Rangeland Ecology & Management
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Displaying 101 - 150 of 281 results
- Library Collection RecordThis paper complements Vetter's position paper, "Development and sustainable management of rangeland commons - aligning policy with the realities of South Africa's rural landscape…Publication Date 2013
- Sustainable development
- socio-economic aspects
- communal farming
- rural areas
- subsistence agriculture
- livestock
- management
- policy
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordLand and agrarian reform has the potential to expand South Africa's rangeland commons and enhance their contribution to the livelihoods of the rural poor, yet to a large extent this has been an…Publication Date 2013
- rangeland
- Communal areas
- land reform
- subsistence agriculture
- socio-economic aspects
- policies
- Commercial farming
- agriculture
- Poverty
- livestock
- animal production
- management
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordLivestock farming in communal areas is an activity pursued by rural households as one of a range of livelihood strategies aimed at spreading risk. The cash and non-cash benefits derived from…Publication Date 2013
- communal farming
- rural areas
- subsistence agriculture
- socio-economic aspects
- rangelands
- policy
- management
- livestock production
- Poverty
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe paper agrees with three fundamental points raised by Vetter (in this issue), whilst highlighting an emerging trend in wildlife land use, which should be considered in policy making. Firstly, the…Publication Date 2013
- game animals
- policies
- communal rangelands
- subsistence agriculture
- biodiversity
- conservation
- Poverty
- livastock
- socio-economic aspects
- management
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordPolicy affecting the rangeland commons in South Africa has been based largely on management models developed for large-scale commercial farming. This paper examines the current policy situation and…Publication Date 2013
- policy
- socio-economic aspects
- rangelands
- Communal areas
- management
- Sustainable development
- agriculture
- livestock
- Tenure
- legislation
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordBush encroachment is a vegetation dynamic of global interest. This study describes the pattern of succession of bush clumps in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, using a space-for-time substitution.…Publication Date 2012
- Acacia karroo
- Bush encroachment
- plant diversity
- savanna
- woody invasion
- Eastern Cape
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordStudies on plant phenology and browse capacity require effective methods to rapidly quantify plant dimensions such as tree height, height of maximum canopy diameter, height of first leaves, maximum…Publication Date 2012
- digital photograph
- phenology
- tree dimensions
- tree volume
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordSoil seed banks provide not only a historical record of vegetation composition but also the potential for post-disturbance revegetation. Pechuel-Loeschea leubnitziae (wild sage) is a multistemmed,…Publication Date 2012
- Okavango Delta
- rangelands
- semi-arid savanna
- shrub encroachment
- Namibia
- Botswana
- Swaziland
- Zimbabwe
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe non-selective, soil-applied herbicide tebuthiuron (1-(5-tert-butyl-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)-1,3-dimethylurea) is registered for the control of the indigenous encroacher shrub Seriphium plumosum (…Publication Date 2012
- bare patches
- half-life
- Herbicide
- pot experiment
- Seriphium plumosum
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis study investigated the relationship between grazing veld condition and herbaceous plant species richness in the moist Midlands Mistbelt Grassland in KwaZulu-Natal. The observed herbaceous plant…Publication Date 2012
- grazing
- plant-herbivore interactions
- rangeland condition
- veld assessment
- KwaZulu-Natal
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThere is increasing evidence that climate change will be one of the primary challenges facing future development and agriculture. Farmers, whether crop or livestock farmers, will be faced with…Publication Date 2012
- carbon farming
- climate change adaptation
- drought
- Livestock Farmers
- subtropical thicket
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe Roggeveld consists of an island of Mountain Renosterveld (Fynbos biome) surrounded by Succulent Karoo biome vegetation. Since management of abandoned croplands depends on a better understanding…Publication Date 2011
- diversity indices
- Fynbos biome
- old fields
- species richness
- Succulent Karoo biome
- management
- Abandoned lands
- restoration ecology
- Roggeveld
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe assessed the impact of Prosopis invasion and clearing on the grazing capacity of heavily grazed Nama Karoo rangeland in the Beaufort West district of the Western Cape province of South Africa.…Publication Date 2011
- exotic invasive plants
- management
- natural resources
- rangeland condition
- rehabilitation
- alien invasive plants
