Rangeland Journal最新文献

{"title":"Stocking density and distribution in relation to vegetation in a biodiverse semi-arid pastoral system in South Africa","authors":"M. I. Samuels, N. Allsopp, M. Hoffman","doi":"10.1071/rj21046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/rj21046","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"58650382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Breaking the wildfire cycle: progressive fire management can shift fire regimes and improve ecosystem condition. A case study from a large conservation reserve in northern Australia","authors":"Lea Ezzy","doi":"10.1071/rj22021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/rj22021","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"58650765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of international boundary making on pastoralists transboundary environmental resource use in the Ethiopia–Kenya borderland","authors":"Girma Defere, Messay Mulugeta, Teferi Tolera","doi":"10.1071/rj22051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/rj22051","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"58651383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Herders' willingness-to-participate in the Grassland Ecological Compensation and Award Policy in China: a meta-analysis","authors":"Shiqi Guan, Yubing Fan, Zeng Tang","doi":"10.1071/rj20115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/rj20115","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Since implementation of its first phase, the Grassland Ecological Compensation and Award Policy (GECAP; 2011–2015) has significantly influenced participants’ livelihoods in China. Willingness-to-participate (WTP) is an important component of successful policy implementation. The effects of influential factors on herders’ WTP have received considerable research effort, although no systematic literature review or quantitative analysis has been conducted to provide evidence-based policy insights. Focusing on 3405 observations extracted from 13 empirical studies, this research conducted a meta-analysis and aggregated the effects of factors affecting Chinese herders’ WTP in the GECAP. The study also analysed the heterogeneity in influential factors and its sources. Factors increasing herders’ WTP included a higher formal education level, a higher farm income from raising livestock, access to larger grassland area, improved grassland condition, and better policy understanding. The cumulative effects of the number of livestock and grassland area on herders’ WTP had increased since the policy was implemented. We examined publication bias that may arise from research with favourable results being more likely to be published and found that publication bias was statistically insignificant for the selected case studies. However, we found significant heterogeneity in household income and number of livestock. The sources of heterogeneity included regional differences, publication year, and sampling method. Future policy modification and formulation should better incentivise active participation of herders by targeting specific pastoral regions and herder groups at certain income levels and/or herd size.</p>","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":"284 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138533761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Northern Australia Climate Program: supporting adaptation in rangeland grazing systems through more targeted climate forecasts, improved drought information and an innovative extension program","authors":"D. Cobon, C. Jarvis, K. Reardon-Smith, Laura Guillory, Christa Pudmenzky, Thong Nguyen-Huy, S. Mushtaq, R. Stone","doi":"10.1071/rj20074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/rj20074","url":null,"abstract":"The Northern Australia Climate Program (NACP) is a fully integrated research, development and extension (RDandE) program operating across extensive pastoral regions of northern Australia. The NACP aims to improve existing climate models and forecast tools, develop new products to meet user needs and build the capacity of rangeland producers to manage the challenges posed by droughts (or failed wet seasons) and climate variability. Climate information gaps identified through earlier surveys of graziers and communities in rural and remote Australia informed the design of the research component of the NACP, which aims to address the low and variable accuracy of seasonal climate forecasts in many regions, the need for proof of value of forecasts and relevance of existing forecast systems and technologies, and perceived lack of effective support from climate experts for the use of climate resources and technologies in agricultural decision making. The development and extension components of the program aim to improve climate literacy and the use of climate information. Building on the research program, they deliver a climate service that provides local extension and technical support, with a focus on building trust in climate information through locally sourced, industry connected NACP trained and supported extension advisers called Climate Mates. Two-way information flow between decision makers and researchers, facilitated by the Climate Mates, ensures that forecasts and decision- and discussion-support tools developed through the program are regionally relevant and targeted to the needs of end users. Monitoring and evaluation of the program indicates that this approach is contributing to positive outcomes in terms of awareness and knowledge of climate forecasting and products, and their adoption and