Rangeland Ecology & Management
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- Library Collection RecordWe introduce the five rangeland types found in the arid and semiarid regions of South Africa, namely Arid Savanna, Arid Grassland, Nama-karoo, Succulent Karoo, and Thicket, and describe the important…Publication Date 2006
- rangelands
- savanna
- livestock
- grazing
- management
- commercial agriculture
- subsistence agriculture
- Sustainable development
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary * 1Grasses using the C4 photosynthetic pathway dominate today's savanna ecosystems and account for ~20% of terrestrial carbon fixation. However, this dominant status was reached only…Publication Date 2008
- atmospheric CO2
- C4 plants
- climate change
- fire
- grasslands
- grazing
- Poaceae
- rainfall
- savanna
- seasonality
- carbon dioxide
- palaeoclimate
- palaeobotany
- Africa
- Library Collection Record1. Gradients of animal impact known as piospheres tend to develop around artificial watering points, particularly in arid zones. Such grazing gradients represent a potential opportunity for…Publication Date 2006
- animal impact
- piosphere
- watering points
- livestock
- species richness
- ecosystem ecology
- rangelands
- grazing
- management
- disturbance
- stocking rates
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn Kenya, lands surrounding wildlife protected areas (PAs), referred to as dispersal areas, have undergone widespread land use changes, but these have been little studied. This study investigated…Publication Date 2008
- conservation
- agriculture
- national parks
- land use
- grazing
- biodiversity
- disturbance
- rainfall
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe morphometrics of mandible and teeth of mixed-breed goats on rangeland were analyzed to investigate the association between the oral apparatus and diet type. Canonical relationship between sets of…Publication Date 2007
- diet
- grazing
- Mandible
- Jaw
- Incisor
- Molar teeth
- goats
- rangelands
- diet selection
- forage quality
- foraging ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe tree-grass interactions of African savannas are mainly determined by varying rainfall patterns and soil fertility. Large savanna trees are known to modify soil nutrient conditions, but whether…Publication Date 2007
- canopy
- Fibre content
- Grass structure
- grazing
- nitrogen
- phosphorus
- savanna
- rainfall
- soil fertility
- plant production
- nutrition
- soil organic carbon
- biomass
- forage quality
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe coexistence of woody and grassy plants in savannas has often been attributed to a rooting-niche separation (two-layer hypothesis). Water was assumed to be the limiting resource for both growth…Publication Date 2006
- fire
- grazing
- Honeycomb rippling model
- Inter-tree competition
- Spatio-temporal rainfall variation
- Tree-grass coexistence
- savanna
- indigenous encroaching species
- grasslands
- soil moisture
- rainfall
- vegetation dynamics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper reports an assessment of the current and potential impacts of invasive alien plants on selected ecosystem services in South Africa. We used data on the current and potential future…Publication Date 2008
- biodiversity
- Fynbos
- grassland
- grazing
- groundwater
- hydrology
- Karoo
- savanna
- water yield
- Alien invasive species
- ecosystem services
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe tested the scaling effects of proximate desertification drivers (i.e. soil erosion, bush encroachment and grazing pressure) on soil nutrients in northeastern Tanzania. We analyzed nutrient…Publication Date 2008
- Desertified landscapes
- Dysfunctional landscapes
- Proximate desertification drivers
- soil nutrients
- Tanzaniadesertification
- erosion
- grazing
- indigenous encroaching species
- desertification
- landscape ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordNo abstract availablePublication Date 2007
- agriculture
- soils
- Soil Condition
- grazing
- rangeland condition
- ecosystem dynamics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe ability to produce vegetative shoots is a form of persistence in arid and semiarid savannas allowing trees to survive herbivory, fire and cutting. In terms of growth rates and survival, this form…Publication Date 2008
- browsing
- coppice
- Exclosure
- grazing
- Resprouting
- restoration
- Savanna woodland
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordChanges in species richness and vegetation composition in the diverse semi-arid Succulent Karoo vegetation of South Africa were investigated after 67 (1937-2004) years of rest from livestock grazing…Publication Date 2008
- diversity
- Growth Form
- ordination
- species richness
- succession
- Termitaria
- grazing
- vegetation dynamics
- ecology
- insects
- degradation
- restoration ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper provides values for nitrogen isotopic abundances of southern African soils and plants along land use gradients of varying aridity. The ?15N values of soils and plants were generally higher…Publication Date 2008
- grasses
- grazing
- mineralization
- nitrification
- savanna
- trees
- soils
- grazing
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordModels predict that desertification, the loss of perennial grasses in arid and semiarid environments, will be difficult to reverse due to the positive feedback between plant cover and water…Publication Date 2007