- grazing
- plant production
- forage quality
- Forage Quantity
- Nama Karoo
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe study area was located in the central Free State Grassland biome, but the vegetation partially represented riparian thicket. Leaf carriage patterns of deciduous species were determined from…Publication Date 2011
- foraging ecology
- leaf budding
- leafless period
- mixed feeder
- seasonal changes
- senescing leaves
- rainfall
- temperature
- game
- foraging ecology
- Forage Quantity
- forage quality
- stocking rates
- plant production
- Wag-‘n-Bietjie Private Nature Reserve
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordFire is a key driver in shaping and maintaining grasslands. Long-term exclusion of fire in moist grasslands has been attempted at Catchment IX (CIX) at Cathedral Peak since 1952. Vegetation was…Publication Date 2011
- Erica evansii
- Leucosidea sericea
- moist grasslands
- tree mortality
- fire ecology
- grasslands
- management
- species diversity
- KwaZulu-Natal
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordQuantification of the short-term impact of burning in terms of the encroacher shrub Seriphium plumosum and grass tuft mortality, seed germination of the shrub (field and seed bank), aboveground…Publication Date 2011
- bankrupt bush
- mortality
- seed germination
- slangbos
- Stoebe vulgaris
- Seriphium plumosum
- Alien invasive species
- germination
- seed banks
- grassland
- plant production
- seedlings
- fire ecology
- Thaba Nchu
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordInteractions between mature grass plants and grass seedlings have been found to be both facilitative and competitive. To examine the effects of aboveground and belowground competition on seedling…Publication Date 2011
- competition
- grass seedling
- soil depth
- seedlings
- grasslands
- plant production
- siol depth
- plant autecology
- grazing
- stocking rates
- management
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordFour Trifolium repens (white clover) cultivars were evaluated under field conditions to determine the potential of these cultivars to sucessfully develop Rhizobium-associated root nodules. Nodulation…Publication Date 2011
- pasture management
- seeds
- plant production establishment
- nodulation index
- Rhizobia
- thousand seed mass
- white clover
- Western Cape
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordMean annual soil respiration correlates with net primary productivity and therefore provides an indication of ecosystem functioning. Soil respiration, however, varies considerably in space and time…Publication Date 2011
- carbon dioxide
- overstocking
- rangeland management
- soil temperature
- ecosystem ecology
- soil nutrients
- soil water
- rangelands
- management
- stocking rates
- Nama Karoo
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordArthropods are valuable biological indicators owing to strong relationships with primary producers. The supposition that arthropod-plant interactions are constant over seasons was tested using Mantel…Publication Date 2011
- arthropod community composition
- Bloemfontein Dry Grassland
- Mantel test
- plant community composition
- trophic interactions
- insects
- biological indicators
- plant production
- biodiversity
- ecosystem ecology
- grasslands
- Free State province
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThis study investigated the seasonal and plant species patterns of short-term intake rate (STIR) by Nguni goats fed six common browse species in subhumid subtropical savannas. Six 2-year-old…Publication Date 2011
- browser
- conditioning
- feeding behaviour
- herbivore
- intake rate
- goats
- Fodder
- diet selection
- foraging ecology
- management
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe assessed past and present vegetation patterns in relation to land use on a municipal commonage in South Africa. We asked specifically whether the reassignment of the commonage for the use of…Publication Date 2011
- Bush encroachment
- land degradation
- land reform
- post-apartheid
- subtropical thicket
- land use
- aerial photography
- Impact assessment
- indigenous encroaching species
- Eastern Cape
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe Grassland biome is the most transformed biome in South Africa, with cultivation and other human impacts having the largest effect on pristine grasslands. Conversion of natural grassland to…Publication Date 2011
- conservation
- Gauteng
- grassland
- old lands
- rehabilitation
- species diversity
- reseeding
- restoration ecology
- Weeds
- plant production
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordNo abstract is available for this article.Publication Date 2010
- game
- animal impact
- Sanbona Wildlife Reserve
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordUsing the results from a long-term grazing trial in the Dry Highland Sourveld of the KwaZulu-Natal province, we prepared a water use efficiency value (the ratio of the increment in annual biomass to…Publication Date 2010
- animal production
- foraging ecology
- plant ecology
- plant production
- rangeland condition
- remote sensing
- monitoring
- grazing
- water use efficiency
- grassland
- MODIS
- KwaZulu-Natal
