season, species, weather, and vegetation structure. Daily survival rate of McCown’s longspur nests did not vary with foliar cover of relatively tall vegetation at the nest under average precipitation but declined with increasing cover during drought. At the 200-m scale, increasing cover of shortgrasses, rather than taller plant species, improved DSR of larks and longspurs. These birds experience tradeoffs in the selection of habitat at different spatial scales: tall structure at nests may reduce visual detection by predators and provide protection from sun, wind, and rain, yet

Effects of Government Grassland Conservation Policy on Household Livelihoods and Dependence on Local Grasslands: Evidence from Inner Mongolia, China

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Bingzhen Du

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Grassland degradation intensifies human-environment conflicts and adversely affects local residents’ livelihoods. To reduce grassland degradation in Inner Mongolia, China, the government has enforced (since 1998 a series of grassland conservation and management policies that restrict the use of grasslands. To ease the impact on the residents’ livelihoods, the national and regional governments have offered a series of top-down arrangements to stimulate sustainable use of the grasslands. Simultaneously, local households spontaneously developed bottom-up countermeasures. To determine the effects of these processes, we interviewed members of 135 households using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. We analyzed the effects on household dependence on local grasslands and on perceptions of the future of grassland use. Our findings show that the implementation of the grassland conservation policies significantly affected household livelihoods, which in turn affected household use of natural assets (primarily the land, their agricultural assets (farming and grazing activities and their financial assets (income and consumption, resulting in fundamental transformation of their lifestyles. The households developed adaptation measures to account for the dependence of their livelihood on local ecosystems by initializing strategies, such as seeking off-farm work, leasing pasture land, increasing purchases of fodder for stall-fed animals and altering their diet and fuel consumption to compensate for their changing livelihoods.

The effect of grazing on cow mortality in Danish dairy herds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Burow, Elke; Thomsen, Peter Thorup; Sørensen, Jan Tind

2011-01-01

The effect of summer grazing in large Danish dairy herds and certain management characteristics of grazing were studied for their impact on dairy cow mortality. Mortality data (from the Danish Cattle Database) from 391 Danish dairy herds (>100 cows) were combined with information from...... a questionnaire survey of grazing procedures on these herds in 2008. In all, 131 of the herds were identified as summer grazing and 260 as zero-grazing herds. The mortality was affected by an interaction of summer grazing and milking system. The risk of a cow dying was reduced to 46% in a grazing compared...... and pasture was associated with increased cow mortality....

Grazing disturbance increases transient but decreases persistent soil seed bank.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Miaojun; Walck, Jeffrey L; Ma, Zhen; Wang, Lipei; Du, Guozhen

2018-04-30

Very few studies have examined whether the impacts of grazing disturbance on soil seed banks occur directly or indirectly through aboveground vegetation and soil properties. The potential role of the seed bank in alpine wetland restoration is also unknown. We used SEM (structural equation modeling) to explore the direct effect of grazing disturbance on the seed bank and the indirect effect through aboveground vegetation and soil properties. We also studied the role of the seed bank on the restoration potential in wetlands with various grazing intensities: low (fenced, winter grazed only), medium (seasonally grazed), and high (whole-year grazed). For the seed bank, species richness and density per plot showed no difference among grazing intensities for each depth (0-5, 5-10, 10-15 cm) and for the whole depth (0-15 cm) in spring and summer. There was no direct effect of grazing disturbance on seed bank richness and density both in spring and summer, and also no indirect effect on the seed bank through its direct effect on vegetation richness and abundance. Grazing disturbance indirectly increased spring seed bank density but decreased summer seed bank density through its direct effect (negative correlation) on soil moisture and total nitrogen and its indirect effect on vegetation abundance. Species composition of the vegetation changed with grazing regime, but that of the seed bank did not. An increased trend of similarity between the seed bank and aboveground vegetation with increased grazing disturbance was found in the shallow depth and in the whole depth only in spring. Although there was almost no change in seed bank size with grazing intensities, grazing disturbance increased the quantity of transient seeds but decreased persistent seeds. Persistent seeds stored in the soil could play a crucial role in vegetation regeneration and in restoration of degraded wetland ecosystems. The seed bank should be an integral part of alpine wetland restoration programs. �

A review of experiments comparing systems of grazing management ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Experiments comparing different systems of grazing management on natural pastures in various parts of the world are reviewed. In experiments in which various rotational systems were tested against continuous grazing, fewer than half revealed pasture improvement relative to continuous grazing. In the majority of ...

Sparing land for biodiversity at multiple spatial scales

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Johan eEkroos

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A common approach to the conservation of farmland biodiversity and the promotion of multifunctional landscapes, particularly in landscapes containing only small remnants of non-crop habitats, has been to maintain landscape heterogeneity and reduce land-use intensity. In contrast, it has recently been shown that devoting specific areas of non-crop habitats to conservation, segregated from high-yielding farmland (‘land sparing’, can more effectively conserve biodiversity than promoting low-yielding, less intensively managed farmland occupying larger areas (‘land sharing’. In the present paper we suggest that the debate over the relative merits of land sparing or land sharing is partly blurred by the differing spatial scales at which it is suggested that land sparing should be applied. We argue that there is no single correct spatial scale for segregating biodiversity protection and commodity production in multifunctional landscapes. Instead we propose an alternative conceptual construct, which we call ‘multiple-scale land sparing’, targeting biodiversity and ecosystem services in transformed landscapes. We discuss how multiple-scale land sparing may overcome the apparent dichotomy between land sharing and land sparing and help to find acceptable compromises that conserve biodiversity and landscape multifunctionality.

Milk production, grazing behavior and nutritional status of dairy cows grazing two herbage allowances during winter

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Miguel Ruiz-Albarran

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Winter grazing provides a useful means for increasing the proportion of grazed herbage in the annual diet of dairy cows. This season is characterized by low herbage growth rate, low herbage allowance, and low herbage intake and hence greater needs for supplements to supply the requirements of lactating dairy cows. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of herbage allowance (HA offered to autumn calving dairy cows grazing winter herbage on milk production, nutritional status, and grazing behavior. The study took 63 d using 32 multiparous Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. Prior to experimental treatment, milk production averaged 20.2 ± 1.7 kg d-1, body weight was 503 ± 19 kg, and days in milking were 103 ± 6. Experimental animals were randomly assigned to two treatments according to HA offered above ground level: low (17 kg DM cow-1 d-1 vs. high HA (25 kg DM cow¹ d¹. All cows were supplemented with grass silage supplying daily 6.25 and 4.6 kg DM of concentrate (concentrate commercial plus high corn moisture. Decreasing HA influenced positively milk production (+25%, milk protein (+20 kg, and milk fat (+17 kg per hectare; however no effects on milk production per cow or energy metabolic status were observed in the cows. In conclusion, a low HA showed to be the most significant influencing factor on milk and milk solids production per hectare in dairy cows grazing restricted winter and supplemented with grass silage and concentrate; but no effect on the milk production per cow was found.

Modern wildlife conservation initiatives and the pastoralist/hunter nomads of northwestern Tibet

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Joseph L. Fox

2004-04-01

Full Text Available In 1993 the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR of China established the 300 000 km2 Chang Tang Nature Preserve on the northwestern Tibetan plateau, an action precipitated by rapidly diminishing populations of chiru (Tibetan antelope and wild yak. Some 30 000 nomadic pastoralists use areas within this reserve for livestock grazing, with many having traditionally depended in part on hunting for supplementary subsistence and trade. Following a 1997 request from TAR leaders for international assistance in addressing the conservation issues associated with the creation of this reserve, the TAR Forestry Bureau and the Network for University Co-operation Tibet — Norway began a 3-year research collaboration program in 2000 to outline human-wildlife interactions and conservation priorities in the western part of the reserve. To date, four excursions (2-6 weeks each have been made to the western Chang Tang region, and investigations of interactions between pastoralists and wildlife conservation objectives have been initiated in an area of about 5000 km2, including the 2300 km2 Aru basin located at 5000 m elevation at the northern edge of pastoralist inhabitation. The Aru site is unique in that nomads have only recently returned to this previously off-limits basin. But, as in surrounding areas, the people's lives are undergoing changes recently influenced by the introduction of permanent winter houses, changing international trade in shahtoosh and cashmere wool, and a move towards stricter hunting regulations. The northwestern Chang Tang, with the Aru basin as a prime site, represents one of the last strongholds of the endangered chiru and wild yak, as well as home to Tibetan gazelle, kiang, Tibetan argali, blue sheep, wolf, snow leopard and brown bear. In autumn 2000, for example, with approximately 12 000 of the wild ungulates (mostly the migratory chiru within the Aru basin along with some 8000 domestic livestock, issues of land use overlap and possible

Soil contamination of plant surfaces from grazing and rainfall interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hinton, T.G.; Stoll, J.M.; Tobler, L.

1995-01-01

Contaminants often attach to soil particles, and their subsequent environmental transport is largely determined by processes that govern soil movement. We examined the influence of grazing intensity on soil contamination of pastures. Four different grazing densities of sheep were tested against an ungrazed control plot. Scandium concentrations were determined by neutron activation analysis and was used as a tracer of soil adhesion on vegetation. Soil loadings ( g soil kg -1 dry plant) increased 60% when grazing intensity was increased by a factor of four (p 0.003). Rain and wind removed soil from vegetation in the ungrazed control plots, but when grazing sheep were present, an increase in rain from 0.3 to 9.7 mm caused a 130% increase in soil contamination. Multiple regression was used to develop an equation that predicts soil loadings as a function of grazing density, rainfall and wind speed (p = 0.0001, r 2 = 0.78). The model predicts that if grazing management were to be used as a tool to reduce contaminant intake from inadvertent consumption of resuspended soil by grazing animals, grazing densities would have to be reduced 2.5 times to reduce soil loadings by 50%. (author)

Developmental instability and fitness in Periploca laevigata experiencing grazing disturbance

Science.gov (United States)

Alados, C.L.; Giner, M.L.; Dehesa, L.; Escos, J.; Barroso, F.; Emlen, J.M.; Freeman, D.C.