- arid grassland
- grazing
- hoof action
- perennial grass
- resilience
- restoration
- woody encroachment
- soils
- desertirfication
- models
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe impact of long-term high grazing pressure on geomorphological features, plant community composition and cover and soil characteristics of an ephemeral river system in Namaqualand, South Africa,…Publication Date 2007
- Animal-plant interactions
- Landscape patches
- livestock impacts
- Namaqualand
- Resource control
- riparian vegetation
- grazing
- soils
- degradation
- Plant Productivity
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn Namaqualand, heavy grazing of low-lying areas has resulted in the reduction of palatable perennial shrubs and the dominance of the unpalatable shrub, Galenia africana. This study investigates the…Publication Date 2007
- Succulent karoo
- Namaqualand
- Vegetation Change
- rehabilitation
- microhabitats
- grazing
- seeds
- restoration ecology
- vegetation dynamics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordA national-level land degradation risk monitoring system identified an important grazing area in central northern Namibia as an area at risk of environmental change. A time series analysis of primary…Publication Date 2007
- semi-arid
- local knowledge
- rainfall variability
- water supply
- grazing
- land management
- degradation
- data analysis
- grasslands
- livestock
- rainfall
- participatory rural appraisal
- decision support systems
- management
- traditional knowledge
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe use the concept of ecological revolutions to explain the environmental history of Namaqualand, from the advent of pastoralism 2000 years BP, to colonial settlement in the 18th century and finally…Publication Date 2007
- degradation
- Environmental history
- human impact
- population
- repeat photography
- socio-economic aspects
- agriculture
- grazing
- management
- land use
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordHerder knowledge of landscape classification and environmental assessments in East Africa has been poorly documented. This study investigated how the Maasai traditionally classified and assessed…Publication Date 2006
- land degradation
- Livestock grazing preference
- Maasai
- Traditional landscape classification
- traditional knowledge
- subsistence agriculture
- degradation
- grasslands
- grazing
- management
- pastoralism
- soils
- animal impact
- biodiversity
- forage quality
- animal nutrition
- animal production
- monitoring
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordOver 70% of South Africa is too arid for crop farming and is used for either commercial livestock ranching, communal livestock ranching, or game ranching. The inherently different management…Publication Date 2006
- Semi-arid rangeland
- pastoralism
- wildlife
- rangeland degradation
- Soil Condition
- Grazing gradients
- rangeland condition
- management
- piosphere
- grazing
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper provides an analysis of the physical and chemical characteristics of cyanobacterial soil crusts in the Molopo Basin, South Africa. It details the influence that soil type, livestock…Publication Date 2006
- cyanobacterial soil crusts
- Kalahari
- soil nutrients
- shrub encroachment
- Acacia mellifera
- soil classification
- livestock
- disturbance
- grasslands
- grazing
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordDegradation in semi-arid Karoo rangelands has been ascribed to over-utilization by livestock and variations in rainfall regime. The understanding of vegetation dynamics in confined plant-herbivore…Publication Date 2006
- African wild herbivore
- Herbivore exclosure
- plant functional type
- Protected area
- vegetation monitoring
- rangelands
- rangeland condition
- vegetation dynamics
- livestock
- grazing
- land use
- national parks
- rainfall
- monitoring
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordAs part of an investigation of land degradation in the South African Karoo, three types of fine sediment signatures (radionuclides, mineral magnetism and sediment geochemistry) were used to trace the…Publication Date 2007
- Sediment fingerprinting
- South African Karoo
- Erosion history
- Extreme events
- 137Cs and 210Pb
- land use
- soils
- management
- grazing
- fire
- livestock
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordLocalised patterns of erosion and deposition in vegetated semi-arid rangelands have been shown to influence ecological change and biogeochemical cycles. In the flat, vegetated Kalahari rangelands of…Publication Date 2007
- cyanobacterial soil crusts
- Erodibility
- surface roughness
- Cohesivity
- Kalahari
- erosion
- rangeland condition
- ecosystem dynamics
- soil crusts
- grazing
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordRemote sensing has successfully been applied to map the distribution of canopy dominating invasive species. Many invaders however, do not dominate the canopy, and remote sensing has so far not been…Publication Date 2006
- remote sensing
- GIS
- Chromolaena odorata
- seed production
- light intensity
- invasive species
- mapping
- Alien invasive species
- Landsat images
- grazing
- biological control
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper traces the history of grazing policy, its conceptual basis, practical implementations and outcomes, in three southern African countries. In spite of the divergent environmental conditions…Publication Date 2006
