Wildlife and Livestock Grazing Effects on Some Physical and Chemical Soil Properties (Case Study: Kalmand-Bahadoran Arid Rangelands of Yazd Province)

Owing to the importance and necessity of identifying soil properties in arid rangeland management, and the variableeffects of different kinds of herbivores on soil, this study compares some of the physical and chemical properties ofsoil between two regions experiencing livestock and wildlife grazing in the desert rangelands of Kalmand-Bahadoranin Yazd province. The key areas in two regions experiencing livestock and wildlife grazing were selected, and soilsamples were taken at depths of 0-30 cm using the systematic random sampling method. All samples were thentransferred to the laboratory to determine the desired parameters. Finally, soil characteristics were compared betweenthe two regions. The results indicate that physical properties of the soil such as clay and moisture percentage show nosignificant differences. Bulk density in the region of livestock grazing reveals a highly significant increase comparedto the area under wildlife grazing (P