Rangeland Ecology & Management
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- Library Collection RecordThe use of fire in the management of grassland is a common rangeland practice in South Africa. This portends ecological implication for the sustainability of the savannah rangelands as a system. A…Publication Date 2008
- fire ecology
- management
- savanna
- grasslands
- rangelands
- Soil Condition
- plant production
- Africa
- 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 RecordAbstract Question: Do anthropogenic activities facilitate the distribution of exotic plants along steep altitudinal gradients? Location: Sani Pass road, Grassland biome, South Africa. Methods: On…Publication Date 2008
- Alien
- dispersal
- disturbance
- Gradient analysis
- grasslands
- Multivariate
- spatial analysis
- transect
- Germishuizen & Meyer (2003)
- Alien invasive species
- rehabilitation
- restoration ecology
- management
- biodiversity
- seed banks
- vegetation dynamics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordNo abstract availablePublication Date 2007
- seed banks
- savanna
- vegetation dynamics
- 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 RecordAbstract Anthropogenic perturbations have profoundly modified the Earth's biogeochemical cycles, the most prominent of these changes being manifested by global carbon (C) cycling. We…Publication Date 2007
- carbon sequestration
- 13C NMR
- deforestation
- land-use change
- NEXAFS
- organic matter composition
- Sr-FTIR-ATR
- synchrotron radiation
- land use
- grasslands
- vegetation dynamics
- carbon dynamics
- soil organic carbon
- agriculture
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary * 1Demographic processes, particularly the recruitment of seedlings, are critical to the long-term survival and re-establishment of plant populations. In many perennial grasslands successful…Publication Date 2008
- demography
- emergence
- full factorial experiment
- intraspecific competition
- irrigation
- recruitment limitation
- seed addition
- seedling survival
- semi-arid savanna
- Stipagrostis uniplumis
- grasslands
- fire ecology
- seeds
- ecosystem ecology
- vegetation dynamics
- germination
- 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 RecordDegradation in arid and semi-arid regions can be ascribed primarily to environmental conditions such as extreme changes in temperature and erratic rainfall patterns. Seed germination and seedling…Publication Date 2006
- Drought Stress
- polyethylene glycol (PEG)
- restoration
- rangelands
- seeds
- germination
- grasslands
- rainfall
- climate
- drought
- plant autecology
- restoration ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe aim of the study was to identify and classify the woodlands, bushland and grasslands of the Umkhanyakude Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Node (also known as Maputaland) into homogenous…Publication Date 2006
- plant ecology
- Maputaland
- multivariate analysis
- Phytosociology
- grasslands
- monitoring
- data analysis
- landscape ecology
- vegetation dynamics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper evaluated the capacity of SPOT VEGETATION time-series to monitor the vegetation biomass and water content in order to improve fire risk assessment in the savanna ecosystem of Kruger…Publication Date 2006
- biomass
- Fire risk assessment
- SPOT VEGETATION
- time-series
- Vegetation water content
- fire ecology
- savanna
- vegetation dynamics
- monitoring
- plant production
- national parks
- remote sensing
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordCoexistence of trees and grasses in savannas should be possible if competition between the woody and the grassy components is less intense than the competition within each component. Although several…Publication Date 2008
- Acacia mellifera
- Competitor removal experiment
- Nearest-neighbour distance
- quantile regression
- spatial autocorrelation
- Spatial point pattern analysis
- savanna
- ecosystem ecology
- vegetation dynamics
- ecology
- 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 RecordSummary In this paper, we present a method to estimate the additional costs made by nature reserve managers to mitigate the effects of atmospheric deposition. Theoretically, these extra costs may be…Publication Date 2007
- Nature target types
- Management costs
- Deposition scenarios
- grasslands
- Reed and rough land
- Heathland
- forests
- Moorland pools
- conservation
- vegetation dynamics
- Economic Aspects
- greenhouse gases
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSemi-arid areas are often considered to be environmentally and economically marginal, a situation which has been exacerbated by economic change, shifts in agricultural production and land use, and…Publication Date 2008
- Dry land degradation
- Economic decline
- Livestock trends
- population change
- Small towns
- rangelands
- Economic Aspects
- livestock
- agriculture
- socio-economic aspects
- politics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordNamibian rangelands are encroached with Acacia mellifera, partially resulting from a poor understanding of vegetation dynamics. A conceptual state-and-transition model of vegetation dynamics in the…Publication Date 2008
- fire
- hazards
- management
- opportunities
- state-and-transition
- savanna
- indigenous encroaching species
- bush thickening
- rainfall
- seed banks
- vegetation dynamics
- plant autecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThere is an urgent need for quantitative methods by which actual, as opposed to potential degradation can be mapped using spatially consistent criteria for large regions. This study tested the Local…Publication Date 2008
- AVHRR
- Communal lands
- desertification
- Local NPP scaling
- rangelands
- South Africa
- communal farming
- remote sensing
- degradation