use in decision making (i.e. practice change). In the longer term, the Climate Mates have potential for enduring impact beyond the program, leaving a knowledgeable and trusted climate resource across regional northern Australia.","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41720232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Is ground cover a useful indicator of grazing land condition?","authors":"T. Beutel, R. Shepherd, R. Karfs, B. Abbott, T. Eyre, T. Hall, Emily Barbi","doi":"10.1071/rj21018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/rj21018","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Remotely sensed ground cover data play an important role in Australian rangelands research development and extension, reflecting broader global trends in the use of remotely sensed data. We tested the relationship between remotely sensed ground cover data and field-based assessments of grazing land condition in the largest quantitative analysis of its type to date. We collated land condition data from 2282 sites evaluated between 2004 and 2018 in the Burdekin and Fitzroy regions of Queensland. Condition was defined using the Grazing Land Management land condition framework that ranks grazing land condition on a four point ordinal scale based on dimensions of vegetation composition, ground cover level and erosion severity. Nine separate ground cover derived indices were then calculated for each site. We found that all indices significantly correlated with grazing land condition on corresponding sites. Highest correlations occurred with indices that benchmarked ground cover at the site against regional ground cover assessed over several years. These findings provide some validation for the general use of ground cover data as an indicator of rangeland health/productivity. We also constructed univariate land condition models with a subset of these indices. Our models predicted land condition significantly better than random assignment though only moderately well; no model correctly predicted land condition class on >40% of sites. While the best models predicted condition correctly at >60% of A and D condition sites, condition at sites in B and C condition sites was poorly predicted. Several factors limit how well ground cover levels predict land condition. The main challenge is modelling a multidimensional value (grazing land condition) with a unidimensional ground cover measurement. We suggest that better land condition models require a range of predictors to address this multidimensionality but cover indices can make a substantial contribution in this context.\u0000","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42743611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The spatial pattern of agricultural land use in China during the Holocene Megathermal","authors":"J. Wu, T. Zhu, C. Li, C. Zhang, B. Adu","doi":"10.1071/rj20103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/rj20103","url":null,"abstract":"During the Holocene Megathermal, China entered a stage of extensive agricultural farming, although there are few reports on the possible distribution pattern of agricultural land use. The main objective of this paper is to discuss issues related to the spatial pattern of agricultural land use in China during the Holocene Megathermal. According to historic and archaeological information, three widely planted crops (foxtail millet, broom millet and rice) were selected to represent the main crops, and their distribution was assumed to reflect the agricultural land-use pattern at that time. From the perspective of these crops and their required climate conditions and based on proxy-based ancient temperature and precipitation data combined with modern climate data, an average annual accumulated temperature of ≥10°C in the Holocene Megathermal was retrieved and spatially interpolated to capture a picture of land use. Validation was conducted using archaeological data from 141 agricultural heritage sites. The results indicated that in the Holocene Megathermal, agricultural farming activities were widespread in China The northern-most boundary of agricultural land use was north of Daxinganling, and the southern-most boundary extended to Hainan Island. In the region of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau where climate is currently much colder than during the Holocene Megathermal, the environment for foxtail millet and broom millet was suitable from the eastern segment of the Qilian Mountains to Lhasa. This study provides a reference for exploring the distribution pattern of agricultural land use in the early period of agricultural production in China and provides useful information for agricultural archaeology.","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47066946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A production-scale evaluation of nutritional monitoring and decision support software for free-ranging cattle in an arid environment","authors":"Rachel J. Brooks, Douglas R. Tolleson, G. Ruyle, D. Faulkner","doi":"10.1071/rj20116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/rj20116","url":null,"abstract":"Range cattle in semi-arid regions are commonly limited by lack of nitrogen and other nutrients from grazing low-quality forage, with managers needing to monitor diet quality to address nutrient limitations. Near-infrared spectroscopy of faecal samples (FNIRS) is an accurate method used to determine diet quality in grazing animals. When combined with a nutritional balance software such as the Nutritional Balance Analyser (NUTBAL), FNIRS can monitor nutritional status and