2002-01-01

We investigated the sensitivity of developmental instability measurements (leaf fluctuating asymmetry, floral radial asymmetry, and shoot translational asymmetry) to a long‐standing natural stress (grazing) in a palatable tannin‐producing shrub (Periploca laevigata Aiton). We also assessed the relationship between these measures of developmental instability and fitness components (growth and floral production). Developmental instability, measured by translational asymmetry, was the most accurate estimator of a plant’s condition and, consequently, environmental stress. Plants with less translational asymmetry grew more and produced more flowers. Plants from the medium‐grazed population were developmentally more stable, as estimated by translational and floral asymmetry, than either more heavily or more lightly grazed populations. Leaf fluctuating asymmetry was positively correlated with tannin concentration. The pattern of internode growth also responded to grazing impact. Plants under medium to heavy grazing pressure accelerated early growth and consequently escaped herbivory later in the season, i.e., at the beginning of the spring, when grazing activity was concentrated in herbaceous plants. Periploca laevigata accelerated growth and finished growing sooner than in the other grazing treatment. Thus, its annual growth was more mature and less palatable later in the season when grazers typically concentrate on shrubs. The reduction of developmental instability under medium grazing is interpreted as a direct effect of grazing and not as the release from competition.

Effects of grazing system on production and parasitism of dairy breed heifers and steers grazing wet marginal grasslands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Troels; Thamsborg, S.M.; Andersen, Refsgaard

2006-01-01

Production and endoparasitism of first grazing season Holstein heifers and steers were investigated over two grazing seasons. Studies were conducted on low-lying peaty soil. In year 2000, 40 animals were included in a 2x2 factorial, replicated experiment with two sexes (steers v. heifers) and two...

Impact of Management on Avian Communities in the Scottish Highlands.

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Scott Newey

Full Text Available The protection of biodiversity is a key national and international policy objective. While protected areas provide one approach, a major challenge lies in understanding how the conservation of biodiversity can be achieved in the context of multiple land management objectives in the wider countryside. Here we analyse metrics of bird diversity in the Scottish uplands in relation to land management types and explore how bird species composition varies in relation to land managed for grazing, hunting and conservation. Birds were surveyed on the heather moorland areas of 26 different landholdings in Scotland. The results indicate that, in relation to dominant management type, the composition of bird species varies but measures of diversity and species richness do not. Intensive management for grouse shooting affects the occurrence, absolute and relative abundance of bird species. While less intensive forms of land management appear to only affect the relative abundance of species, though extensive sheep grazing appears to have little effect on avian community composition. Therefore enhanced biodiversity at the landscape level is likely to be achieved by maintaining heterogeneity in land management among land management units. This result should be taken into account when developing policies that consider how to achieve enhanced biodiversity outside protected areas, in the context of other legitimate land-uses.

Anthropogenic land use estimates for the Holocene - HYDE 3.2

Science.gov (United States)

Klein Goldewijk, Kees; Beusen, Arthur; Doelman, Jonathan; Stehfest, Elke

2017-12-01

This paper presents an update and extension of HYDE, the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE version 3.2). HYDE is an internally consistent combination of historical population estimates and allocation algorithms with time-dependent weighting maps for land use. Categories include cropland, with new distinctions for irrigated and rain-fed crops (other than rice) and irrigated and rain-fed rice. Grazing lands are also provided, divided into more intensively used pasture and less intensively used rangeland, and further specified with respect to conversion of natural vegetation to facilitate global change modellers. Population is represented by maps of total, urban, rural population, population density and built-up area. The period covered is 10 000 before Common Era (BCE) to 2015 Common Era (CE). All data can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-25g-gez3. We estimate that global population increased from 4.4 million people (we also estimate a lower range land surface of the globe. Cropland occupied approximately less than 1 % of the global land area (13 037 Mha, excluding Antarctica) for a long time period until 1 CE, quite similar to the grazing land area. In the following centuries the share of global cropland slowly grew to 2.2 % in 1700 CE (ca. 293 Mha, uncertainty range 220-367 Mha), 4.4 % in 1850 CE (578 Mha, range 522-637 Mha) and 12.2 % in 2015 CE (ca. 1591 Mha, range 1572-1604 Mha). Cropland can be further divided into rain-fed and irrigated land, and these categories can be further separated into rice and non-rice. Rain-fed croplands were much more common, with 2.2 % in 1700 CE (289 Mha, range 217-361 Mha), 4.2 % (549 Mha, range 496-606 Mha) in 1850 CE and 10.1 % (1316 Mha, range 1298-1325 Mha) in 2015 CE, while irrigated croplands used less than 0.05 % (4.3 Mha, range 3.1-5.5 Mha), 0.2 % (28 Mha, range 25-31 Mha) and 2.1 % (277 Mha, range 273-278 Mha) in 1700, 1850 and 2015 CE, respectively. We estimate the irrigated rice area

Land Use and Land Cover Change in Sagarmatha National Park, a World Heritage Site in the Himalayas of Eastern Nepal

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Rodney Garrard

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Land use and land cover (LULC changes that occurred during 1992–2011 in Sagarmatha National Park, a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site in the Himalayas of eastern Nepal, were evaluated using multitemporal satellite imagery in combination with land use data and sociological information gathered from semistructured interviews and workshops. We asked study participants about LULC changes, the causes of each change, and the likely duration of its effects, and used this information to produce high-resolution maps of local perceptions of LULC change. Satellite image analysis revealed that above 6000 m there has been a decrease in the area covered by snow and ice and a consequent expansion of glacial lakes and areas covered by rock and soil. Between 3000 and 6000 m, forest and farmland are decreasing, and areas under grazing, settlement, and shrubland are increasing. Such LULC changes within the protected area clearly indicate the prevailing danger of land degradation. Results from the interviews and workshops suggest that people tended to detect LULC change that was acute and direct, but were less aware of slower changes that could be identified by satellite imagery analysis. Most study participants said that land use changes were a result of rapid economic development and the consequent pressure on natural resources, especially in the tourism industry and especially below 6000 m elevation, as well as limitations to protected area management and a period of civil war. Human influence coupled with climate change may explain the changes at higher elevations, whereas anthropogenic activities are solely responsible in lower areas. Although global factors cannot be mitigated locally, many of the local drivers of LULC change could be addressed with improved management practices that aid local conservation and development in this high mountain ecosystem. A broader interdisciplinary approach to LULC change

Reorienting land degradation towards sustainable land management: linking sustainable livelihoods with ecosystem services in rangeland systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, M S; Stringer, L C; Dougill, A J; Perkins, J S; Atlhopheng, J R; Mulale, K; Favretto, N

2015-03-15

This paper identifies new ways of moving from land degradation towards sustainable land management through the development of economic mechanisms. It identifies new mechanisms to tackle land degradation based on retaining critical levels of natural capital whilst basing livelihoods on a wider range of ecosystem services. This is achieved through a case study analysis of the Kalahari rangelands in southwest Botswana. The paper first describes the socio-economic and ecological characteristics of the Kalahari rangelands and the types of land degradation taking place. It then focuses on bush encroachment as a way of exploring new economic instruments (e.g. Payments for Ecosystem Services) designed to enhance the flow of ecosystem services that support livelihoods in rangeland systems. It does this by evaluating the likely impacts of bush encroachment, one of the key forms of rangeland degradation, on a range of ecosystem services in three land tenure types (private fenced ranches, communal grazing areas and Wildlife Management Areas), before considering options for more sustainable land management in these systems. We argue that with adequate policy support, economic mechanisms could help reorient degraded rangelands towards more sustainable land management. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Multi-Season Regional Analysis of Multi-Species Occupancy: Implications for Bird Conservation in Agricultural Lands in East-Central Argentina

Science.gov (United States)

Goijman, Andrea Paula; Conroy, Michael. J.; Bernardos, Jaime Nicolás; Zaccagnini, María Elena

2015-01-01

Rapid expansion and intensification of agriculture create challenges for the conservation of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. In Argentina, the total row crop planted area has increased in recent decades with the expansion of soybean cultivation, homogenizing the landscape. In 2003 we started the first long-term, large-scale bird monitoring program in agroecosystems of central Argentina, in portions of the Pampas and Espinal ecoregions. Using data from this program, we evaluated the effect of land use and cover extent on birds between 2003-2012, accounting for imperfect detection probabilities using a Bayesian hierarchical, multi-species and multi-season occupancy model. We tested predictions that species diversity is positively related to habitat heterogeneity, which in intensified agroecosystems is thought to be mediated by food availability; thus the extent of land use and cover is predicted to affect foraging guilds differently. We also infer about ecosystem services provisioning and inform management recommendations for conservation of birds. Overall our results support the predictions. Although many species within each guild responded differently to land use and native forest cover, we identified generalities for most trophic guilds. For example, granivorous gleaners, ground insectivores and omnivores responded negatively to high proportions of soybean, while insectivore gleaners and aerial foragers seemed more tolerant. Habitat heterogeneity would likely benefit most species in an intensified agroecosystem, and can be achieved with a diversity of crops, pastures, and natural areas within the landscape. Although most studied species are insectivores, potentially beneficial for pest control, some guilds such as ground insectivores are poorly represented, suggesting that agricultural intensification reduces ecological functions, which may be recovered through management. Continuation of the bird monitoring program will allow us to continue to

