Horqin Sandy Land is a fragile, seriously desertified region located in Inner Mongolia of China. Overgrazing is one of the primary drivers of desertification in this region. We investigated whether the establishment of grazing exclosures in areas with active sand dunes enhances soil carbon (C) sequestration and benefits soil recovery. The results showed that soil organic C storage was 1.4, 1.9,...

Responses of plants to grazing are better understood, and more predictable, than those of consumers in North American grasslands. In 2003, we began a large-scale, replicated experiment that examined the effects of grazing on three important arthropod groups-beetles, spiders, and grasshoppers-in shortgrass steppe of north-central Colorado. We investigated whether modifications of the intensity a...

I . Rates of disappearance of glucose from ligated loops of small intestine in lambs, adult sheep and young rats were studied. The concentration of glucose in the lumen decreased exponentially with time, suggesting that within a range of concentrations of 166-277 m-moles/l glucose was absorbed mainly by passive diffusion. 2. The rate of absorption of glucose from a 166 mM-solution based on eith...

Conventional linear models of research and extension, based on simplistic assumptions of diffusion, adoption and technology transfer, have been found wanting, particularly in complex and diverse agroecological settings, such as the grasslands of the world, where issues of sustainability and integrated resource management are central. This paper explores the relationships between different sourc...

Grazing management affects ecosystem function through impacts on soil condition. We investigated the effects of long-term (over 70 years) grazing on soil properties and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission within a moderately grazed native vegetation pasture (MGP), heavily grazed native vegetation pasture (HGP), and a fertilized crested wheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum (Fisch. ex. Link) Schult.) pastur...

in arid and semi-arid rangelands, grazing as one of the natural or human induced processes has direct and indirect effects on structure and dynamics of plant community and ecosystems. a study was done to analyze the effects of grazing on plant species diversity and plant functional types‘ (pfts) diversity of arid and semi-arid rangelands. we analyzed plant richness and diversity data from 75 sa...

Controversy has surrounded the possible differences in pasture production which result from grazing by cattle or sheep. Experiments conducted over the 1972-76 period show that pasture production under grazing by sheep is greater than under grazing by cattle under similar intensive managements. A change from sheep grazing to cattle grazing can cause a rapid deterioration in pasture production, w...

One of the key factors in managing a rangeland is to determine the relative preference of its major plant species by thegrazing livestock. Preference value of each plant species is affected by plant type, companion plants, availability byanimals, phenological stage, climate condition, and the livestock species. We investigated the grazing behaviour of anative goat (Garizi) in the steppe rangela...

Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service Previously, the release of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for emergency haying and grazing was a result of drought conditions. Under new program rules, haying and grazing is now allowed on eligible acres regardless of moisture conditions under managed haying and grazing. Managed haying and grazin...

Introduction The vegetation of great areas of Mixed Prairie has been destroyed by plowing. But even larger ones, still intact , have degenerated far from a climax condition. The almost universal cause for such deterioration, aside from drought, is grazing. The objective of this study has been to ascertain the changes in vegetation that have resulted from 60-70 years of different intensities of ...