- pastoralism
- Communal land
- rangeland management
- rangeland ecology
- policies
- grazing
- communal farming
- rangelands
- management
- Sustainable development
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn semiarid savannas of Southern Africa current land use practices and climate change may lead to substantial changes of vegetation structure in the near future, however uncertainty remains about the…Publication Date 2006
- Acacia erioloba
- Bush encroachment
- global change
- Grewia flava
- overgrazing
- seed dispersal
- shrub encroachment
- Southern Kalahari
- Spatial-explicit simulation model
- savanna
- land use
- grazing
- climate change
- vegetation dynamics
- cattle
- ecosystem ecology
- ecosystem dynamics
- rainfall
- fire ecology
- modelling
- conservation
- management
- carrying capacity
- biodiversity
- indigenous encroaching species
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordUnlike any other biome, savannas consist of both trees and grasses in a persistent and equitable manner. This unique mixture of two different life forms attracted scientific scrutiny for decades.…Publication Date 2006
- Terminalia sericea
- Shallow root system
- savannas
- rainfall
- Etosha National Park
- grazing
- indigenous encroaching species
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe discuss the search for optimal stocking regimes in semi-arid grazing lands. We argue that 'one size does not fit all' and that different stocking regimes are appropriate under different…Publication Date 2006
- stocking strategies
- grazing
- Opportunistic stocking
- Conservative Stocking
- Equilibrium dynamics
- rangeland ecology
- management
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe worldwide loss of utilisable rangeland in (semi-) arid areas results in huge economic and social costs. Only adaptive management strategies are able to cope with these systems, which are mainly…Publication Date 2007
- Non-equilibrium system
- grazing
- Opportunistic management
- Resting
- semi-arid
- simulation model
- rangeland condition
- rangelands
- modelling
- Economic Aspects
- management
- rainfall
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordDeserts are known to mankind, but the term desertification has always been an elusive concept. It is now defined in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as land degradation…Publication Date 2007
- land degradation
- Land use and land cover changes
- overgrazing
- Biomass burning and atmospheric emissions
- Air Pollution
- Forest and woodland clearing
- wind erosion
- climate change
- degradation
- erosion
- land use
- grazing
- management
- Carbon Sink
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn the biodiversity rich regions of western South Africa transhumance grazing strategies were practised for thousands of years. Today only vestiges of these systems remain with private ownership…Publication Date 2007
- Ecosystem goods and services
- livestock management
- productivity
- phenology
- landscape heterogeneity
- livestock
- management
- ecosystem dynamics
- Economic Aspects
- ecosystem services
- grazing
- household income studies
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordDebate among scientists about ecological dynamics and appropriate management of semi-arid rangelands has led to a challenge of received wisdoms of range management and pastoral development in dryland…Publication Date 2008
- Semi-arid rangeland
- pastoralism
- Water Point
- grazing gradient
- ordination
- species response curve
- Namibia
- rangeland condition
- rangelands
- piosphere
- grazing
- biodiversity
- management
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordFarm practices in the Sneeuberg Mountains, Karoo, South Africa are examined to assess their contribution to the development of the observed gullies and badlands. Data from the literature is augmented…Publication Date 2007
- erosion
- land degradation
- range management
- vegetation
- grazing
- Stock
- management
- degradation
- land use
- participatory rural appraisal
- livestock
- rehabilitation
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordLittle is known about the grass species type, composition and nutritive value in the semiarid savannas that sustain most of Swaziland's cattle population through the seven-month-long dry season…Publication Date 2009
- cumulative gas production
- organic matter degradability
- ruminant livestock
- tropical grass species
- nutrition
- cattle
- grasslands
- savanna
- grazing
- soils
- forage quality
- Swaziland
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe decline of soil organic matter as a result of agricultural land use was identified for a review with the ultimate aim of developing a soil protection strategy and policy for South Africa. Such a…Publication Date 2011
- land use
- soils
- policy
- Organic Content
- grazing
- fire
- rangeland
- agriculture
- conservation
- no-till
- pasture
- soil nutrients
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordDegradation of soil as a consequence of land use poses a threat to sustainable agriculture in South Africa, resulting in the need for a soil protection strategy and policy. Development of such a…Publication Date 2011
- land use
- soils
- policy
- Organic Content
- grazing
- fire
- rangeland
- agriculture
- conservation
- no-till
- pasture
- soil nutrients
- organic carbon
- management
- restoration ecology