Multi-Season Regional Analysis of Multi-Species Occupancy: Implications for Bird Conservation in Agricultural Lands in East-Central Argentina.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Paula Goijman

Full Text Available Rapid expansion and intensification of agriculture create challenges for the conservation of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. In Argentina, the total row crop planted area has increased in recent decades with the expansion of soybean cultivation, homogenizing the landscape. In 2003 we started the first long-term, large-scale bird monitoring program in agroecosystems of central Argentina, in portions of the Pampas and Espinal ecoregions. Using data from this program, we evaluated the effect of land use and cover extent on birds between 2003-2012, accounting for imperfect detection probabilities using a Bayesian hierarchical, multi-species and multi-season occupancy model. We tested predictions that species diversity is positively related to habitat heterogeneity, which in intensified agroecosystems is thought to be mediated by food availability; thus the extent of land use and cover is predicted to affect foraging guilds differently. We also infer about ecosystem services provisioning and inform management recommendations for conservation of birds. Overall our results support the predictions. Although many species within each guild responded differently to land use and native forest cover, we identified generalities for most trophic guilds. For example, granivorous gleaners, ground insectivores and omnivores responded negatively to high proportions of soybean, while insectivore gleaners and aerial foragers seemed more tolerant. Habitat heterogeneity would likely benefit most species in an intensified agroecosystem, and can be achieved with a diversity of crops, pastures, and natural areas within the landscape. Although most studied species are insectivores, potentially beneficial for pest control, some guilds such as ground insectivores are poorly represented, suggesting that agricultural intensification reduces ecological functions, which may be recovered through management. Continuation of the bird monitoring program will allow

SOIL CONSERVATION TECHNIQUES IN OIL PALM CULTIVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

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Halus Satriawan

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Currently, many have been concerned with the oil palm cultivation since it may also put land resources in danger and bring about environmental damage. Poor practices in managing agricultural land very often occur due to the inadequate knowledge of soil conservation. Application of soil and water conservation is to maintain the productivity of the land and to prevent further damage by considering land capability classes. This research was aimed at obtaining soil and water conservation techniques which are the most appropriate and optimal for oil palm cultivation areas based on land capability classes which can support sustainable oil palm cultivation. Several soil conservation techniques had been treated to each different class III, IV, and VI of the studied area. These treatment had been performed by a standard plot erosion. The results showed for the land capability class III, Cover plants + Manure was able to control runoff, erosion and reduce leaching of N (LSD P≤0,05, in which soil conservation produced the lowest erosion (3,73t/ha, and N leaching (0,25%. On land capability class IV, Sediment Trap + cover plants+ manure was able to control runoff, erosion and reduce organic C and P leaching (LSD P≤0,05, in which soil conservation produced the lowest runoff (127,77 m3/ha, erosion (12,38t/ha, organic C leaching (1,14 %, and P leaching (1,28 ppm. On land capability class VI, there isn’t significant effect of soil conservation, but Bench Terrace + cover plants +manure has the lowest runoff, erosion and soil nutrient leaching.

Grazing and Rangeland Development for Livestock Production. A Handbook for Volunteers. Agriculture Technology for Developing Countries. Appropriate Technologies for Development. Reprint R-47.

Science.gov (United States)

Sprague, Howard B.; And Others

This handbook, developed for training Peace Corps volunteers, reviews the basic principles that underlie sound grazing land management and indicates the application of these principles for livestock production in the tropics and subtropics. The handbook is made up of three technical series bulletins. The first bulletin covers management of…

Grazing behavior and production characteristics among cows differing in residual feed intake while grazing late season Idaho rangeland

Science.gov (United States)

The objectives were to determine if cows classified as either low- or high-residual feed intake (LRFI or HRFI) differed in BW, BCS, and winter grazing activity over time. Thirty Hereford x Angus (LRFI = 16; HRFI = 14) 2-year-old cows grazed sagebrush-steppe for 78 d beginning 29 September 2016. Body...

Bivalve grazing can shape phytoplankton communities

Science.gov (United States)

Lucas, Lisa; Cloern, James E.; Thompson, Janet K.; Stacey, Mark T.; Koseff, Jeffrey K.

2016-01-01

The ability of bivalve filter feeders to limit phytoplankton biomass in shallow waters is well-documented, but the role of bivalves in shaping phytoplankton communities is not. The coupled effect of bivalve grazing at the sediment-water interface and sinking of phytoplankton cells to that bottom filtration zone could influence the relative biomass of sinking (diatoms) and non-sinking phytoplankton. Simulations with a pseudo-2D numerical model showed that benthic filter feeding can interact with sinking to alter diatom:non-diatom ratios. Cases with the smallest proportion of diatom biomass were those with the fastest sinking speeds and strongest bivalve grazing rates. Hydrodynamics modulated the coupled sinking-grazing influence on phytoplankton communities. For example, in simulations with persistent stratification, the non-sinking forms accumulated in the surface layer away from bottom grazers while the sinking forms dropped out of the surface layer toward bottom grazers. Tidal-scale stratification also influenced vertical gradients of the two groups in opposite ways. The model was applied to Suisun Bay, a low-salinity habitat of the San Francisco Bay system that was transformed by the introduction of the exotic clam Potamocorbula amurensis. Simulation results for this Bay were similar to (but more muted than) those for generic habitats, indicating that P. amurensis grazing could have caused a disproportionate loss of diatoms after its introduction. Our model simulations suggest bivalve grazing affects both phytoplankton biomass and community composition in shallow waters. We view these results as hypotheses to be tested with experiments and more complex modeling approaches.

White clover regenerative ability under N fertilizing and grazing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josip Leto

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Recently, ecological and economic factors in milk and meat production stimulate use of legumes and grass-legumes mixtures, with zero or minimum mineral N as alternative to grass monoculture with high rate of mineral N. Research objective was to examine the effect of N application (0-N0 and 150 kg ha-1 year-1-N150 and rotational grazing by cattle (C and sheep (S on white clover: growing points number, stolon lenght, stolon dry weight, dry matter yield and clover contribution to total annual herbage production. N150 significantly reduced the growing points number, stolon length and stolon dry weight for more than 70 % compared to N0. Grazing treatment affected stolon population density only in interaction with N application because of N150 significantly reduced white clover population density only in sheep grazing. S-treatment had higher clover DM yield (0.21 t ha-1 than C-treatment (0.13 t ha-1. N0 had higher clover DM yield (0.25 t ha-1 than N150 (0.09 t ha-1. However, the interaction grazing management x N rate was significant for clover DM yield and clover contribution to total DM yield. N150 reduced both parameters for 80 % only in sheep grazing while difference in DM yield and clover contribution to total DM yield between grazing treatment was recorded only in N0 Sheep grazing increased DM yield for 150 % and clover contribution for 99 % compared to cattle grazing.

The influence of grazing intensity on soil properties and degradation processes in Mediterranean rangelands (Extremadura, SW Spain)

Science.gov (United States)

Pulido-Fernández, Manuel; Schnabel, Susanne; Francisco Lavado-Contador, Joaquín

2014-05-01

Rangelands cover vast extensions of land in Spain (>90,000 km2), where a total amount of 13 millions of domestic animals graze extensively their pastures. By clear-cutting shrubs, removing selected trees and by cultivation, these rangelands were created from former Mediterranean oak forests, mainly composed by holm oak and cork oak (Quercus ilex rotundifolia and Q. suber) as tree species, Nowadays this land system is exploited economically in large farms (>100 ha), most of them held on private ownership (80% of total) and dedicated to extensive ranching. Overgrazing is common and the excessive stocking rates may deteriorate soil quality, causing economic losses and environmental damage. Many studies have been developed on the effects of livestock grazing over soil properties and degradation processes, most of them by only comparing extreme cases (e.g. ungrazed vs. grazed or overgrazed areas). The main goal of this study is to contribute to the understanding on how animal grazing affects soil properties and degradation processes. The study is particularly focused on soil compaction and sheet erosion as related to the reduction of vegetation cover by defoliation. Soil properties were analysed from 119 environmental units selected from 56 farms distributed throughout the region of Extremadura (SW Spain). The units are representative of different rangeland types, i.e. scrublands of Retama sphaerocarpa, dehesas (wooded rangelands) and treeless grasslands. Soil surface cover was determined along transects in September 2010 (antecedent rainfall: 413-923 mm) considering the following classes: bare ground, grasses, mosses, litter, stones (<2 mm) and rock outcrops. Farmer interviews were also conducted in order to quantify stocking rates and to assess land management in 12 out of 56 farms. In the farms where transects and farmer interviews could not be carried out, bare soil surface and livestock densities were estimated. Bare soil surface was determined by classifying

Investigation of bacterial communities in peat land of the Gahai Lake natural conservation area

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Yani; Wang, Jinchang; Zhan, Zhigao; Guan, Limei; Jin, Liang; Zheng, Guohua

2017-10-01

Peat is involved in the global carbon cycle and water conservation; therefore, it is implicated in global environmental change. Microorganisms play an important role in the function of peat. To investigate the bacterial communities in peat of Gahai Lake, different locations and depths were sampled and Illumina Miseq sequencing was used to analyze the microbial community. Chemical properties of peat samples were analyzed by China state standard methods (GB methods). The results showed that bacterial communities were affected by depth, with bacterial diversity and community structure at 90 and 120 cm significantly different from that at 10, 30 and 50 cm depth from the peat surface. Chemical properties of peat land including organic matter, total nitrogen and humus content did not significantly influence bacterial community structure in peat, with only one group from genus Rhizomicrobium that was significantly correlated with total nitrogen. A substantial proportion of the bacterial sequences were unclassified (1.4%), which indicates the great application potential of peat in the Gahai Lake natural conservation area in the future.

