Rangelands最新文献

In recent decades rangeland science has moved from a “command and control” framework to one that values heterogeneity, recognizes rangelands as social-ecological systems, and seeks to integrate complexity.

This new framework recognizes management as fundamentally site-specific, but rangeland science has not provided clear principles for successful livestock grazing management for use by producers and other stakeholders. This reticence has created a void often filled by prescriptive solutions that contradict our best understanding of rangeland systems.

We engaged hundreds of livestock grazing management experts in an iterative conversation to distill a set of evidence-based, adaptable principles for successful livestock grazing management in the semiarid and arid rangelands of the western United States.

The seven principles are: Practice adaptive management; Optimize stocking rate; Use a grazing plan; Prioritize ecological health; Evaluate distribution; Welfare begets performance; and Think beyond the range. The full versions of these principles contain paragraph length descriptions highlighting key considerations for each.

We envision these principles as a first draft to be improved with discussion and additional research. Further development can include definitions, suggested applications, and checklists for assessment for use in teaching, extension, and industry evaluation efforts.

Precision livestock management through sensor technology using the Internet of Things offers enhanced surveillance and monitoring of the ranching operations.

At the ranch scale, the integration of sensor technology, including on-animal sensors, environmental monitoring equipment, and remote sensing can shift livestock operations from a solely reactive, traditional, knowledge-based approach toward a proactive, data-driven, decision-making process.

Leveraging data from sensors at the ranch scale can address logistical challenges and create efficiency in decision-making processes concerning resource management.

Soil pitting is an ancient technique for concentrating soil moisture to enable plant establishment and promote plant growth. It is especially effective in arid areas where plant establishment is limited by water availability.

Pits created by digging and mounding action have been shown to be effective. Small pits made by soil compression are not very durable. Larger pits last longer and store more moisture.

In mesic areas or years with above-average soil moisture, pitting may not be needed for plant establishment, and better results may be obtained by drill seeding.

Pitting can help control some non-native annual plants by hindering their seed dispersal and concentrating their seeds within pits. This increases intraspecific competition and limits seed production. The pitting technique has been demonstrated in several studies as an effective control tactic for cheatgrass.

Pitting is a strategy that may become more important as climates become hotter and more variable, as it allows soils to stay wetter for longer periods of time.

Many custom-built machines have been developed to create soil pits efficiently. Commercially available machines are less common. Currently, pitters that dig and mound soil and are suitable for rangelands are not commercially available in North America.

The perceptions of Namibian pastoralists on the future of livestock farming amidst land degradation have not been explored.

We address this gap by following a case study approach, involving semistructured interviews with Ovaherero pastoralists in the Okakarara Constituency, located in the eastern part of Namibia.

Pastoralists foresee multiple social-ecological challenges for the future of livestock production in their area.

They plan to employ various strategies to address and overcome the challenges, for instance, engaging more intensively in crop farming and conduct de-bushing.

Interventions such as training to effectively engage in crop farming, implementation of government-approved de-bushing plans, and introduction of low-cost water technologies for crop irrigation are needed.

Peak standing crop (PSC) and residual dry matter (RDM) are the primary measures of production and grazing intensity on California's annual rangelands.

One of the most common methods of monitoring forage metrics is to clip 1-ft² quadrats. The USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, universities, and other land managers have been using this methodology since the 1930s.

We used best linear unbiased predictors (BLUEs) to determine 95% confidence intervals for PSC and RDM. For both PSC and RDM, as the number of samples taken increased from 1 to 10, the predictive ability also significantly increased. We found no evidence of increased predictive power past 10 samples.