Rangelands, Drylands & Pastoralism

Investigating traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) by the scientific approach is a useful way to develop sustainable rangeland management. Numerous trials have been done on plant species compositions and biomass, but little testing has been done on the TEK of plant productivity and nutrient values, which are important for proper rangeland management.

Human-induced soil degradation is a serious and complex environmental challenge in Iran. For a long time, human activities, namely the overuse of land, have been influencing the natural processes on and in soils; therefore, various types of soil degradation can be observed in many parts of the country.

Over half of the United States is privately owned. Improving environmental sustainability requires that the scientific and management communities provide effective outreach to the many landowners making decisions about land use and management practices on these lands.

We assessed the extension of natural habitat conversion into croplands and grazing lands in subtropical NW Argentina and its impact on two key ecosystem functional attributes. We quantified changes in remotely sensed surrogates of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) and seasonality of carbon gains.

BackgroundGrasslands are a major part of the global ecosystem, covering 37 % of the earth's terrestrial area. For a variety of reasons, mostly related to overgrazing and the resulting problems of soil erosion and weed encroachment, many of the world's natural grasslands are in poor condition and showing signs of degradation.

In this article we test the notion that adaptation to climate change in grazed rangelands requires little more effort than current approaches to risk management because the inherent climate variability that characterizes rangelands provides a management environment that is preadapted to climate change.

The Inner Mongolian grassland steppe is the most important grazing land in China in terms of cow milk, mutton, and cashmere production. However, intensive livestock grazing has severely degraded the steppe grassland. A sophisticated grazing management is therefore essential for an economically viable use of the grassland without amplifying its desertification.

Wetlands are biologically important elements of landscapes and among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. On the island of Mauritius, many remaining wetlands are being rapidly converted and fragmented by intense land-use demands.

Driven principally by government regulation and societal expectations, mining companies around the world are seeking to mitigate the environmental impacts of mining through mined land rehabilitation programs. The ultimate goal of rehabilitation is to establish an acceptable and sustainable post-mining land use.

Extreme climatic events like the 2003 summer heatwave and inappropriate land management can threaten the existence of rare plants. We studied the response of Eryngium alpinum, a vulnerable species, to this extreme climatic event and different agricultural practices. A demographic study was conducted in seven field sites between 2001 and 2010.

Development of accurate classification methods for rapidly changing catchments like that of Lake Basaka is fundamental to better understanding the catchment dynamics, which were not addressed in previous studies.

After the rangeland law has been implemented, the areas used for field have been started to be converted to rangelands. A forage mixture of alfalfa, birdsfoot trefoil, perennial ryegrass, and smooth brome was sown in the rangeland of Hacıpehlivan village, Biga, Çanakkale in 2004 fall.