7 CFR 12.20 - NRCS responsibilities regarding highly erodible land.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... WETLAND CONSERVATION Highly Erodible Land Conservation § 12.20 NRCS responsibilities regarding highly... public lists of highly erodible soil map units; (c) Make soil surveys for purposes of identifying highly erodible land; and (d) Provide technical guidance to conservation districts which approve conservation...

Grazing exclusion, substrate type, and drought frequency affect plant community structure in rangelands of the arid unpredictable Arabian Deserts

Science.gov (United States)

El-Keblawy, Ali; El-Sheikh, Mohamed

2017-04-01

Grazing and drought can adversely affect the ecology and management of rangeland ecosystems. Several management actions have been applied to restore species diversity and community structure in degraded rangelands of the unpredictable arid environment. Protection from grazing is considered as a proper approach for restoration of degraded rangelands, but this depends on substrate type and sometime is hindered with water deficiency (drought). In this study, the effect of protection from grazing animals on species diversity and plant community structure was assessed after a dry and wet periods in both sandy and gravelly substrates in the Dubai Desert Conservation reserve (DDCR), United Arab Emirates. Two sites were selected during November 2012 on the two substrate types (fixed sandy flat and gravel plain) in the arid DDCR. An enclosure was established in each site. Plant community attributes (plant cover, density, frequency, species composition, and diversity indices) were assessed in a number of permanent plots laid inside and outside each enclosure during November 2012, April 2014 and April 2016. The results showed that protection improved clay content, but decreased the organic matters. Interestingly, the protection reduced the concentrations of most estimated nutrients, which could be attributed to the high turnover rate of nutrients associated grazing and low decomposition of accumulated dry plants of non-protected sites. Protection significantly increased all plant community attributes, but the only significant effect was for plant density. Plant density was almost twice greater inside than outside the enclosures. During the dry period, protection resulted in significantly greater deterioration in cover, density and all diversity indices in gravel, compared to sandy sites. Most of the grasses and shrubby plants had died in the gravel plains. However, plant community of the gravel plains was significantly restored after receiving considerable rainfalls. The

Exploring long-term trends in land use change and aboveground human appropriation of net primary production in nine European countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gingrich, Simone; Niedertscheider, Maria; Kastner, Thomas

2015-01-01

Profound changes in land use occurred during the last century in Europe, driven by growing population, changes in affluence, and technological innovation. To capture and understand these changes, we compiled a consistent dataset on the distribution of land-use types and biomass extraction for nine...... primary production" (HANPP) framework for the nine countries and for the sum of all countries on a yearly basis from 1902 to 2003. We find that cropland and grazing land contracted in all countries except Albania in the observed period, while forestland increased. Crop yields increased in all countries......, most strongly during the second half of the 20th century. In some countries, biomass extraction on grazing lands increased to a similar extent. Overall, HANPP was high but declined slightly from 63% of the net primary production of potential vegetation in 1902 to 55% in 2003. This is the result...

High motility reduces grazing mortality of planktonic bacteria

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Matz, Carsten; Jurgens, K.

2005-01-01

We tested the impact of bacterial swimming speed on the survival of planktonic bacteria in the presence of protozoan grazers. Grazing experiments with three common bacterivorous nanoflagellates revealed low clearance rates for highly motile bacteria. High-resolution video microscopy demonstrated...... size revealed highest grazing losses for moderately motile bacteria with a cell size between 0.2 and 0.4 mum(3). Grazing mortality was lowest for cells of >0.5 mum(3) and small, highly motile bacteria. Survival efficiencies of >95% for the ultramicrobacterial isolate CP-1 (less than or equal to0.1 mum......(3), >50 mum s(-1)) illustrated the combined protective action of small cell size and high motility. Our findings suggest that motility has an important adaptive function in the survival of planktonic bacteria during protozoan grazing....

43 CFR 427.1 - Water conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Water conservation. 427.1 Section 427.1... INTERIOR WATER CONSERVATION RULES AND REGULATIONS § 427.1 Water conservation. (a) In general. The Secretary shall encourage the full consideration and incorporation of prudent and responsible water conservation...

Varying Land-Use Has an Influence on Wattled and Grey Crowned Cranes’ Abundance and Distribution in Driefontein Grasslands Important Bird Area, Zimbabwe

Science.gov (United States)

Fakarayi, Togarasei; Mashapa, Clayton; Gandiwa, Edson; Kativu, Shakkie

2016-01-01

Three species of cranes are distributed widely throughout southern Africa, but little is known about how they respond to the changes in land-use that have occurred in this region. This study assessed habitat preference of the two crane species across land-use categories of the self contained small scale commercial farms of 30 to 40 ha per household (A1), large scale commercial agriculture farms of > 50 ha per household (A2) and Old Resettlement, farms of crane species abundance. Crane bird counts and data on influencing environmental variables were collected between June and August 2012. Our results show that varying land-use categories had an influence on the abundance and distribution of the Wattled Crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) and the Grey Crowned Crane (Belearica regulorum) across Driefontein Grasslands IBA. The Wattled Crane was widely distributed in the relatively undisturbed A2 farms while the Grey Crowned Crane was associated with the more disturbed land of A1 farms, Old Resettlement and its communal grazing land. Cyperus esculentus and percent (%) bare ground were strong environmental variables best explaining the observed patterns in Wattled Crane abundance across land-use categories. The pattern in Grey Crowned Crane abundance was best explained by soil penetrability, moisture and grass height variables. A holistic sustainable land-use management that takes into account conservation of essential habitats in Driefontein Grasslands IBA is desirable for crane populations and other wetland dependent species that include water birds. PMID:27875552

Varying Land-Use Has an Influence on Wattled and Grey Crowned Cranes' Abundance and Distribution in Driefontein Grasslands Important Bird Area, Zimbabwe.

Science.gov (United States)

Fakarayi, Togarasei; Mashapa, Clayton; Gandiwa, Edson; Kativu, Shakkie

2016-01-01

Three species of cranes are distributed widely throughout southern Africa, but little is known about how they respond to the changes in land-use that have occurred in this region. This study assessed habitat preference of the two crane species across land-use categories of the self contained small scale commercial farms of 30 to 40 ha per household (A1), large scale commercial agriculture farms of > 50 ha per household (A2) and Old Resettlement, farms of crane species abundance. Crane bird counts and data on influencing environmental variables were collected between June and August 2012. Our results show that varying land-use categories had an influence on the abundance and distribution of the Wattled Crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) and the Grey Crowned Crane (Belearica regulorum) across Driefontein Grasslands IBA. The Wattled Crane was widely distributed in the relatively undisturbed A2 farms while the Grey Crowned Crane was associated with the more disturbed land of A1 farms, Old Resettlement and its communal grazing land. Cyperus esculentus and percent (%) bare ground were strong environmental variables best explaining the observed patterns in Wattled Crane abundance across land-use categories. The pattern in Grey Crowned Crane abundance was best explained by soil penetrability, moisture and grass height variables. A holistic sustainable land-use management that takes into account conservation of essential habitats in Driefontein Grasslands IBA is desirable for crane populations and other wetland dependent species that include water birds.

Land Capability Evaluation of Upper Sekampung Watersheds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irwan Sukri Banuwa

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Land degradation is a serious problem in the Upper Sekampung Watersheds. This is because the farmers cultivated in steep land to coffee crops without in adequate soil and water conservation practices. The land degradation is mostly caused by erosion. The erosion problem not only stripping the most fertile top soil and decreasing crop production, but also resulting problems in lowland. Therefore, the reorientation land management should be improved to produce agriculture sustainability. The first step is to evaluated land capability this area. The objectives of the research were evaluate land capability of Upper Sekampung Watersheds. The results showed that the Upper Sekampung Watersheds were dominated with class and subclass land capability of III-l2 about 17.630,51 ha (41,58%. All of the constrain for each land capability in this area is erosion hazard, especially land slope. From this research, cultivated land to coffee base crops were allowed in land capability II-l1.e1, III-l2, IV-l3, and VI-l4, with in adequate soil and water conservation practices. In contrary, the land capability of VII-l5 unsuitable for agriculture, they should be a nature or for conservation forest.

