Overgrazing is one of the most primary causes of desertification in semi-arid zones of China. From 1992 to 1994 we conducted a grazing experiment in Naiman (lat. 42◦58′N, long. 120◦43′E, 345 m asl), Inner Mongolia, China to elucidate desertification mechanisms. Our experimental field, which was covered with some short grasses, legumes and forbs, included four plots where grazing sheep numbers d...

abstract. rangelands are mainly used for grazing the livestock in iran, it is essential to specify grazing suitability of rangelands in each region of country, so that it may improve the management policies and approaches for planning and designing current and future plans. the aim of this research was to determine the rangeland suitability for sheep grazing in the watershed of sadegh abad, ker...

Since the mass mortality of the urchin Diadema antillarum in 1983, parrotfishes have become the dominant grazer on Caribbean reefs. The grazing capacity of these fishes could be impaired if marine reserves achieve their long-term goal of restoring large consumers, several of which prey on parrotfishes. Here we compare the negative impacts of enhanced predation with the positive impacts of reduc...

Coastal vegetative habitats are known to be highly productive environments with a high ability to capture and store carbon. During disturbance this important function could be compromised as plant photosynthetic capacity, biomass, and/or growth are reduced. To evaluate effects of disturbance on CO2 capture in plants we performed a five-month manipulative experiment in a tropical seagrass (Thala...

one of the important factors to make a balance between number of grazing livestock and grazing capacity is whether forage contains sufficient energy and protein during grazing period or not. therefore in this study, forage quality was evaluated for important species in steppe rangelands of changuleh located in ilam province. to do this, samples from four species of hammada salicornia, salsola l...

this research was conducted to recognize sibak-sardab watershed rangeland potentials, evaluate and determine of suitability classes for sheep grazing. in this research, we used the proposed method of fao (1992) and for information layers crossing used in geographical information system (gis). in this research, sensitivity to erosion, water resources and forage production are three basic compone...

Preference value means livestock preference to eat some plants relative to other plants or species. Accordingly, by studying the preference values, the range managers could determine the rangelands grazing capacity to achieve the optimum performance of livestock and to guarantee the stability of rangeland ecosystem. The objective of this study was to determine the preference value of perennial ...

The Tibetan grassland social-ecological systems are widely held to be highly vulnerable to climate change. We aim to investigate livelihood adaptation strategies of herder households and the types of local institutions that shaped those adaptation strategies. We examined the barriers and opportunities for strengthening adaptive capacity of local herder communities. We designed and implemented a...

Beyond grazing, managed grasslands provide ecological services that may offer economic incentives for multifunctional use. Increasing biodiversity of plant communities may maximize net primary production by optimizing utilization of available light, water, and nutrient resources; enhance production stability in response to climatic stress; reduce invasion of exotic species; increase soil OM; re...