Rangeland Ecology & Management
Get reliable science
Toggle Search
Result Type
Collection
Keywords
Document Type
Displaying 51 - 100 of 169 results
- Library Collection RecordThe spatial and temporal patterns of fire in Africa south of the equator are described and investigated to test hypotheses on the main drivers of fire. In particular, the relative importance of…Publication Date 2010
- fire ecology
- Savanna ecology
- southern Africa
- vegatation dynamics
- fires
- environmental aspects
- satellite imagery
- modelling
- global change
- rainfall
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordThere are few tests of the predicted decline of secondary productivity in desertified rangelands, despite this being one of the major concerns around desertification. Subtropical thicket, largely…Publication Date 2009
- body growth
- fleece production
- rangelands
- veld degradation
- animal production
- goats
- degradation
- rainfall
- management
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn this study, we present a stochastic landscape modeling approach that has the power to transfer and integrate existing information on vegetation dynamics and hydrological processes from the small…Publication Date 2009
- modelling
- vegetation dynamics
- landscape ecology
- hydrology
- commercial agriculture
- subsistence agriculture
- grazing
- plant production
- runoff
- drought
- rainfall
- management
- Namibia
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordRenosterveld is a grassy shrubland with a diverse understory of geophytes. Exceptional plant diversity and endemism, combined with considerable fragmentation due to transformation to cropland, make…Publication Date 2009
- ecosystem services
- rainfall simulation
- Renosterveld fragments
- transformation
- wind erosion
- endemic species
- conservation
- hydrology
- rainfall
- degradation
- management
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordLeaf gas exchange characteristics play a key role in carbon sequestration and water balance from site to regional scales, yet show differences among plant species with alternative adaptations to the…Publication Date 2009
- Arid and semiarid environments
- CO2 assimilation
- Ecophysiological models
- Kalahari
- Leaf gas exchange
- stomatal conductance
- carbon dioxide
- carbon sequestration
- water use efficiency
- climate
- plant autecology
- rainfall
- Botswana
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordInterpolated rain-gauge data were compared to Meteosat-based precipitation estimates for sub-Saharan Africa. Validation was carried out using a dataset from a very dense gauge network in South Africa…Publication Date 2009
- precipitation
- Block kriging
- Indicator kriging
- Meteosat
- FEWS
- rainfall
- remote sensing
- satellite imagery
- modelling
- runoff
- soil erosion
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Library Collection RecordKnowledge of the southern Africa soil carbon pool, its heterogeneity, sources (from trees or grasses), and potential response to climate is extremely limited. In this study the Kalahari Transect (KT…Publication Date 2009
- geostatistics
- Kalahari
- savannas
- Soil [delta]13C
- soil organic carbon
- Stable isotope
- climate change
- savanna
- rainfall
- carbon sequestration
- southern Africa
- Library Collection RecordPatchy vegetation patterns are an expression of soil surface conditions, water redistribution on the soil surface and landscape function. Their origin is attributed by many a scholar to the…Publication Date 2009
- patchiness
- Moisture dependencies
- Soil crusting
- Runoff generation
- Dysfunctional
- Soil Condition
- rainfall
- runoff
- Aerial Photographs
- Alien invasive species
- disturbance
- erosion
- land use
- grazing
- landscape ecology
- degradation
- Eastern Cape
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe influence of dispersed trees on microclimatic conditions, gas exchange and productivity of maize (Zea mays L.) in a Grevillea robusta-based agroforestry system in semi-arid Kenya was examined to…Publication Date 2009
- agroforestry
- Grevillea robusta
- microclimate
- temperature
- gas exchange
- Maize
- agriculture
- ecosystem ecology
- rainfall
- Kenya
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn situ rainwater harvesting (RWH) belong to the promising practices to support sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa facing climate change impacts. However, appropriate indicators for their…Publication Date 2009
- Ecosystem service
- climate change
- biodiversity
- soil and water conservation
- Downstream effects
- ecohydrology
- Soil Condition
- rainfall
- conservation
- sustainability
- soil nutrients
- species richness
- socio-economic aspects
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordA simulation model was used to determine the ecological and economic consequences of managing stocking rate on semi-arid savanna rangeland continuously stocked with livestock to achieve the alternate…Publication Date 2009
- continuous grazing
- ranching systems
- range condition
- semi-arid
- stocking rates
- sustainability
- Economic Aspects
- grazing
- savanna
- rangeland condition
- management
- rainfall
- indigenous encroaching species
- animal production
- modelling
- plant production