Impact of land use changes on hydrology of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The case of Lake Jipe catchment

Science.gov (United States)

Ngugi, Keziah; Ogindo, Harun; Ertsen, Maurits

2015-04-01

Mt. Kilimanjaro is an important water tower in Kenya and Tanzania. Land degradation and land use changes have contributed to dwindling surface water resources around Mt. Kilimanjaro. This study focuses on Lake Jipe catchment of about 451Km2 (Ndetei 2011) which is mainly drained by River Lumi, a tributary of river Pangani. River Lumi starts from Mt. Kilimanjaro and flows North east wards to cross the border from Tanzania to Kenya eventually flowing into Lake Jipe which is a trans-boundary lake. The main purpose of this study was to investigate historical land use changes and relate this to reduction in surface water resources. The study will propose measures that could restore the catchment thereby enhancing surface water resources feeding Lake Jipe. A survey was conducted to document community perspectives of historical land use changes. This information was corroborated using Landsat remote sensed images spanning the period 1985-2013 to determine changes in the land cover due to human activities on Lake Jipe Catchment. River Lumi flow data was obtained from Water Resources Management Authority and analyzed for flow trends. The dwindling extent of the Lake was obtained from the community's perspective survey and by Landsat images. Community survey and remote sensing indicated clearing of the forest on the mountain and conversion of the same to crop production fields; damming of river Lumi in Tanzania, conversion of bush land to crop production fields further downstream of river Lumi and irrigation. There is heavy infestation of the invasive species Prosopis juliflora which had aggressively colonized grazing land and blocked irrigation canals. Other land use changes include land fragmentation due to subdivision. Insecure land tenure was blamed for failure by farmers to develop soil and water conservation infrastructure. Available River gauging data showed a general decline in river flow. Heavy flooding occurred during rainy seasons. Towards Lake Jipe after the river

Longer rest periods for intensive rotational grazing limit diet quality ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Longer rest periods for intensive rotational grazing limit diet quality of sheep without enhancing environmental benefits. ... This experiment was established to compare three intensive rotational grazing strategies (fast rotation [FR], average 57-day rest; slow rotation [SR], average 114-day rest; and flexible grazing [FX], based ...

Evaluating the return in ecosystem services from investment in public land acquisitions.

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Kent Kovacs

Full Text Available We evaluate the return on investment (ROI from public land conservation in the state of Minnesota, USA. We use a spatially-explicit modeling tool, the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST, to estimate how changes in land use and land cover (LULC, including public land acquisitions for conservation, influence the joint provision and value of multiple ecosystem services. We calculate the ROI of a public conservation acquisition as the ratio of the present value of ecosystem services generated by the conservation to the cost of the conservation. For the land scenarios analyzed, carbon sequestration services generated the greatest benefits followed by water quality improvements and recreation opportunities. We found ROI values ranged from 0.21 to 5.28 depending on assumptions about future land use change, service values, and discount rate. Our study suggests conservation is a good investment as long as investments are targeted to areas with low land costs and high service values.

Evaluating the Return in Ecosystem Services from Investment in Public Land Acquisitions

Science.gov (United States)

Kovacs, Kent; Polasky, Stephen; Nelson, Erik; Keeler, Bonnie L.; Pennington, Derric; Plantinga, Andrew J.; Taff, Steven J.

2013-01-01

We evaluate the return on investment (ROI) from public land conservation in the state of Minnesota, USA. We use a spatially-explicit modeling tool, the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), to estimate how changes in land use and land cover (LULC), including public land acquisitions for conservation, influence the joint provision and value of multiple ecosystem services. We calculate the ROI of a public conservation acquisition as the ratio of the present value of ecosystem services generated by the conservation to the cost of the conservation. For the land scenarios analyzed, carbon sequestration services generated the greatest benefits followed by water quality improvements and recreation opportunities. We found ROI values ranged from 0.21 to 5.28 depending on assumptions about future land use change, service values, and discount rate. Our study suggests conservation is a good investment as long as investments are targeted to areas with low land costs and high service values. PMID:23776429

The cost of policy simplification in conservation incentive programs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Armsworth, Paul R.; Acs, Szvetlana; Dallimer, Martin

2012-01-01

of biodiversity. Common policy simplifications result in a 49100% loss in biodiversity benefits depending on the conservation target chosen. Failure to differentiate prices for conservation improvements in space is particularly problematic. Additional implementation costs that accompany more complicated policies......Incentive payments to private landowners provide a common strategy to conserve biodiversity and enhance the supply of goods and services from ecosystems. To deliver cost-effective improvements in biodiversity, payment schemes must trade-off inefficiencies that result from over-simplified policies...... with the administrative burden of implementing more complex incentive designs. We examine the effectiveness of different payment schemes using field parameterized, ecological economic models of extensive grazing farms. We focus on profit maximising farm management plans and use bird species as a policy-relevant indicator...

Sensitivity Analysis in Agent-Based Models of Socio-Ecological Systems: An Example in Agricultural Land Conservation for Lake Water Quality Improvement

Science.gov (United States)

Ligmann-Zielinska, A.; Kramer, D. B.; Spence Cheruvelil, K.; Soranno, P.

2012-12-01

Socio-ecological systems are dynamic and nonlinear. To account for this complexity, we employ agent-based models (ABMs) to study macro-scale phenomena resulting from micro-scale interactions among system components. Because ABMs typically have many parameters, it is challenging to identify which parameters contribute to the emerging macro-scale patterns. In this paper, we address the following question: What is the extent of participation in agricultural land conservation programs given heterogeneous landscape, economic, social, and individual decision making criteria in complex lakesheds? To answer this question, we: [1] built an ABM for our model system; [2] simulated land use change resulting from agent decision making, [3] estimated the uncertainty of the model output, decomposed it and apportioned it to each of the parameters in the model. Our model system is a freshwater socio-ecological system - that of farmland and lake water quality within a region containing a large number of lakes and high proportions of agricultural lands. Our study focuses on examining how agricultural land conversion from active to fallow reduces freshwater nutrient loading and improves water quality. Consequently, our ABM is composed of farmer agents who make decisions related to participation in a government-sponsored Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) managed by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). We also include an FSA agent, who selects enrollment offers made by farmers and announces the signup results leading to land use change. The model is executed in a Monte Carlo simulation framework to generate a distribution of maps of fallow lands that are used for calculating nutrient loading to lakes. What follows is a variance-based sensitivity analysis of the results. We compute sensitivity indices for individual parameters and their combinations, allowing for identification of the most influential as well as the insignificant inputs. In the case study, we observe that farmland

Forest Conservation Opportunity Areas - Conservative Model (ECO_RES.COA_FORREST66)

Science.gov (United States)

This layer designates areas with potential for forest conservation. These are areas of natural or semi-natural forest land cover patches that area at least 395 meters away from roads and away from patch edges. OAs were modeled by creating distance grids using the National Land Cover Database and the Census Bureau's TIGER road files.

Zooplankton grazing in a eutrophic lake: implications of diel vertical migration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lampert, W.; Taylor, B.E.

1985-01-01

During summer and fall, depth profiles of zooplankton community grazing were determined in situ during day and night in the Schoehsee, a small eutrophic lake. Labeled algae of two different sizes were mixed with the natural suspension of phytoplankton in a grazing chamber. A small blue-green alga (Synechococcus, 1 μm) was labeled with 32 P; a larger green alga (Scenedesmus, 4-15 μm) was labeled with 14 C. During summer, grazing in the upper 5 m was negligible during day but strong at night. Hence, algae grow relatively unimpeded by grazing during daytime but are harvested at night. Vertical and diel differences in grazing rates disappeared when the vertical migration ceased in fall. Selectivity of grazing was controlled by the zooplankton species composition. Eudiaptomus showed a strong preference for Scenedesmus. Daphnia showed a slight preference for Scenedesmus, but Ceriodaphnia preferred Synechococcus. Cyclopoid copepodites did not ingest the small blue-green. Because Daphnia and Eudiaptomus were dominant, grazing rates on larger cells were usually higher than grazing rates on the small cells. Negative electivity indices for scenedesmus occurred only when the biomass of large crustaceans was extremely low (near the surface, during day). Zooplankton biomass was the main factor controlling both vertical and seasonal variations in grazing. Highest grazing rates (65%/d) were measured during fall when zooplankton abundance was high. Because differential losses can produce substantial errors in the results, it was necessary to process the samples on the boat immediately after collection, without preservation

Bison grazing increases arthropod abundance and diversity in a tallgrass prairie.

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Matthew D

2014-10-01

How grazing-induced ecosystem changes by ungulates indirectly affect other consumers is a question of great interest. I investigated the effect of grazing by American Bison (Bos bison L.) on an arthropod community in tallgrass prairie. Grazing increased the abundance of arthropods, an increase that was present in both herbivorous and carnivorous assemblages, but not in detritivores. The increase in herbivores and reduction in plant biomass from grazing resulted in an arthropod herbivore load almost three times higher in grazed plots compared with controls. Among herbivores, the sap-feeding insect guild was dramatically more abundant, while chewing herbivores were not affected. Herbivorous and carnivorous arthropod richness was higher in grazed plots, although the response was strongest among herbivores. Arthropod abundance on individual grasses and forbs was significantly higher in grazed areas, while plant type had no effect on abundance, indicating that the change was ecosystem-wide and not simply in response to a reduction in grass biomass from grazing. The response of arthropods to grazing was strongest in the early part of the growing season. Published research shows that ungulate grazing, although decreasing available biomass to other consumers, enhances plant quality by increasing nitrogen level in plants. The arthropod results of this study suggest higher plant quality outweighs the potential negative competitive effects of plant biomass removal, although other activities of bison could not be ruled out as the causative mechanism. Because arthropods are extremely abundant organisms in grasslands and a food source for other consumers, bison may represent valuable management tools for maintaining biodiversity.

Introducing cattle grazing to a noxious weed-dominated rangeland shifts plant communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josh S. Davy

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Invasive weed species in California's rangelands can reduce herbaceous diversity, forage quality and wildlife habitat. Small-scale studies (5 acres or fewer have shown reductions of medusahead and yellow starthistle using prescribed grazing on rangelands, but little is published on the effects of pasture-scale (greater than 80 acres prescribed grazing on weed control and plant community responses. We report the results of a 6-year collaborative study of manager-applied prescribed grazing implemented on rangeland that had not been grazed for 4 years. Grazing reduced medusahead but did not alter yellow starthistle cover. Medusahead reductions were only seen in years that did not have significant late spring rainfall, suggesting that it is able to recover from heavy grazing if soil moisture is present. Later season grazing appears to have the potential to suppress medusahead in all years. In practice, however, such grazing is constrained by livestock drinking water availability and forage quality, which were limited even in years with late spring rainfall. Thus, we expect that grazing treatments under real-world constraints would reduce medusahead only in years with little late spring rainfall. After 10 years of grazing exclusion, the ungrazed plant communities began to shift, replacing medusahead with species that have little value, such as ripgut and red brome.