- mapping
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordA number of studies have begun to show the large impact that pastoralism has on African savanna ecosystems. Here we look at the impact of abandoned settlements on the distribution of the large…Publication Date 2008
- pastoralism
- Sedentarization
- primary succession
- Nutrient hotspots
- community
- land use
- Abandoned lands
- vegetation dynamics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordKey resource areas (KRAs), defined as dry season foraging zones for herbivores, were studied relative to the more extensive outlying rangeland areas (non-KRAs) in Kenya. Field surveys with…Publication Date 2008
- drought
- forage
- foraging
- herbivore
- Pastoralist
- rangeland
- Satellite
- topography
- rangelands
- foraging ecology
- mapping
- ecosystem ecology
- landscape ecology
- soils
- monitoring
- conservation
- decision support systems
- 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 RecordLivestock overgrazing can threaten the ecological integrity of rangelands, and can also threaten the sustainability of pastoralist societies who depend on rangelands for their livelihood. Using…Publication Date 2008
- Microenvironment
- Nurse plants
- positive interactions
- rangeland degradation
- Shrub islands
- Vegetation restoration
- restoration ecology
- degradation
- rangelands
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe Kalahari sand sheet, with a 2.5-million ha area, is probably the largest continuous surface of sand in the world. The Kalahari Transect (KT) is one of a set of IGBP 'megatransects '…Publication Date 2007
- biogeochemistry
- Hydraulic properties
- Kalahari transect
- Sand deposits
- stable isotopes
- ecosystem dynamics
- vegetation dynamics
- soil organic carbon
- Soil Condition
- soil nutrients
- rainfall
- grasslands
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordBiodiversity is a critical component of the natural environment and the protection of it often meant the displacement of local communities in developing countries. The Richtersveld National Park (…Publication Date 2007
- rangelands
- conservation
- Population crashes
- Herd recovery
- goats
- biodiversity
- socio-economic aspects
- national parks
- sheep
- pastoralism
- land use
- 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 RecordThe reserves and homelands across South Africa share a common history of policy interventions resulting in sedentarization, villagization and formalization of communal land use. In Namaqualand, such…Publication Date 2007
- pastoralism
- Municipal commonage
- rangeland management
- Elite capture
- rangelands
- management
- communal farming
- subsistence agriculture
- policies
- land reform
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordScience is frequently touted as the solution to dryland management problems, yet most management decisions are, by necessity, based primarily on expert knowledge and experience. This paper describes…Publication Date 2006
- adaptive management
- ecological site descriptions
- natural resource management
- rangelands
- thresholds
- management
- decision support systems
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe objective of this paper is to examine the spatial variability of islands of enhanced hydrologic activity and its application to remediation of degraded arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Factors…Publication Date 2006
- Biotic productivity
- heterogeneity
- rangeland
- remediation
- runoff
- Water ponding dikes
- restoration ecology
- degradation
- vegetation dynamics
- ecosystem ecology
- 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 RecordFragmentation of the ecosystems of the earth into spatially isolated units has emerged as a primary component of global change. Often, fragmentation results from actions that are intended to enhance…Publication Date 2008
- fragmentation
- rangelands
- adaptation
- public policy
- Economic Aspects
- policies
- management
- land use
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe model of a variable climate driving natural resource behaviour, use and management of rangelands in Sub-Saharan Africa has been well explored within the non-equilibrium ecology discourse. This…Publication Date 2007
- non-equilibrium
- ecology
- irrigation
- River basin management
- Tanzania
- variability
- water resources
- sustainability
- natural resources
- adaptive capacity
- rangelands
- management
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordTraditional vegetative techniques to control gully development rely mainly on the effects of above ground biomass, whereas little attention has been given to the role of below ground biomass. Yet, in…Publication Date 2006
- roots
- grass
- Concentrated flow erosion
- Rill
- Gully
- Erodibility
- soil erosion
- rangelands
- hydrology
- modelling
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn the Miombo Woodlands Region of south-central Africa, the interaction between fires and elephants is one of the main drivers of vegetation, along with climate, soils and topography. Fire-elephant…Publication Date 2008
- fire
- Elephants
- multivariate statistics
- Miombo woodlands
- conservation
- savanna
- mammals
- Nature reserves
- vegetation dynamics
- ecology
- ecosystem ecology
- 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 RecordThe self-thinning line is a very robust pattern, which can be obtained in modeling studies by a variety of different mechanistic assumptions. Our opinion is that we can only advance in our…Publication Date 2008
- Size inequality
- Competitive asymmetry
- Zone of influence model
- Arid savanna
- Acacia reficiens
- Namibia
- Parsimony
- Pattern-oriented modeling
- savanna
- vegetation dynamics
- modelling