estimate weight change. We aimed to test the ability of NUTBAL to predict animal performance as represented by body condition score (BCS) in cattle grazing on a semi-desert rangeland. BCS and faecal samples were collected from a Red Angus herd (n = 82) at the Santa Rita Ranch (June 2016–July 2017). Standing biomass and botanical composition were measured before each grazing period, and relative utilisation was measured following each grazing period. During the midpoint of grazing in each pasture, 30 BCS and a faecal composite of 15 samples were collected. Faecal derived diet quality varied between a maximum of 10.75% crude protein (CP) and 61.25% digestible organic matter (DOM) in early August 2016, to a minimum value of 4.22% CP and 57.68% DOM in January 2017. Three NUTBAL evaluations were conducted to determine the likelihood of accurately predicting animal performance: one with typical user defined inputs; one with improved environment and herd descriptive inputs; and one with these improvements plus the use of metabolisable protein in the model. This third evaluation confirmed the ability of FNIRS:NUTBAL to predict future BCS within 0.5 BCS more than 75% of the time. With this information, cattle managers in semi-arid regions can better address animal performance needs and nutrient deficiencies.","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42366379","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The mechanism of species coexistence and diversity maintenance along aspects in the northeast of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau","authors":"Minxia Liu, Xinyu Wang, Yibo Ma, Lu Xu","doi":"10.1071/rj20042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/rj20042","url":null,"abstract":"To examine the role of plant functional traits and phylogenetic relationships in predicting plant community species coexistence and diversity maintenance, we measured 73 species and six functional traits along a slope aspect gradient on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. We calculated the net relatedness index (NRI), the nearest taxon index (NTI), phylogenetic diversity (PD), functional diversity, and analysed phylogenetic signals. The results show that the species richness, plant composition, and PD changed substantially from northern to southern aspects, and the phylogenetic structure of the community changed from clustering to over-dispersion. Weak phylogenetic signals in plant height, leaf nitrogen content, and leaf potassium content were recorded. We conclude that the influencing factor(s) of species coexistence on northern and north-western aspects is limiting similarity (interspecific competition), whereas on southern and south-western aspects, habitat filtering (environmental effect) is predominant. On western aspects, the influencing factors are driven by three processes: limiting similarity, habitat filtration, and random processes. Results suggest that niche processes (including habitat filtration and limiting similarity) are the main mechanisms for species coexistence and diversity maintenance on aspects of the alpine meadow in the northeast of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, while random processes appear at the transitional zone (the western aspect in our study) between aspects.","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42244538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Response of potential grassland vegetation to historical and future climate change in Inner Mongolia","authors":"Liu Xiaoni, Li Qiang, W. Hongxia, Ren Zhengcao, He Guoxing, Zhang Degang, Han Tianhu, Sun Bin, Pan Dongrong, Ji Tong","doi":"10.1071/rj20108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/rj20108","url":null,"abstract":"Assessing current and potential future grassland vegetation types and distribution has important practical implications in grassland management. In this study, historical and projected climate data from Inner Mongolia were used to classify grassland classes for two historical (1960–1986 and 1986–2011) and two future periods (2021–2024 and 2041–2060) using the Comprehensive and Sequential Classification System (CSCS). Changes of grassland classes in these time periods were investigated. The results indicated that (1) using the CSCS provided an efficient approach to investigate the impact of historical and future climate on grassland classes and their distribution in Inner Mongolia over time and space; (2) since 1986, the precipitation in Inner Mongolia has declined, decreasing the semi-humid zone area and expanding that of arid and semi-arid areas. The area of Tundra and alpine steppe, Temperate zonal humid grassland and Temperate zonal forest steppe decreased, and that of Frigid desert, Semi-desert, and Steppe group increased; and (3) under the projected increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation in large areas in Inner Mongolia by 2060, the area of arid grassland classes will likely expand (Frigid desert, Semi-desert, and Steppe), and the grassland classes of Tundra and alpine steppe may gradually disappear. Government investment in infrastructure and grassland management measures such as introducing drought tolerant grass species and improved precipitation utilisation through irrigation are needed to adapt to the changing climate. Inner Mongolia should take advantage of the benefits of the increase in temperature in the eastern semi-humid region that would permit reduced grazing pressure in the western arid region.","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49029909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}