Sustaining working rangelands: Insights from rancher decision making

Science.gov (United States)

Grazed rangeland ecosystems encompass diverse global land resources, and are complex social-ecological systems from which society demands both goods (e.g., livestock and forage production) and services (e.g., abundant and high quality water). In the dialogue on rangeland conservation and sustainable...

Conservation Education: A Position Statement.

Science.gov (United States)

Soil Conservation Society of America, Ankeny, IA.

The Soil Conservation Society of America's (SCSA) aim is to advance the science and art of good land and water use. Conservation education has a significant role in achieving the wise use of these resources. In this report, perspectives are offered on: (1) the requirements for effective conservation education programs; (2) rationale for…

Grazing-incident PIXE Analysis Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Hongri; Wang Guangpu; Liang Kun; Yang Ru; Han Dejun

2009-01-01

In the article, the grazing incidence technology is first applied to the PIXE (proton induced X-ray emission) analysis. Three pieces of samples were investigated, including the contaminated aluminium substrate, the SIMOX (separated by oxygen implantation) SOI (Silicon on Insulator) sample and the silicon wafer implanted with Fe + . The results reveal that the grazing-incident proton can improve the sensitivity of PIXE in trace analysis, especially for samples contaminated on surface. With the penetration depth of the proton bean decreased, the ratio of the peak area to the detection limit raised observably and the sensitivity near the sample surface increased. (authors)

Estimating the Counterfactual Impact of Conservation Programs on Land Cover Outcomes: The Role of Matching and Panel Regression Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Kelly W.; Lewis, David J.

2015-01-01

Deforestation and conversion of native habitats continues to be the leading driver of biodiversity and ecosystem service loss. A number of conservation policies and programs are implemented—from protected areas to payments for ecosystem services (PES)—to deter these losses. Currently, empirical evidence on whether these approaches stop or slow land cover change is lacking, but there is increasing interest in conducting rigorous, counterfactual impact evaluations, especially for many new conservation approaches, such as PES and REDD, which emphasize additionality. In addition, several new, globally available and free high-resolution remote sensing datasets have increased the ease of carrying out an impact evaluation on land cover change outcomes. While the number of conservation evaluations utilizing ‘matching’ to construct a valid control group is increasing, the majority of these studies use simple differences in means or linear cross-sectional regression to estimate the impact of the conservation program using this matched sample, with relatively few utilizing fixed effects panel methods—an alternative estimation method that relies on temporal variation in the data. In this paper we compare the advantages and limitations of (1) matching to construct the control group combined with differences in means and cross-sectional regression, which control for observable forms of bias in program evaluation, to (2) fixed effects panel methods, which control for observable and time-invariant unobservable forms of bias, with and without matching to create the control group. We then use these four approaches to estimate forest cover outcomes for two conservation programs: a PES program in Northeastern Ecuador and strict protected areas in European Russia. In the Russia case we find statistically significant differences across estimators—due to the presence of unobservable bias—that lead to differences in conclusions about effectiveness. The Ecuador case

Estimating the Counterfactual Impact of Conservation Programs on Land Cover Outcomes: The Role of Matching and Panel Regression Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Kelly W; Lewis, David J

2015-01-01

Deforestation and conversion of native habitats continues to be the leading driver of biodiversity and ecosystem service loss. A number of conservation policies and programs are implemented--from protected areas to payments for ecosystem services (PES)--to deter these losses. Currently, empirical evidence on whether these approaches stop or slow land cover change is lacking, but there is increasing interest in conducting rigorous, counterfactual impact evaluations, especially for many new conservation approaches, such as PES and REDD, which emphasize additionality. In addition, several new, globally available and free high-resolution remote sensing datasets have increased the ease of carrying out an impact evaluation on land cover change outcomes. While the number of conservation evaluations utilizing 'matching' to construct a valid control group is increasing, the majority of these studies use simple differences in means or linear cross-sectional regression to estimate the impact of the conservation program using this matched sample, with relatively few utilizing fixed effects panel methods--an alternative estimation method that relies on temporal variation in the data. In this paper we compare the advantages and limitations of (1) matching to construct the control group combined with differences in means and cross-sectional regression, which control for observable forms of bias in program evaluation, to (2) fixed effects panel methods, which control for observable and time-invariant unobservable forms of bias, with and without matching to create the control group. We then use these four approaches to estimate forest cover outcomes for two conservation programs: a PES program in Northeastern Ecuador and strict protected areas in European Russia. In the Russia case we find statistically significant differences across estimators--due to the presence of unobservable bias--that lead to differences in conclusions about effectiveness. The Ecuador case illustrates that

Estimating the Counterfactual Impact of Conservation Programs on Land Cover Outcomes: The Role of Matching and Panel Regression Techniques.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kelly W Jones

Full Text Available Deforestation and conversion of native habitats continues to be the leading driver of biodiversity and ecosystem service loss. A number of conservation policies and programs are implemented--from protected areas to payments for ecosystem services (PES--to deter these losses. Currently, empirical evidence on whether these approaches stop or slow land cover change is lacking, but there is increasing interest in conducting rigorous, counterfactual impact evaluations, especially for many new conservation approaches, such as PES and REDD, which emphasize additionality. In addition, several new, globally available and free high-resolution remote sensing datasets have increased the ease of carrying out an impact evaluation on land cover change outcomes. While the number of conservation evaluations utilizing 'matching' to construct a valid control group is increasing, the majority of these studies use simple differences in means or linear cross-sectional regression to estimate the impact of the conservation program using this matched sample, with relatively few utilizing fixed effects panel methods--an alternative estimation method that relies on temporal variation in the data. In this paper we compare the advantages and limitations of (1 matching to construct the control group combined with differences in means and cross-sectional regression, which control for observable forms of bias in program evaluation, to (2 fixed effects panel methods, which control for observable and time-invariant unobservable forms of bias, with and without matching to create the control group. We then use these four approaches to estimate forest cover outcomes for two conservation programs: a PES program in Northeastern Ecuador and strict protected areas in European Russia. In the Russia case we find statistically significant differences across estimators--due to the presence of unobservable bias--that lead to differences in conclusions about effectiveness. The Ecuador case

Horse grazing systems: understory biomass and plant biodiversity of a Pinus radiata stand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Rigueiro-Rodríguez

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Horse grazing systems may affect productivity and biodiversity of understory developed under Pinus radiata D. Don silvopastoral systems, while acting as a tool to reduce the risk of fire. This study compared continuous and rotational grazing systems effect upon biomass, fractions of stem, sprouts, leaves and woody parts of Ulex europaeus L. and alpha (Species Richness, Shannon-Wiener and beta (Jaccard and Magurran biodiversity for a period of four years in a P. radiata silvopastoral system. The experiment consisted of a randomized block design of two treatments (continuous and rotational grazing. Biomass, and species abundances were measured - biodiversity metrics were calculated based on these results for a two years of grazing and two years of post-grazing periods. Both continuous and rotational grazing systems were useful tools for reducing biomass and, therefore, fire risk. The rotational grazing system caused damage to the U. europaeus shrub, limiting its recovery once grazing was stopped. However, the more intensive grazing of U. europaeus plants under rotational had a positive effect on both alpha and beta biodiversity indexes due to the low capacity of food selection in the whole plot rather than continuous grazing systems. Biomass was not affected by the grazing system; however the rotational grazing system is more appropriate to reduce U. europaeus biomass and therefore forest fire risk at a long term and to enhance pasture biodiversity than the continuous grazing system.

Grass species selection patterns on rotationally-grazed Dohne ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Herbaceous species preference was studied during autumn and winter periods of occupation, on rotationally-grazed Dohne Sourveld, at four different stocking rates. Reports on species selection by cattle and sheep grazing together. Illustrates with graphsLanguage: English. Keywords: Grass species; Herbage availibility; ...

Historic land use and grazing patterns in northern New Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Carol Raish

1996-01-01

The entrance of the Spanish into what is now New Mexico in the 1500s permanently altered aboriginal land use and subsistence patterns by the introduction of domesticated animals such as horses, cattle. sheep, goats, and pigs. During the Spanish Colonial and Mexican periods, both the Puebloan groups and the Hispanic settlers practiced mixed farming featuring small...

Performance and Grazing Pattern of West African Dwarf Sheep to ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sixty (60) West African Dwarf sheep managed semi intensively and grazing on natural pastures were used in a study to determine the performance and grazing pattern to seasonal forage supply and quality. The animals were allowed to graze for about 6 hours daily for four months each in the dry and wet seasons, ...

Are ungulates in forests concerns or key species for conservation and biodiversity? Reply to Boulanger et al. (DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13899).

