Since livestock production in Uzbekistan in arid and semi-arid zones is based on rangeland vegetation, contemporary studies have focused on improvement of low productive grazing lands and rehabilitation of degraded rangelands. Less interest has been given to the driving factors of land degradation and their interaction with other ecosystem components, e.g. response of vegetation to grazing indu...

Corinna Riginos*†, James B. Grace, David J. Augustine and Truman P. Young Department of Plant Sciences, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Mpala Research Centre, PO Box 555, Nanyuki 10400, Kenya; US Geological Survey, National Wetlands Research Center, 700 Cajundome Boulevard, Lafayette, LA 70506, USA; and USDA–Agricultural Research Service, Rangeland Resources Research Un...

The current growing body of evidence for diversity-disturbance relationships suggests that the peaked pattern predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) may not be the rule. Even if ecologists could quantify the diversity-disturbance relationship consistent with the IDH, the applicability of the IDH to land management has rarely been addressed. We examined two hypotheses related...

We analyse commercially operated rangelands as coupled systems of people and nature. The biophysical components include: (i) the reduction and recovery of potential primary production, reflected as changes in grass production per unit of rainfall; (ii) changes in woody plants dependent on the grazing and fire regimes; and (iii) livestock and wool dynamics influenced by season, condition of the ...

The social and ecological contexts for rangeland management are changing rapidly, prompting a reevaluation of science, management, and their relationship. We argue that progression from steady-state management to ecosystem management has served the rangeland profession well, but that further development toward resilience-based management is required to ensure that ecosystem services are sustain...