Understanding determinants of local species diversity remains central to developing plans to preserve biodiversity. In the continental United States, climate, grazing by large mammals, fire, and topography are important ecosystem drivers that structure North American tallgrass prairie, with major impacts on plant community composition and vegetation structure. Frequency of fire and grazing by b...

Prescribed fire in rangeland ecosystems is applied for a variety of management objectives, including enhancing productivity of forage species for domestic livestock. In the big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) steppe of the western United States, fire has been a natural and prescribed disturbance, temporarily shifting vegetation from shrub–grass codominance to grass dominance. There is li...

There is substantial concern that microbial and nutrient pollution by cattle on public lands degrades water quality, threatening human and ecological health. Given the importance of clean water on multiple-use landscapes, additional research is required to document and examine potential water quality issues across common resource use activities. During the 2011 grazing-recreation season, we con...

The intensification of dairying can have adverse impacts on the environment through diminished soil quality and greater loss of nutrients to water bodies. Poor soil quality can reduce the productivity and sustainability of pastoral farming systems. The effects of increased stocking rate (SR) (3, 4 and 5 cows/ha) and introducing a cut and carry system on soil, pasture and water quality were comp...

Rangeland health assessment provides qualitative information on ecosystemattributes. We examined changes in rangeland health in the Zagros semi-arid rangelands ofIran at fixed sites between 2001 and 2011, over the 10-year period. The rangelandfragments significantly declines in the quality of the vegetation, and changes in plantspecies were driven largely by seasonality, and to a lesser extent,...

In this study, we evaluated the species diversity, density, cover, and size index of plant within outside 37 enclosures in South Sinai mountainous region (Egypt), which had been protected for six years (March 2012–March 2018) against over-grazing over-cutting medicinal fuel purposes. Within enclosures, were recorded, their density (individuals per 100 m2) cover (cm cm) estimated using line-inte...

Mature weight and rate of maturing were estimated in 177 Angus, Brahman, and reciprocal-cross cows grazing bermudagrass or endophyte-infected tall fescue over a 4-yr period to evaluate genotype x environment interactions. Data were collected every 28 d until cows were approximately 18 mo of age and then at prebreeding, postcalving, and weaning of calf. All cows with weight data to at least 42 m...

grazing management plays an important role in the continuous and economicutilization of pastures. proper grazing management is a main factor for the accumulation ofplant litter which reduces soil erosion and increase the soil permeability to keep moremoisture in the soil. in current study, the effect of three different grazing intensities (low,moderate and high) along with the grazing gradient ...

Livestock have been a key factor in the development of civiliiation, hut what will their role be in the future and how should the science of rangeland management change to meet the challenges of the future? In this paper I look at current grazing management in the contest of paradigm shifts and scientific revolution. The impact of livestock on rangelands occurs primarily because livestock selec...