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordMany mechanisms have been suggested to explain the coexistence of woody species and grasses in savannas, yet, evidence from field studies and simulation models has been mixed. Shrub encroachment is…Publication Date 2007
- Patch-dynamics
- Cyclical succession
- shrub encroachment
- Spatially explicit root growth
- Computer simulation model
- Validation
- Latin Hypercube sensitivity analysis
- Acacia mellifera
- savanna
- indigenous encroaching species
- vegetation dynamics
- ecosystem ecology
- modelling
- rainfall
- fire
- soil moisture
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn arid and semi-arid savannas, species diversity is strongly influenced by structural diversity, which in these systems is characteristically formed by woody vegetation. Shrub encroachment,…Publication Date 2007
- Yellow mongoose
- rangelands
- Individual-based model
- shrub encroachment
- Spatial explicit
- structural diversity
- ecosystem ecology
- savanna
- biodiversity
- mammals
- indigenous encroaching species
- modelling
- 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 RecordThe health of arid and semiarid lands needs to be monitored, particularly if they are used to produce food and fiber, and are prone to loss of vegetation cover and soil. Indicators of landscape…Publication Date 2007
- DEM
- land condition
- landscape function
- landscape metrics
- rangelands
- Vegetation patchiness
- remote sensing
- monitoring
- rangeland condition
- soil erosion
- landscape ecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordA payments for ecosystem services (PES) system came about in South Africa with the establishment of the government-funded Working for Water (WfW) programme that clears mountain catchments and…Publication Date 2008
- Working for Water
- Payment mechanisms
- ecosystem services
- water supply
- Poverty relief
- Poverty
- Alien invasive species
- fire
- plant production
- biodiversity
- hydrology
- vegetation dynamics
- Economic Aspects
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordClassic rangeland theory advocates stocking rangelands at relatively low and constant levels. This theory has been labelled inappropriate for savanna rangelands, because savannas are strongly…Publication Date 2007
- Bush encroachment
- Disequilibrium theory
- Opportunistic strategies
- Grass-tree interactions
- fire
- livestock production
- savanna
- rangelands
- stocking rates
- management
- modelling
- sustainability
- animal production
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper revisits the debate over the relative effectiveness of 'conservative' and 'opportunistic' stocking strategies for African pastoral rangelands. The paper is based on a…Publication Date 2006
- rangelands
- cattle
- Pastoral strategy
- stocking rate
- Capital costs
- southern Africa
- Zimbabwe
- pastoralism
- stocking rates
- socio-economic aspects
- communal farming
- management
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper forms part of a long-term study of land degradation in the Klein Seekoei valley in the Sneeuberg uplands about 30 km southwest of the town of Middelburg, South Africa (Fig. 1). Landscape…Publication Date 2006
- erosion
- Karoo
- rainfall intensity
- Stock numbers
- land degradation
- Gullies
- rainfall
- degradation
- rangeland condition
- rangelands
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis series of two papers describes a mechanistic model that simulates within years the productivity of vegetation and livestock on the communal semi-arid rangeland of the Succulent Karoo of South…Publication Date 2007
- semi-arid rangelands
- Mechanistic model
- plant growth
- diet selection
- food intake
- animal productivity
- rangeland condition
- rangelands
- plant production
- animal production
- communal farming
- livestock
- management
- soil moisture
- rainfall
- runoff
- modelling
- 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 RecordIn arid and semi-arid rangelands of sub-Saharan Africa, livestock are a central component of rural livelihoods and national economies, but their production is constrained by drought and disease, and…Publication Date 2006
- Maasai pastoralism
- Livestock development
- Livestock vaccination
- East Coast fever
- Livelihoods
- Socio-economic differentiation
- livestock
- rural areas
- pastoralism
- rangelands
- animal production
- disease
- 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 RecordRapid population growth, unsustainable land use, and a pervasively degrading landscape are components of a dominant paradigm regarding African development. While recent work articulating the '…Publication Date 2006
- conservation
- land tenure
- land use
- remote sensing
- deforestation
- Uganda
- vegetation dynamics
- degradation
- Sustainable development
- grasslands
- biomass
- soil
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordNo abstract availablePublication Date 1993
- biodiversity
- rangelands
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordDifferences in land-use management may result in different rangeland condition (soil, vegetation and biodiversity) and productivity. Vegetation condition in contrasting land-use management systems is…Publication Date 2009
- Chemical Properties
- enzyme activity
- land-use management
- microbial biomass
- rangeland degradation
- soil degradation
- rangelands
- management
- land use
- rangeland condition
- communal farming
- Commercial farming
- game farming
- North West Province
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordSeed production, viability, dispersal, predation and seed banks of Themeda triandra were determined to assess the potential of the seeds of this indigenous species in the re-establishment of degraded…Publication Date 2009
- burning
- disturbance
- regeneration
- seeds
- vegetation dynamics
- grasslands
- seed banks
- degradation
- restoration ecology
- fire ecology
- South Africa