Vernal pools in the Sacramento Valley are essentially islands of native flora among a grassland composed primarily of exotic annual species. In managing the vernal pool landscape to sustain these islands of native flora, the integrity of the landscape’s hydrology must be maintained. One management decision that may indirectly affect hydrology is complete rest from grazing. Although the native v...

This experiment compared California ground squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi) activity on replicated grazed and ungrazed pastures in a blue oak (Quercus douglasii) savanna. During the 4-year study, squirrel activity, measured as the number of active burrows, generally declined in grazed and ungrazed pastures without oak canopy. Squirrel activity declined least in grazed pastures with blue oak can...

Over eight years we measured the effects of plant community composition, vegetation structure, and livestock grazing on occurrence of three grassland bird species-Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris), and Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum)-at sites in central California during breeding season. In California's Mediterranean-type climatic region, co...

Rangeland degradation has been identified as a serious concern in alpine regions of western China on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau (QTP). Numerous government-sponsored programs have been initiated, including many that feature long-term grazing prohibitions and some that call for eliminating pastoralism altogether. As well, government programs have long favored eliminating plateau pikas (Ochotona ...

The role of livestock grazing in regulating woody cover and biomass in grass-dominant systems is well recognized. However, the way in which woody plant populations in respond when livestock are removed from grazing in the absence of other disturbances, such as fire, remains unclear.We conducted a 10-year, replicated fencing experiment in a sandy semiarid rangeland in northern China (which has a...

Managing the mineral nutrition of free-range grazing livestock can be challenging. On farms where grazing animals are infrequently yarded, there are limited opportunities to administer trace element supplements via feeds and concentrates. In New Zealand, where the majority of sheep, cattle, and deer graze pasture year round, inadequate intake of cobalt, copper, iodine and selenium is prevalent....

In a project to classify livestock grazing intensity using participatory geographic information systems (PGIS), we encountered the problem of how to synthesize PGIS-based maps of livestock grazing intensity that were prepared separately by local experts. We investigated the utility of evidential belief functions (EBFs) and Dempster’s rule of combination to represent classification uncertainty a...

BACKGROUND In order to understand the impact of grazing livestock on pasture ecosystems, it is essential to quantify pasture use intensity at a fine spatial scale and the factors influencing its distribution. The observation and analysis of animal activity is greatly facilitated by remote tracking technology and new statistical frameworks allowing for rapid inference on spatially correlated dat...

The Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is a widespread brood parasite which often engages in a commensalistic feeding relationship with domestic livestock. We studied the behavior of female cowbirds breeding in pinyon–juniper woodlands in New Mexico, USA, on two adjacent sites, one an active cattle ranch, and the other a site that was not grazed by domestic livestock throughout the songbird ...