- Library Collection RecordSavannas are ecosystems characterized by the coexistence of woody species (trees and bushes) and grasses. Given that savanna characteristics are mainly formed from competition, herbivory, fire,…Publication Date 2009
- Spatially explicit
- soil moisture
- Cyclical transition
- Arid
- Mesic
- spatial autocorrelation
- shrub invasion
- Vegetation cycles
- Tree
- Bush
- grasslands
- savanna
- modelling
- vegetation dynamics
- animal impact
- fire ecology
- Soil Condition
- rainfall
- Library Collection RecordMany mechanisms have been suggested to explain the coexistence of woody species and grasses in savannas. However, evidence from field studies and simulation models has been mixed. Patch dynamics is a…Publication Date 2009
- Cyclical succession
- Spatiotemporal scales
- competition
- simulation models
- shrub encroachment
- Mosaic cycles
- Woody Species
- shrubs
- grasses
- savanna
- grasslands
- vegetation dynamics
- ecology
- modelling
- rainfall
- Library Collection Record
64 Savanna
Savannas are characterized by the coexistence of trees and grasses and occur largely in the seasonal tropics between the equatorial rainforests and mid-latitude desert ecosystems. This article…Publication Date 2008- climate change
- Deciduous
- Evergreen
- fire
- grazing
- herbivory
- phenology
- Seasonal tropics
- soils
- Tree and grass competition
- savanna
- ecology
- animal impact
- grasslands
- rainfall
- southern 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 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 RecordSavanna ecosystems of southern Africa are strongly influenced by water availability and fire intensity, and this study aimed to show whether these two specific environmental variables are reflected…Publication Date 2008
- calibration
- Kruger National Park
- fire history
- quantitative analysis
- Relevant Source Area of Charcoal
- fire ecology
- palaeobotany
- rainfall
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSummary Robust calibration of hydrological models, driven by gridded precipitation data derived from either Regional Climate Models or statistical downscaling of General Circulation Models, is…Publication Date 2008
- groundwater
- recharge
- precipitation
- distribution
- Africa
- rainfall
- hydrology
- climate change
- soil moisture
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe are attempting to set up a new protocol for palaeoecological reconstruction in relation to the fossil hominin site Laetoli, Tanzania. This is based on the premise that habitat variability in the…Publication Date 2008
- Habitat variability
- rainfall
- climate
- topography
- soil
- Hominins
- ecology
- paleoecology
- 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 RecordThis paper provides a reappraisal of contemporary perspectives on climate change in southern Africa's Okavango Delta sub-region by drawing on time-line evidence from historical/archival records…Publication Date 2008
- Bush-encroachment
- desiccation
- deterioration
- Human interventions
- wetland
- climate change
- remote sensing
- hydrology
- rainfall
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordDespite the ubiquity of sub-tropical savannas throughout the earth, limitations of savanna productivity are understudied relative to other terrestrial systems. The limitations of savanna productivity…Publication Date 2008
- grass
- nitrogen
- phosphorus
- savanna
- rainfall
- soil nutrients
- plant production
- plant autecology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordAccelerated erosion is a major environmental, social and economical threat in South Africa. It is estimated that in excess of 400 million tones of soil is lost every year in South Africa, with much…Publication Date 2008
- soil erosion
- management
- bushveld
- rangelands
- savanna
- Game Reserve
- rainfall
- restoration ecology
- southern Africa
- Library Collection Record[1] Land use/cover change has been recognized as a key component in global change. Various land cover data sets, including historically reconstructed, recently observed, and future projected, have…Publication Date 2007
- land use
- climate change
- management
- classification
- data analysis
- remote sensing
- modelling
- rainfall
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe response of photosynthetic activity to interannual rainfall variations in Africa South of the Sahara is examined using 20 years (1981-2000) of Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) AVHRR…Publication Date 2007
- NDVI
- vegetation
- rainfall
- Land cover
- soil properties
- Interannual variability
- Africa
- remote sensing
- 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 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 RecordThe phenology of three dominant and economically important tree species; Acacia erioloba, Acacia luederitzii and Acacia mellifera, all widespread in the Kalahari in Botswana, was studied at Tsabong (…Publication Date 2007
- Kalahari
- phenology
- Acacia luederitzii
- Acacia erioloba
- Acacia mellifera
- litter
- plant autecology
- climate change
- rainfall
- fodder production
- 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 investigated the effects of rainfall and the number of animals on changes in vegetation and on the output of milk and meat from the communal areas of Namaqualand. Previously published short- and…Publication Date 2007