Science.gov (United States)

Fløjgaard, Camilla; Bruun, Hans Henrik; Hansen, Morten D D; Heilmann-Clausen, Jacob; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Ejrnaes, Rasmus

2018-03-01

Increasing species richness of light demanding species in forests may not be a conservation concern if we accept a macroecological and evolutionary baseline for biodiversity. Most of the current biodiversity in Europe has evolved in the Pleistocene or earlier, and in ecosystems markedly influenced by dynamic natural processes, including grazing. Many threatened species are associated with high-light forest environments such as forest glades and edges, as these have strongly declined at least partially due to the decline of large herbivores in European forests. Hence, moderate grazing in forests should be an ecological baseline and conservation target rather than a concern. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cyanobacterial crusts linked to soil productivity under different grazing management practices in Northern Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Alchin, Bruce; Williams, Wendy

2015-04-01

In arid and semi-arid Australia, the central role of healthy soil ecosystems in broad-acre grazing lands may be attributed to the widespread presence of cyanobacterial crusts. In terms of soil nutrient cycling and stability their role is particularly crucial in a climate dominated by annual dry seasons and variable wet seasons. In this study, we aimed to measure the contribution of cyanobacteria to soil nutrient cycling under contrasting levels of disturbance associated with grazing management. Field sampling was carried out on six paired sites (twelve properties) located across an east-west 3,000 km transect that covered different rangeland types on grazing properties in northern Australia (Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia). At each location paired sites were established and two different management systems were assessed, cell-paddock rotations (25-400 ha) and continuous grazing (200-2,000 ha). Cyanobacterial soil crusts were recorded from all of the twelve sites and cyanobacteria with the capacity to fix nitrogen were found at ten of the twelve sites. The overall diversity of cyanobacteria varied from three to ten species under any type of grazing system. As field work was conducted in the dry season, it is likely that the diversity may be greater in the wet season than the initial data may indicate. The average cyanobacterial soil crust cover across soil surfaces, between grass tussocks, during the dry season was estimated to be 50.9% and, 42.6% in the early wet season. This reflected longer established crust cover (dry season) versus newly established crusts. There was a high level of variability in the biomass of cyanobacteria however; the grazing system did not have any marked effect on the biomass for any one rangeland type. The grazing system differences did not appear to significantly influence the diversity at any location except on a floodplain in the Pilbara (WA). Biological nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria was recorded at all

Land use and second-generation biofuel feedstocks: The unconsidered impacts of Jatropha biodiesel in Rajasthan, India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Findlater, K.M.; Kandlikar, M.

2011-01-01

Governments around the world see biofuels as a common solution to the multiple policy challenges posed by energy insecurity, climate change and falling farmer incomes. The Indian government has enthusiastically adopted a second-generation feedstock - the oilseed-bearing shrub, Jatropha curcas - for an ambitious national biodiesel program. Studies estimating the production capacity and potential land use implications of this program have typically assumed that the 'waste land' slated for Jatropha production has no economic value and that no activities of note will be displaced by plantation development. Here we examine the specific local impacts of rapid Jatropha plantation development on rural livelihoods and land use in Rajasthan, India. We find that in Jhadol Tehsil, Jatropha is planted on both government and private land, and has typically displaced grazing and forage collection. For those at the socioeconomic margins, these unconsidered impacts counteract the very benefits that the biofuel programs aim to create. The Rajasthan case demonstrates that local land-use impacts need to be integrated into decision-making for national targets and global biofuel promotion efforts. - Highlights: → Hardy biofuel crops like Jatropha replace edible feedstocks that use arable land. → In Rajasthan, Jatropha displaces grazing and forage on both public and private land. → As Jatropha plantations mature, the loss of grass becomes more pronounced. → Unconsidered impacts negate the benefits that the biodiesel program aims to create. → Local land-use impacts need to be integrated into decision-making.

Land use and second-generation biofuel feedstocks: The unconsidered impacts of Jatropha biodiesel in Rajasthan, India

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Findlater, K.M. [Institute for Resources Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, 429-2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T1Z4 (Canada); Kandlikar, M., E-mail: milind.k@ubc.ca [Liu Institute for Global Studies, University of British Columbia, 6476 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC, V6T1Z2 (Canada)

2011-06-15

Governments around the world see biofuels as a common solution to the multiple policy challenges posed by energy insecurity, climate change and falling farmer incomes. The Indian government has enthusiastically adopted a second-generation feedstock - the oilseed-bearing shrub, Jatropha curcas - for an ambitious national biodiesel program. Studies estimating the production capacity and potential land use implications of this program have typically assumed that the 'waste land' slated for Jatropha production has no economic value and that no activities of note will be displaced by plantation development. Here we examine the specific local impacts of rapid Jatropha plantation development on rural livelihoods and land use in Rajasthan, India. We find that in Jhadol Tehsil, Jatropha is planted on both government and private land, and has typically displaced grazing and forage collection. For those at the socioeconomic margins, these unconsidered impacts counteract the very benefits that the biofuel programs aim to create. The Rajasthan case demonstrates that local land-use impacts need to be integrated into decision-making for national targets and global biofuel promotion efforts. - Highlights: > Hardy biofuel crops like Jatropha replace edible feedstocks that use arable land. > In Rajasthan, Jatropha displaces grazing and forage on both public and private land. > As Jatropha plantations mature, the loss of grass becomes more pronounced. > Unconsidered impacts negate the benefits that the biodiesel program aims to create. > Local land-use impacts need to be integrated into decision-making.

Livestock grazing and the desert tortoise in the Mojave Desert

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Oldemeyer, John L.

1994-01-01

A large part of the Mojave Desert is not in pristine condition, and some current conditions can be related to past grazing-management practices. No information could be found on densities of the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) or on vegetative conditions of areas that had not been grazed to allow managers a comparison of range conditions with data on tortoises. Experimental information to assess the effect of livestock grazing on tortoises is lacking, and researchers have not yet examined whether the forage that remains after grazing is sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of desert tortoises.

Jerusalem Artichoke as a Means of Fields Conservation

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Starovoytov Victor

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In Russia, the cultivated fields represent a major issue. According to various estimates, they occupy 20-40 million hectares. Of course, this is a great reserve for the development of agriculture and, if necessary, production of in-demand crops. However, if the fields are not used for a long term, they become gradually overgrown with weeds during quarantine: ragweed, hogweed, shrubs and trees. Subsequent introduction of these fields in turnover requires multiple treatments of the soil and the use of potent herbicides due to the high cost of the uprooting of trees. Based on the decisions of the Russian Federation on land conservation, the land management project defining the terms of land conservation, prevention of land degradation, restoring of soil fertility and bringing of life to contaminated areas as well as the order of how these activities should be carried out and their cost and suggestions for land use after the completion of the mentioned processes was developed. However, the technology of land conservation is yet to be developed.

How much will it cost to save grassland diversity?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hodgson, JG; Montserrat-Marti, G; Tallowin, J; Thompson, K; Diaz, S; Cabido, M; Grime, JP; Wilson, PJ; Band, [No Value; Bogard, A; Cabido, R; Caceres, D; Castro-Diez, P; Ferrer, C; Maestro-Martinez, M; Perez-Rontome, MC; Charles, M; Cornelissen, JHC; Dabbert, S; Perez-Harguindeguy, N; Krimly, T; Sijtsma, FJ; Strijker, D; Vendramini, F; Guerrero-Campo, J; Hynd, A; Jones, G; Romo-Diez, A; Espuny, LD; Villar-Salvador, P; Zak, MR

Conservation initiatives are failing to arrest the global loss of biodiversity. From our mechanistic studies of ecology and economics, we suggest that for grazing lands the root cause of this failure is a powerful economic deterrent to measures designed to protect diversity. We identify an

How much will it cost to save grassland diversity?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hodgson, J.G.; Montserrat-Mart, G.; Tallowin, J.; Thompson, K.; Diaz, S.; Cabido, M.; Grime, J.P.; Wilson, P.J.; Band, S.R.; Bogard, A.; Cabido, R.; Ciceres, D.; Castro-Diez, P.; Ferrer, C.; Maestro-Martinez, M.; Perez-Rontome, M.C.; Charles, M.; Cornelissen, J.H.C.; Dabbert, S.; Perez-Harguindeguy, N.; Sijtsma, F.; Strijker, D.; Vendramini, F.; Vogel, T.; Guerrero-Campo, J.; Gupta, P.L.; Hynd, A.; Jones, G.; Romo-Diez, A.; Rorison, I.H.; De Torres Espuny, L.; Villar-Salvador, P.; Zak, M.R.

2005-01-01

Conservation initiatives are failing to arrest the global loss of biodiversity. From our mechanistic studies of ecology and economics, we suggest that for grazing lands the root cause of this failure is a powerful economic deterrent to measures designed to protect diversity. We identify an

Successful conservation of a threatened Maculinea butterfly.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, J A; Simcox, D J; Clarke, R T

2009-07-03

Globally threatened butterflies have prompted research-based approaches to insect conservation. Here, we describe the reversal of the decline of Maculinea arion (Large Blue), a charismatic specialist whose larvae parasitize Myrmica ant societies. M. arion larvae were more specialized than had previously been recognized, being adapted to a single host-ant species that inhabits a narrow niche in grassland. Inconspicuous changes in grazing and vegetation structure caused host ants to be replaced by similar but unsuitable congeners, explaining the extinction of European Maculinea populations. Once this problem was identified, UK ecosystems were perturbed appropriately, validating models predicting the recovery and subsequent dynamics of the butterfly and ants at 78 sites. The successful identification and reversal of the problem provides a paradigm for other insect conservation projects.

Review: Behavior and daily grazing patterns of cattle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gregorini, P.; Tamminga, S.; Gunther, S.A.