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordPatch-mosaic burning (PMB) is commonly advocated to create a mosaic of fire regimes that is believed to be more beneficial for maintaining biodiversity than the relatively homogeneous environment…Publication Date 2010
- conservation areas
- fire ecology
- geographic information systems
- landscape ecology
- biodiversity
- management
- GIS
- Mkuzi Game Reserve
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordIn spite of predictions of communal rangeland collapse due to continuous grazing and increased livestock populations, this grazing system remains prevalent in communal areas, suggesting animals…Publication Date 2010
- cattle
- Graze
- key resource areas
- livestock
- communal farming
- rangelands
- grazing
- plant production
- soils
- soil organic carbon
- Eastern Cape
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordPredicting the effect of different management strategies on range condition is a challenge for farmers in highly variable environments. A model that explains how the relations between rainfall,…Publication Date 2010
- catastrophe theory
- complexity theory
- Disequilibrium
- hysteresis
- moving attractors
- vegetation dynamics
- livestock
- rainfall
- rangelands
- mangement
- rangeland condition
- modelling
- ecosystem ecology
- stocking rate
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordTo proffer a sustainable solution to rangeland degradation, an understanding of the innate soil properties is vital. This study investigated the relative association of surface (0-20 cm) soil…Publication Date 2010
- communal rangelands
- rangeland
- soil properties
- toposequence
- Vegetation Type
- rangeland
- degradation
- soil organic carbon
- vegetation ecology
- Eastern Cape
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe long-term establishment sequence of the woody component of the Sourish Mixed Bushveld of the Limpopo province was studied and documented. Vegetation surveys were conducted at a protected site at…Publication Date 2010
- Bush encroachment
- tree density
- tree sucession
- ecosystem ecology
- Limpopo
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe reliability of a field test kit for the detection and the persistence of Synergistes jonesii bacteria in sheep was investigated in two trials for 12 months. The test kit consisted of a culture…Publication Date 2010
- DHP-degrading bacteria
- dihydroxypyridine
- mimosine
- diagnostic kits
- sheep
- drought
- forage quality
- disease
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordSeed ecology may play a role in the widespread increase of Acacia karroo in savanna and grassland. Accordingly, fecundity, predation, mortality by fire, dispersal by livestock, and seed longevity…Publication Date 2010
- dispersal
- fire
- seed bank
- seed lngevity
- seed predation
- seed production
- ecology
- savanna
- grassland
- livestock
- insects
- germination
- cattle
- sheep
- goats
- management
- Eastern Cape
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe relative benefit of different grazing management practices for maintaining grassland biodiversity integrity was assessed. Practices considered were grazing system, stocking rate, animal type,…Publication Date 2010
- analytic heirarchy process
- plant diversity
- stocking rate
- veld condition assessment
- grazing
- management
- biodiversity
- fire
- cattle
- sheep
- Impact assessment
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordSeriphium plumosum encroachment in South Africa has converted extensive areas of grassland into less productive shrubland-grassland. In addition to its competitive ability, it is hypothesised that…Publication Date 2010
- allelopathy
- seed ecology
- germination
- indigenous encroaching species
- Seriphium plumosum
- bankrupt bush
- slangbos
- toxin
- Stoebe vulgaris
- vaalbos
- grassland
- restoration ecology
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordProductivity and mortality of grass plants following drought may be controlled by interactions between defoliation and severity of the drought. Prudent grassland management might mitigate deleterious…Publication Date 2010
- fodder production
- rehabilitation
- tradeoff
- water stress
- drought
- grazing
- grasslands
- management
- plant production
- KwaZulu-Natal
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe investigated the indirect influence of mammalian herbivores on invertebrates, by utilising long-term mammalian herbivore exclosures in Kruger National Park. The exclosures span three distinct…Publication Date 2010
- herbivores
- invertebrates
- Vegetation Change
- national parks
- ecosystem ecology
- Ants
- Beetles
- Elephants
- savanna
- spiders
- Kruger National Park
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe Bontebok National Park has long been faced with the dilemma of reconciling the need for short-interval fires, which promote grazing for bontebok, with that for longer-interval fires to maintain…Publication Date 2010
- fire
- management
- national park
- herbivores
- Cape mountain zebra
- Fynbos
- grazing succession
- red hartebeeste
- renosterveld
- grazing
- stocking rates
- Bontebok National Park
