Effect of grazing on soil-water content in semiarid rangelands of southeast Idaho

Although numerous factors influence soil-water content, it is considered a key indicator of rangeland health. This paper investigates the effect of grazing on soil-water content using three treatments within the same soil association. The treatments, simulated holistic planned grazing (SHPG), rest-rotation (RESTROT), and total rest (TREST) applied stocking rates of 36, 6, and 0 animal days/hectare respectively. Soil-water content was measured continuously from 2006 to 2008 using 36 capacitance sensors. Statistical analyses revealed differences in percent volumetric-water content (%VWC) and in all treatments, the SHPG pasture had the highest %VWC. Mixed procedures models indicate strong environmental and treatment effects as explanatory variables for the observed difference in %VWC. Although results of vegetation cover analyses indicated no difference in percent shrub cover in the two production pastures (SHPG and RESTROT), percent litter cover differed in the latter years of this study. It was concluded that in addition to a variety of other factors, management decisions (grazing and rest) can have substantial influence upon soil-water content and that soil-water content can vary substantially as a result of animal impact and the duration of grazing.     

Increased benthic grazing: An alternative explanation for low phytoplankton biomass in northern San Francisco Bay during the 1976–1977 drought

Among the consequences of extremely low river flow into northern San Francisco Bay during a two-year drought were (1) a gradual increase in salinity, (2) an unusual decline in chlorophyll a concentration, and (3) the upstream migration of estuarine benthic invertebrates to the normally brackish area of the bay. Total abundance in the benthos at a shallow monitoring site increased from a normal 2000 to greater than 20 000 individuals m^?2 during the summer of 1977, presumably in response to the increased salinity. Estimated filtration rates derived from equations in the literature for one of the species, the suspended-feeding bivalve Mya arenaria ranged from 1 to 4 m³ m^?2 day^?1 during 1977 depending on abundance and mean size on sampling dates. Because water depth at this site is less than 2 m, Mya could have filtered all of the particles (including diatoms) from the water column on the order of once per day. Several other immigrant species undoubtedly contributed to the removal of particles from the near-bottom water as well. Increased benthic grazing, therefore, could have accounted for the anomalously low phytoplankton biomass observed during the drought. These results suggest that during periods of prolonged low river flow and increased salinity benthic food webs could become more important than planktonic food webs in the upper part of the estuary.     

Resource Competition and Selective Grazing of Plankton in a Multispecies Pelagic Food Web Model*

Abstract. An idealized mathematical, multispecies model of the pelagic foodweb was used to explore the impact of resource competition, selective grazing, and species composition within each trophic level on the structure and functioning of a foodweb at a variety of light irradiance and nutrient levels. This concept is based on the general assumption that poorly edible species are poor competitors. The concept demonstrates that with increasing eutrophication, specialists in competition will be replaced by generalists and subsequently by poorly edible primary producers. Controlling factors not only determine the growth rate of primary producers but also select predators according to their ability to utilize the energy fixation of the system. Plankton community structure seems to adapt in such a way that the energy fixation rate of the system is optimized at a given set of nutrients and light. Red tides, dense algal blooms in shallow lakes and the varying results of biomanipulation in shallow lakes, can be explained by the concept of selective grazing. If this assumption is correct, the same ecosystem concept may be applicable for terrestrial ecosystems.     

Selective grazing by cattle on spatially and seasonally heterogeneous rangeland in Sahel

The selective use by cattle of range resources in the Sahel was assessed in terms of quantity and nutritional quality of the herbage grazed and diet selected. Peak standing crop was 1951 kg ha⁻¹dry matter (DM) with 47·9 kg nitrogen (N) ha⁻¹and 7·4 kg phosphorus (P) ha⁻¹. Esophageally fistulated cattle diets were consistently (p<0·05) higher in N, P and organic matter digestibility (OMD) than the herbage grazed. Cattle consumed 48% of the mean annual herbage production. The results indicate grazing ruminants select a higher quality diet from Sahelian rangelands than can be predicted on the basis of pasture evaluation alone. Therefore, the foraging behaviour of the animals needs to be considered in the evaluation of Sahelian rangelands for animal production.     

HYDROLOGY AND TRANSPORT OF MATERIAL IN THE SERMILIK AREA 1972

Hasholt, B., 1976; Hydrology and transport of material in the Sermilik area 1972. Geografisk Tidsskrift 75: 30–39 København june 1976.

Investigations of water discharge and transport of material have been carried out in the area around the Mitdluagkat glacier in East Greenland. Precipitation and snow-melt were measured and compared with the discharge. The relationship between stage, discharge and concentration of suspended sediments were found, and the results were used to calculate hourly values of suspended sediment transport. In a few cases bed-load and dissolved load were measured at the same time as suspended load. The ratio between the transport components has been used to estimate the total load into the sea.     

Recent environmental changes inferred from the sediments of small lakes in Yellowstone's northern range (Engstromet al., 1991)

Sedimentation rate data of Engstromet al. (1991) were analyzed in relation to the elevation of the eight ponds studied. The ... asynchroneity of the stratigraphic changes among the lakes ... that they noted was transformed into a pattern of time-transgressive change of sedimentation rate with elevation. Sediment units representing increasing (and decreasing) sedimentation rate and accelerating (and decelerating) sediment accumulation were correlated from pond to pond, suggesting that the sediment-producing condition somehow moved upslope over time at a rate of 3.4 to >5 m yr^–1. Climatic data appear not to explain this monotonic pattern, but dendrochronological data and elk population numbers suggest that ungulate foraging patterns might. Engstromet al. (1991) concluded that ...the lake-sediment records in the northern range do not convincingly show systematic direct or indirect effects of ungulate grazing during the history of the Park. Reinterpretation of these sediment data suggests that detailed reanalysis might lead to a different conclusion.     

放牧制度对荒漠草原可萌发土壤种子库的影响

 以内蒙古苏尼特右旗短花针茅荒漠草原为研究对象,通过划区轮牧与自由放牧的比较试验,研究可萌发土壤种子库对不同放牧制度的响应。结果表明:①可萌发种子库物种组成在划区轮牧草地为11种,自由放牧草地为8种,封育禁牧区为9种,划区轮牧较自由放牧和禁牧有利于提高草地群落可萌发土壤种子库的植物种数以及多年生优良牧草;可萌发土壤种子库密度在封育禁牧区为(19 533.33±10 552.83)粒·m-2,划区轮牧区为(3 233.33±524.21)粒·m-2,自由放牧区为(2 553.60±2 152.48)粒·m-2,可萌发土壤种子库密度封育禁牧区显著高于划区轮牧区与自由放牧区,两放牧处理间无显著差异。②不同处理可萌发土壤种子库垂直分布有共同趋势, 有75.06%~83.19%分布在0~5 cm土层内,14.16%~21.68%分布在5~10 cm土层内,2.65%~4.90%分布在10~15 cm土层内,且不同土层可萌发土壤种子库密度均为封育禁牧区显著高于划区轮牧区与自由放牧区,两放牧处理间无显著差异。③划区轮牧区可萌发土壤种子库的丰富度指数和多样性指数高于自由放牧区。划区轮牧区和封育禁牧区可萌发土壤种子库组成的相似性系数最大,为0.857。