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Displaying 1406 - 1410 of 1605How much browse is available for goats that graze Mediterranean woodlands
The difficulty of determining the intake of browse grazed by goats is widely recognized. We suggest that a reasonable estimate of the amount of edible browse available to goats grazing shrubby Mediterranean vegetation can be derived from actual grazing data of goat herds that have obtained most of their annual maintenance requirements from pasture dominated by shrubs or shrubby trees. We have conducted such estimates on three forests in the Hills of Judea, two of which were grazed by milking herds and one by a herd producing mainly kids.
Management effects on European cropland respiration
Increases in respiration rates following management activities in croplands are considered a relevant anthropogenic source of CO₂. In this paper, we quantify the impact of management events on cropland respiration fluxes of CO₂ as they occur under current climate and management conditions. Our findings are based on all available CarboEurope IP eddy covariance flux measurements during a 4-year period (2004-2007). Detailed management information was available for 15 out of the 22 sites that contributed flux data, from which we compiled 30 types of management for European-scale comparison.
Grazing intensity affected spatial patterns of vegetation and soil fertility in a desert steppe
Spatial heterogeneities of vegetation and soil can strongly affect ecological functions of ecosystems, particularly for arid and semi-arid ecosystems where vegetation has a patchy distribution and livestock grazing is one of the major land use types. However, little is known about the impact of grazing on spatial patterns of vegetation and soil, even though grazing has variously been shown to create, maintain or destroy those patterns.
Intensive agropastoralism: dryland degradation, the Grain-to-Green Program and islands of sustainability in the Mu Us Sandy Land of China
The Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP) was initiated in China in 2000 to address environmental degradation. In northern China, the central goal of the program is to entice sustainable transitions in resource uses through subsidizing cropland afforestation and grassland exclosure. This study, based on a household survey in Shabianzi, an agropastoral community in the Mu Us Sandy Land, examines farmers' responses to and the environmental outcome of the GTGP.
potential of Estonian semi-natural grasslands for bioenergy production
High biodiversity of Estonian semi-natural grasslands can only be maintained through continuous management. One option for the usage of biomass from these areas is bioenergy production, if both the herbaceous biomass yield and the chemical characteristics of the cut meet the needs. In 2007 the largest average annual biomass yield per area was achieved in floodplain meadows (5.7tdrymass/ha), which also have the highest potential for biomass production among Estonian semi-natural grasslands (more than 113,000tdrymass).