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordCommunal rangelands have a wide range of vegetation communities that sustain livestock. Limited information exists on forage availability and quality in communal areas and how it influences Nguni…Publication Date 2010
- biomass
- bite size
- foraging behaviour
- Nguni
- communal farming
- livestock
- sheep
- KwaZulu-Natal
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe effects of grazing on plant biomass, plant quality, species evenness, species diversity and species composition were determined among management types (communal, commercial and game) and among…Publication Date 2010
- grazing
- herbivory
- plant biomass
- plant quality
- rangeland management
- savanna
- species richness
- species diversity
- communal farming
- commercial agriculture
- game farming
- forage quality
- grazing
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordAbstract Soil-stored seed banks of grassland, fynbos and thicket, all growing on calcareous dunes and each subject to different disturbance regimes, were examined. Seed banks were determined from…Publication Date 1991
- Fynbos
- grasslands
- ordination
- South Africa
- succession
- Thicket
- Bond & Goldblatt (1984)
- seed banks
- germination
- disturbance
- biodiversity
- Africa
- Library Collection RecordTrait-based community assembly theory suggests that trait variation among co-occurring species is shaped by two main processes: abiotic filtering, important in stressful environments and promoting…Publication Date 2012
- abiotic filtering
- bottom-up control
- community assembly
- competition
- functional diversity
- grasses
- grasshoppers
- herbivores
- savannas
- top-down control
- trait dispersion
- trophic interactions
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordSubantarctic islands form ideal sentinels to climate change. These islands support terrestrial and marine ecosystems that are relatively simple and extremely sensitive to perturbations.1 They provide…Publication Date 2014
- Prince Edward Islands
- Subantarctic Front
- Antarctic Circumpolar Current
- climate change
- oceanography
- ecosystem ecology
- Prince Edward Islands
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordWe investigated the effects of high biomass yielding winter cover crops, namely grazing vetch (Vicia dasycarpa L.) and oats (Avena sativa L.), on soil phosphorus (P) availability in low fertiliser…Publication Date 2014
- biomass
- pastures
- crops
- phosphorus
- soil nutrients
- plant production
- fertilizer
- Eastern Cape Province
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordPublic works programs have been posited as win-win solutions for achieving societal goals for ecological restoration and poverty alleviation. However, little is documented regarding the challenges of…Publication Date 2013
- daptive management
- ecological intervention
- Effectiveness
- Failure
- lessons
- organizational design
- pest control
- set-backs
- restoration ecology
- management
- socio-economic aspects
- Alien invasive species
- policy
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordQuestionsHow does heavy grazing change plant community structure, composition and species richness and diversity in an ecotone between grassland and semi-arid shrub steppe-type vegetation? Does…Publication Date 2012
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordQuestions: What are the patterns of remotely sensed vegetation phenology, including their inter-annual variability, across South Africa? What are the phenological attributes that contribute most to…Publication Date 2011
- Phytosociology
- AVHRR
- Biomes
- NDVI
- net primary production
- phenology
- Regression tree
- vegetation mapping
- mapping
- remote sensing
- plant production
- rainfall
- diversity
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordSavannah ecosystems exhibit constant transitions between states dominated by trees and states dominated by a combination of trees and grasses. Transitions between these states are driven by…Publication Date 2012
- Antelope
- habitat management
- herbivore
- herbivory
- savannah ecology
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordAbstract Aim Evidence is accumulating of a general increase in woody cover of many savanna regions of the world. Little is known about the consequences of this widespread and fundamental ecosystem…Publication Date 2009
- Biome shift
- Bush encroachment
- global change
- Land cover change
- landscape heterogeneity
- savanna
- biodiversity
- birds
- ecosystem ecology
- species richness
- vegetation dynamics
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe factors that affect resource selection by a foraging herbivore can vary according to the resources or conditions associated with particular levels of organization in the environment, and to the…Publication Date 2012
- bushveld savanna
- forage selection
- foraging behaviour
- foraging hierarchy
- South Africa
- Library Collection RecordThe coastal grasslands in north-eastern South Africa are a severely threatened vegetation type rich in plant species, particularly forbs. Many of the forbs have underground storage organs which allow…Publication Date 2011
- C4 grassland
- forb
- persistence
- pine afforestation
- resprouters
- restoration
- conservation
- diversity
- species richness
- fire ecology
- South Africa