this study aimed to investigate the effect of animal grazing on soil seed bank characteristics in the northern slopes of alborz. for this purpose, soil seed bank characteristics were compared between grazed and ungrazed areas. therefore, four transects perpendicular to the sides of exclosure inside and outside of it were established. then soil samples were collected within 28 plots inside and 2...

—We conducted a 4-year experiment to assess the impacts of rotational cattle grazing on rodents and raptors in a mesic coastal grassland in northwestern California. Live-trapping indicated that rodent abundance declined by 69% on the grazed area and increased by 14% on the ungrazed area. Raptor use of the grazed area declined by 15% and increased on the ungrazed area by 63%. Measures of giving-...

The effect of introduced large herbivores on the abundance of Ixodes ricinus ticks and their Borrelia infections was studied in a natural woodland in The Netherlands. Oak and pine plots, either ungrazed or grazed by cattle, were selected. Ticks were collected weekly by blanket dragging. Borrelia infections were determined by PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism. Rodent densities wer...

In a Festuca novae-zelandiae short tussock grassland in South Island, New Zealand, we tested the propositions (1) that present regional trends in vascular plant species-richness in tussock grasslands are independent of current pastoral management, and (2) that grazing retards the invasion and dominance of nonnative species, particularly where soil resources are not limiting. Sheep and rabbit-gr...

“The soil respiration (Sr) increased with time during the day while soil temperature peaked during midday in both ungrazed and grazed plots (Fig. 3). Sr in ungrazed plots was higher than that of grazed plots between 13:00 and 16:00 hours. The mean value of Sr in ungrazed plots (8.01 ± 2.09 μ mol CO2/m/s) was significantly higher than in ungrazed plots (6.77 ± 1.58 μ mol CO2/m/s) (p = 0.017), wh...

The effect of cattle grazing on the genetic structure of native grass populations has received little attention. We investigated the effect of cattle grazing on genetic variation in Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis Elmer) using ISSR (inter-simple sequence repeat) DNA markers. The ISSR markers are hypervariable and are generally interpreted as being selectively neutral. Idaho fescue tillers were...

Rangelands cover approximately 85% of Kenya’s land mass and is a major resource for livestock farming with a considerable potential to mitigate climate change, yet these lands are stressed differently by various management. Our study aimed at determining the influence of grazing management systems (rotational, continuous and ungrazed) on soil organic carbon stocks in Yoani ranch located in the ...