2006-01-01

Grazing ruminants consume their food in discrete grazing events. The frequency and distribution of these events depend on the current physiological state of the animal and its environment. Within a small spatio-temporal scale, foraging decisions such as when to begin, which frequency, and how to

Trade-offs between pasture production and farmland bird conservation: exploration of options using a dynamic farm model.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabatier, R; Teillard, F; Rossing, W A H; Doyen, L; Tichit, M

2015-05-01

In European grassland landscapes, grazing and mowing play a key role for the maintenance of high-quality habitats that host important bird populations. As grasslands are also key resources for cattle feeding, there is a need to develop management strategies that achieve the double objective of production and biodiversity conservation. The objective of this study was to use a modelling approach to generate recognisable patterns of bird dynamics in farms composed of different land use proportions, and to compare their production and ecological dimensions. We developed a dynamic model, which linked grassland management to bird population dynamics at the field and farm levels. The model was parameterised for two types of suckling farms corresponding to contrasting levels of grassland intensification and for two bird species of high conservation value. A viability algorithm was used to define and assess viable management strategies for production and ecological performance so as to draw the shape of the relationship between both types of performances for the two types of farms. Our results indicated that, at the farm level, there was a farming system effect with a negative and non-linear relationship linking performance. Improving bird population maintenance was less costly in extensive farms compared with intensive farms. At the field level, the model predicted the timing and intensity of land use, maximising either production or ecological performance. The results suggested that multi-objective grassland management would benefit from public policies that consider levels of organisation higher than the field level, such as the farm or the landscape.

Role of forest conservation in lessening land degradation in a temperate region: the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Manzo-Delgado, Lilia; López-García, José; Alcántara-Ayala, Irasema

2014-06-01

With international concern about the rates of deforestation worldwide, particular attention has been paid to Latin America. Forest conservation programmes in Mexico include Payment for Environmental Services (PES), a scheme that has been successfully introduced in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. To seek further evidence of the role of PES in lessening land degradation processes in a temperate region, the conservation state of the Cerro Prieto ejido within the Reserve was assessed by an analysis of changes in vegetation cover and land-use between 1971 and 2013. There were no changes in the total forest surface area, but the relative proportions of the different classes of cover density had changed. In 1971, closed and semi-closed forest occupied 247.81 ha and 5.38 ha, 82.33% and 1.79% of the total area of the ejido, respectively. By 2013, closed forest had decreased to 230.38 ha (76.54% of the ejido), and semi-closed cover was 17.23 ha (5.72% of the ejido), suggesting that some semi-closed forest had achieved closed status. The final balance between forest losses and recovery was: 29.63 ha were lost, whereas 13.72 ha were recovered. Losses were mainly linked to a sanitation harvest programme to control the bark beetle Scolytus mundus. Ecotourism associated with forest conservation in the Cerro Prieto ejido has been considered by inhabitants as a focal alternative for economic development. Consequently, it is essential to develop a well-planned and solidly structured approach based on social cohesion to foster a community-led sustainable development at local level. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Local People, Nature Conservation, and Tourism in Northeastern Finland

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Anne Törn

2008-06-01

Full Text Available The opinions and perceptions of local communities are central issues in the sustainable management of conservation areas. During 2002 and 2003, we studied the opinions of local people about nature conservation and the development of tourism to investigate whether these opinions were influenced by socioeconomic and demographic factors. Data were collected via a survey of local residents in six areas with different histories of land use, land ownership, conservation, and tourism development. We classified respondents by cluster analysis into three different groups according to their opinions about nature conservation and tourism development: (1 sympathetic to nature conservation, but quite neutral to tourism development (57.7%; (2 critical of nature conservation, but quite neutral to tourism development (30.5%; and (3 quite neutral to nature conservation, but critical of tourism development (11.8%. The most important factors for classification were residential area, age, level of education, primary occupation, indigenousness, frequency of contact with tourists through work, and effects of nature conservation on household economy. On the other hand, gender, level of income, land ownership, land donation for conservation, and income from tourism did not affect opinions concerning nature conservation and tourism development. Almost equal proportions of residents living in close proximity to conservation areas in Kuusamo had positive and negative opinions about nature conservation. Residents living in close proximity to conservation areas regarded conservation as something that might reduce employment and incomes. On the other hand, a greater proportion of residents living near tourist resorts and farther from conservation areas had positive opinions about and perceptions of nature conservation and tourism development. Based on the proportional division of all respondents into the three groups, there may be a coexistent relationship between nature

Sustainability of meat production beyond carbon footprint: a synthesis of case studies from grazing systems in Uruguay.

Science.gov (United States)

Picasso, Valentín D; Modernel, Pablo D; Becoña, Gonzalo; Salvo, Lucía; Gutiérrez, Lucía; Astigarraga, Laura

2014-11-01

Livestock production has been challenged as a large contributor to climate change, and carbon footprint has become a widely used measure of cattle environmental impact. This analysis of fifteen beef grazing systems in Uruguay quantifies the range of variation of carbon footprint, and the trade-offs with other relevant environmental variables, using a partial life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Using carbon footprint as the primary environmental indicator has several limitations: different metrics (GWP vs. GTP) may lead to different conclusions, carbon sequestration from soils may drastically affect the results, and systems with lower carbon footprint may have higher energy use, soil erosion, nutrient imbalance, pesticide ecotoxicity, and impact on biodiversity. A multidimensional assessment of sustainability of meat production is therefore needed to inform decision makers. There is great potential to improve grazing livestock systems productivity while reducing carbon footprint and other environmental impacts, and conserving biodiversity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrating conservation costs into sea level rise adaptive conservation prioritization

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Mingjian Zhu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Biodiversity conservation requires strategic investment as resources for conservation are often limited. As sea level rises, it is important and necessary to consider both sea level rise and costs in conservation decision making. In this study, we consider costs of conservation in an integrated modeling process that incorporates a geomorphological model (SLAMM, species habitat models, and conservation prioritization (Zonation to identify conservation priorities in the face of landscape dynamics due to sea level rise in the Matanzas River basin of northeast Florida. Compared to conservation priorities that do not consider land costs in the analysis process, conservation priorities that consider costs in the planning process change significantly. The comparison demonstrates that some areas with high conservation values might be identified as lower priorities when integrating economic costs in the planning process and some areas with low conservation values might be identified as high priorities when considering costs in the planning process. This research could help coastal resources managers make informed decisions about where and how to allocate conservation resources more wisely to facilitate biodiversity adaptation to sea level rise.

Dynamics of forage accumulation in Elephant grass subjected to rotational grazing intensities

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Braulio Maia de Lana Sousa

2013-09-01

Full Text Available We assessed the accumulation dynamics of forage and its components in Elephant grass cv. Napier (Pennisetum purpureum Schum. that were subjected to three post-grazing height treatments (30, 50, and 70 cm from February through May 2009 (experiment one and December 2009 through May 2010 (experiment two. In experiment one, the grazing events started when the light interception by the canopy reached 95%. The same was adopted for experiment two, except for the first grazing event, which was based on the height of the apical meristems of basal tillers. The experimental design for both experiments was a randomized complete block with three replications. The pastures that were managed at a post-grazing height of 30 cm exhibited lower rates of leaf and stem growth, total growth and forage accumulation than those that were managed at 50 or 70 cm, indicating that post-grazing height affects Elephant grass. The pastures that were managed at 50 cm exhibited relatively stable accumulation rates and less stem accumulation. Pastures managed at 70 cm of pos-grazing height presented more leaf and stem accumulation. Most apical meristems of Elephant grass should be removed in the first grazing when they reach the post-grazing target height of 50 cm. The elevation in the residual post-grazing height, especially in the summer, raises the regrowth vigor in the Elephant grass cv. Napier pasture. The post-grazing height of 30 cm reduces the growth of the Elephant grass cv. Napier.

Grazing livestock are exposed to terrestrial cyanobacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

McGorum, Bruce C; Pirie, R Scott; Glendinning, Laura; McLachlan, Gerry; Metcalf, James S; Banack, Sandra A; Cox, Paul A; Codd, Geoffrey A

2015-02-25

While toxins from aquatic cyanobacteria are a well-recognised cause of disease in birds and animals, exposure of grazing livestock to terrestrial cyanobacteria has not been described. This study identified terrestrial cyanobacteria, predominantly Phormidium spp., in the biofilm of plants from most livestock fields investigated. Lower numbers of other cyanobacteria, microalgae and fungi were present on many plants. Cyanobacterial 16S rDNA, predominantly from Phormidium spp., was detected in all samples tested, including 6 plant washings, 1 soil sample and ileal contents from 2 grazing horses. Further work was performed to test the hypothesis that ingestion of cyanotoxins contributes to the pathogenesis of some currently unexplained diseases of grazing horses, including equine grass sickness (EGS), equine motor neuron disease (EMND) and hepatopathy. Phormidium population density was significantly higher on EGS fields than on control fields. The cyanobacterial neurotoxic amino acid 2,4-diaminobutyric acid (DAB) was detected in plant washings from EGS fields, but worst case scenario estimations suggested the dose would be insufficient to cause disease. Neither DAB nor the cyanobacterial neurotoxins β-N-methylamino-L-alanine and N-(2-aminoethyl) glycine were detected in neural tissue from 6 EGS horses, 2 EMND horses and 7 control horses. Phormidium was present in low numbers on plants where horses had unexplained hepatopathy. This study did not yield evidence linking known cyanotoxins with disease in grazing horses. However, further study is warranted to identify and quantify toxins produced by cyanobacteria on livestock fields, and determine whether, under appropriate conditions, known or unknown cyanotoxins contribute to currently unexplained diseases in grazing livestock.

This Land Is Our Land: Promoting Ecological Awareness in Young Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Stewart; Trostle, Susan L.

1990-01-01