Numerous studies have focused on vegetation traits and soil properties in grassland, few of which concerned about effects of human utilization patterns on grassland yet. Thus, this study hypothesized that human disturbance (e.g., grazing, mowing and fencing) triggered significant variation of biomass partitioning and carbon reallocation. Besides, there existed some differences of species diversity and soil fertility.

The scarcity of tree regeneration is a major concern for the long-term conservation of tree cover in the Aïr-Ténéré Nature Reserve (Sahara, Niger), and the causes of this shortage are poorly understood. We raised the hypothesis that livestock pressure is a key-factor in the mortality of tree seedlings and that facilitation processes among plants may enhance tree regeneration. We tested whether the tussock grass Panicum turgidum could facilitate the regeneration of a keystone tree species, Acacia tortilis var. raddiana, under a grazing regime.

Facilitation of tree regeneration by nurse shrubs that offer protection against large herbivores is an important driver of wood-pasture dynamics. Here we asked whether the response to facilitation by nurse shrubs depends on the grazing resistance of the protégé saplings. We experimentally tested the protective effects of the thorny Rosa rubiginosa on browsing frequency, survival, and biomass change of saplings of two species-groups, presumably differing in grazing resistance: the coniferous Abies alba and Picea abies and the deciduous Acer pseudoplatanus and Fagus sylvatica saplings.

Birds pose serious hazards at United States airports because of the potential for collisions with aircraft. Raptors, in particular, are hazardous to aircraft safety due to their size, hunting behavior, and hovering and soaring habits. Reduction of rodent populations at an airport may decrease raptor populations in the area and, therefore, reduce risk that raptors pose to aircraft. Rodent populations can be reduced by population management (i.e., use of rodenticides) or by habitat management (i.e., vegetation and land-use management) that reduces the area’s carrying capacity for rodents.

Pastoralism is a highly traditional production system for livestock and livestock products. Under the surface of a seeming stability a variety of pressures of the modern time all seem to accumulate to put the sustainability of the pastoralist production system to the test. Population growth and growing demand for meat, put pressure on the natural resources used by pastoralists because the grazing lands that are saved from encroachment or conversion into arable lands, may be overexploited. Changing climatic conditions, such as frequent droughts, put even more pressure on the system.

Phytosociological attributes of plant species and associated environmental factors were measured in order to identify the environmental gradients of major plant communities in the Naran Valley, Himalayas. The valley occupies a distinctive geographical setting on the edge of the Western Himalaya near the Hindukush range and supports a high biodiversity; pastoralism is the main land use. There have been no previous quantitative ecological studies in this region.

Based on soil characteristics, watertable level, mineral composition of plant biomass, morphological/reproductive traits and carbon discrimination values, a new concept for the classification of halophytes was developed. Six main groups of halophytes have been described within the desert flora of Central Asia. Significant changes on chemical contents of ions: Cl⁻, SO₄ ²⁻, HCO₃ ⁻, Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺among 23 studied halophytic forage species were revealed.

Beef cattle grazing is the dominant land use in the extensive tropical and sub-tropical rangelands of northern Australia. Despite the considerable knowledge on land and herd management gained from both research and practical experience, the adoption of improved management is limited by an inability to predict how changes in practices and combinations of practices will affect cattle production, economic returns and resource condition.

Using data from previous studies, we tested two hypotheses about the impacts of grazing in a naturally heterogeneous landscape in arid central Australia: (1) that grazing leads to net change of resources at a paddock or landscape scale, and (2) that water and nutrients remain coupled as they move through the landscape. We found that key nutrients were likely to be lost at the landscape scale as grazing increased, rather than just being redistributed. Water infiltration increased but runoff was probably lost more readily due to the lack of barriers to flow.

Carl Malmström's historical forest maps of the province of Halland, in south-western Sweden, were published over 70 years ago, but are still important to science and conservation. They show the transformation of a seventeenth century landscape of temperate broadleaves to a landscape dominated by open land and heather (Calluna vulgaris) in the nineteenth century, and to a landscape of coniferous forest plantations in the twentieth century. This article summarizes and reviews the original research, first published in Swedish in 1939.

Vast areas of forests in North‐eastern Ethiopia have been replaced by cropland, shrub land or grazing areas. Thus, information about how vegetation composition and structure varies with disturbance is fundamental to conservation of such areas. This study aimed to investigate the effects of disturbance on the population structure and regeneration potential of five dominant woody species within forest where local communities harvest wood and graze livestock. Vegetation structure and environmental variables were assessed in 50 quadrats (20 m × 20 m).