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordFor estimating herbage intake during grazing, the traditional sward cutting technique was compared in grazing experiments in 2002 and 2003 with the recently developed n-alkanes technique and with the…Publication Date 2005
- dairy cow
- herbage intake
- sward cutting
- n-alkanes
- grazing
- cattle
- fodder quality
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordPrimary energy extraction patterns by livestock under agropastoralism and ranching were investigated by the bite count method in semiarid south-eastern Kenya. Sward biomass for optimal energy intake…Publication Date 2009
- agropastoralism
- energy intake
- ranching
- livestock
- cattle
- sheep
- goats
- pastoralism
- diet selection
- grazing
- management
- animal production
- Kenya
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe nutritive value of four subtropical grasses (Panicum maximum, Anthephora pubescens, Digitaria eriantha and Chloris gayana) standing hay were compared in terms of qualitative intake and partial…Publication Date 2009
- Anthephora pubescens
- Chloris gayana
- Digitaria eriantha
- nutritive value
- Panicum maximum
- diet selection
- sheep
- forage quality
- animal nutrition
- grazing
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordBush encroachment has been recognised in southern Africa since the late nineteenth century. Our review of 23 studies showed that the rate of woody cover change has ranged from ?0.131 to 1.275% y?1.…Publication Date 2014
- Bush encroachment
- ecosystem ecology
- grazing
- fire
- rainfall
- grasses
- carbon dioxide
- climate change
- management
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordWoody plant encroachment is frequent in dry savannas. Grazing is often considered to be a major cause of encroachment in dry savannas because grasses are removed by livestock, leaving bare areas for…Publication Date 2014
- Bush encroachment
- savanna
- grazing
- fire
- rainfall
- climate change
- management
- Kimberley area
- Northern Cape
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordUsing an analysis of aerial photographs from 1942, 1985 and 2004 we assessed the impact of changing land tenure and land-use regimes on the cover of thicket vegetation on the Grahamstown commonage.…Publication Date 2014
- bush encroahcment
- land use
- management
- Aerial Photographs
- goats
- browsing
- livestock
- grazing
- grasses
- shrubs
- degradation
- Grahamstown
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordFew assessments of the effects of fire and grazing on the herbaceous components of savannas have been reported for Africa. In the Kruger National Park, South Africa, range condition was monitored at…Publication Date 2014
- fire ecology
- grazing
- management
- savanna
- game
- rangeland condition
- rainfall gradient
- grasses
- forage
- ecosystem ecology
- Kruger National Park
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordBrowsing herbivores are generally highly selective feeders, selecting for new shoots and young plant material. Determinations of browser carrying capacity are then greatly inflated when based on…Publication Date 2014
- savanna
- browsing
- grazing
- game
- wildlife
- conservation
- carrying capacity
- climate
- soil
- rainfall
- modelling
- plant production
- management
- Zululand region
- KwaZulu-Natal
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordWith the rapid expansion of wildlife ranching and conservation in South African savannas and the resultant increase in multi-species grazing and browsing systems, information on browse production…Publication Date 2014
- savanna
- browsing
- grazing
- game
- wildlife
- conservation
- carrying capacity
- climate
- soil
- rainfall
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe present study assessed the effects of deferred grazing management on rangeland condition using aboveground biomass, vegetation cover and species composition as indicators of range condition. The…Publication Date 2013
- grazing
- vegetation
- ecosystem ecology
- management
- rangeland
- biomass
- grazing management
- ngitili
- species diversity
- vegetation cover
- Shinyanga
- Meatu districts
- Tanzania
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWildfires can have significant impacts on rangeland productivity and functionality causing substantial economic losses to affected farmers. In August 2011, such wildfires swept through the North West…Publication Date 2013
- fire ecology
- rangelands
- plant production
- management
- grazing
- socio-economic aspects
- biodiversity
- savanna
- rainfall
- grazing capacity
- erosion
- ecosystem ecology
- soil nutrients
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn this paper the use of fenced grazing camps to manage the rangeland commons is challenged. A historical perspective is presented on fencing and rotational grazing in South Africa. Two case studies…Publication Date 2013
- grazing
- management
- communal agriculture
- rangelands
- fending
- Commercial farming
- land tenure
- socio-economic aspects
- biodiversity
- Sustainable development
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordPastoralists in Namaqualand, South Africa, use herd mobility to manage livestock and rangeland resources. However, their socioeconomic conditions and ecological landscapes are changing and we explore…Publication Date 2013
- management
- livestock
- socio-economic aspects
- rangelands
- communal farming
- policy
- pastoralism
- grazing
- Namaqualand
- South Africa