- climate change
- degradation
- desert
- Karoo
- livestock production
- Disequilibrium
- sustainability
- animal nutrition
- rainfall
- pastoralism
- subsistence agriculture
- animal production
- management
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordAdvanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data (NDVI, 1 km2, 1985-2003) and modeled net primary production (NPP, 8 km2, 1981-2000) data were used to…Publication Date 2007
- monitoring
- AVHRR
- NDVI
- rain-use efficiency
- NPP
- Communal lands
- South Africa
- degradation
- land use
- remote sensing
- NDVI values
- mapping
- rainfall
- 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 RecordConserving African wildlife in human-occupied landscapes requires management intervention that is guided by a mechanistic understanding of how anthropogenic factors influence large-scale ecological…Publication Date 2007
- wildlife
- rainfall
- predation
- competition
- apparent competition
- Non-protected area
- management
- conservation
- grasslands
- eco - tourism
- cattle
- 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 RecordIt has been well established that drought frequently emerges in several tropical regions following the onset of El Niño. An important characteristic of such droughts is their spatial extent, which…Publication Date 2006
- drought
- climate change
- El Nino
- rainfall
- 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 RecordEarly warning systems (EWS) tend to focus on the identification of slow onset disasters such famine and epidemic disease. Since hazardous environmental conditions often precede disastrous outcomes by…Publication Date 2006
- Early warning
- Africa
- food security
- NDVI
- precipitation
- rainfall
- Malaria
- Rift valley fever
- Pastoral livelihoods
- modelling
- drought
- management
- system 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 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 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 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 RecordLarge herbivores can both positively and negatively affect primary productivity and rates of nutrient cycling in different ecosystems. Positive effects of grazers in grasslands have been attributed…Publication Date 2006
- livestock
- soil fertility
- rainfall
- ecosystem processes
- savanna
- productivity
- soil fertility
- cattle
- migration
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordOne of the many contentious issues facing the appropriate and accurate assessment of land degradation is the varying emphasis placed on vegetation degradation and soil degradation processes. This has…Publication Date 2006
- vegetation degradation
- soil degradation
- remote sensing
- land use
- Land cover
- Tanzania
- degradation
- Soil Condition
- mapping
- rainfall
- management
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordAbstract Carbon sequestration programs, including afforestation and reforestation, are gaining attention globally and will alter many ecosystem processes, including water yield. Some previous…Publication Date 2005
- afforestation
- land-use change
- plantation
- runoff
- water yield
- carbon sequestration
- ecosystem dynamics
- modelling
- grasslands
- rainfall
- hydrology
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordSavanna water management is predicated on the hypothesis that surface water availability can be manipulated at scales that influence herbivore distributions. Using a case study in the Kruger National…Publication Date 2005
- water management
- wildlife management
- Semi-arid savannas
- Artificial water sources
- Water source heterogeneity
- rainfall
- Kruger National Park
- savanna
- national parks
- management
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis paper reviews the predictions and management implications of two current paradigms in the ecology and management of arid and semi-arid rangelands. The equilibrium model stresses the importance…Publication Date 2005
- range condition
- overgrazing
- key resources
- rainfall variability
- heterogeneity
- Scale dependence
- Mobility
- management
- ecology
- rangelands
- modelling
- rangeland condition
- rainfall
- livestock
- stocking rates
- vegetation dynamics
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe impact of rangeland degradation on soil characteristics (compaction, temperature, soil-water content, infiltrability, root and litter turnover, and the organic matter content), was determined for…Publication Date 2005
- Infiltrability
- litter
- organic matter
- rangeland condition
- Root turnover
- soil compaction
- soil temperature
- Soil-water content
- degradation
- Soil Condition
- soil organic carbon
- rainfall
- soil nutrients
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordTwo long-term mechanistic models of grazing systems in the semi-arid succulent Karoo have been used to study factors that influence vegetation changes, livestock productivity and sustainability of…Publication Date 2005
- Rangeland dynamics
- Semi-arid regions
- Vegetation Change
- Goat production
- goats
- sheep
- rainfall
- rangelands
- vegetation dynamics
- modelling
- diet selection
- Africa