Track 1-13: Monitoring and Managing Grass and Forage Biomass Resources at the Landscape Level
Description
The development of practical indicators of vegetation degradation is an important element in predicting and assessing rangeland health due to disturbances such as livestock grazing. Once established, phytoindicators provide a simple and visual operative way to diagnose active and possibly undesirable vegetation changes. This paper aimed to identify rapid, yet realistic and easily communicated plant indicators of rangeland degradation caused by intense grazing. The grazing gradient approach is applied to study plant traits affected by increased levels of grazing pressure. Qualitative and quantitative changes in key species of the plant community alongside successive changes of vegetation attributes along an apparent grazing gradient were used as potential indicators for detection of rangeland degradation. The presence of different environmental (edaphic properties) and management (grazing regime) conditions in two study sites allowed selection of fine scale plant indicators. Effective use of rapid assessment plant indicators in rangeland monitoring provides a baseline for improved rangeland management practices to prevent further degradation processes.
Included in
Identifying Grazing-Driven Plant Indicators of Rangeland Degradation in Semi Arid Zones of Uzbekistan
The development of practical indicators of vegetation degradation is an important element in predicting and assessing rangeland health due to disturbances such as livestock grazing. Once established, phytoindicators provide a simple and visual operative way to diagnose active and possibly undesirable vegetation changes. This paper aimed to identify rapid, yet realistic and easily communicated plant indicators of rangeland degradation caused by intense grazing. The grazing gradient approach is applied to study plant traits affected by increased levels of grazing pressure. Qualitative and quantitative changes in key species of the plant community alongside successive changes of vegetation attributes along an apparent grazing gradient were used as potential indicators for detection of rangeland degradation. The presence of different environmental (edaphic properties) and management (grazing regime) conditions in two study sites allowed selection of fine scale plant indicators. Effective use of rapid assessment plant indicators in rangeland monitoring provides a baseline for improved rangeland management practices to prevent further degradation processes.
