The impact of different land use types on soil quality was evaluated by measuring several soil properties that are sensitive to stress or disturbance and by using two synthetic approaches, i.e. a numerical quality index and multivariate analysis.
Rangelands and savannas occupy 70% of the Australian continent and are mainly used for commercial grazing of sheep and cattle. In the center and north, where there are extensive areas of indigenous land ownership and pastoral production is less intensive, savanna burning is frequent.
This paper describes a manual-style Decision Support System that integrates land degradation indicators with adaptive management options and is designed for land managers to easily collect data and monitor progress towards environmental sustainability goals.
The carbon isotope composition (δ13C) of C3/C4 mixed grassland is reflected in the δ13C of diet, hair or faeces of grazers, if 13C discrimination (13Δ) between grassland vegetation and these tissues is known and constant.
This study uses a combination of remote sensing data, field observations and information from local people to analyze the patterns and dynamics of land-use/cover changes for 35 years from 1972 to 2007 in the arid and semi-arid Northern Afar rangelands, Ethiopia. A pixel-based supervised image classification was used to map land-use/cover classes.
The expansion of the artificial water-point network and livestock grazing in arid and semi-arid Australia has significantly increased access to water by water limited herbivores and thus has potential to seriously negatively affect the unique endemic flora and fauna.
Woody plant expansion has been documented on grasslands worldwide as a result of overgrazing and fire suppression, but changes in ecosystem structure and function accompanying this phenomenon have yet to be extensively studied in the temperate semi-arid grasslands of North America.
The difficulty of determining the intake of browse grazed by goats is widely recognized. We suggest that a reasonable estimate of the amount of edible browse available to goats grazing shrubby Mediterranean vegetation can be derived from actual grazing data of goat herds that have obtained most of their annual maintenance requirements from pasture dominated by shrubs or shrubby trees.
The northwest of Scotland is a stronghold for two of the UK's rarest bumblebee species, Bombus distinguendus and Bombus muscorum. The predominant form of agricultural land management in this region is crofting, a system specific to Scotland in which small agricultural units (crofts) operate rotational cropping and grazing regimes.
The multi-functionality of agriculture was accepted as a concept at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. the multi-functionality of the European agriculture is a key concept.