hidden
Image Database Export Citations

Menu:

Quantifying Changes in Vegetation in Shrinking Grazing Areas in Africa

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.author Boon, Randall B. en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2009-07-31T14:59:33Z
dc.date.available 2009-07-31T14:59:33Z
dc.date.issued 2005 en_US
dc.date.submitted 2007-08-22 en_US
dc.date.submitted 2007-08-22 en_US
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/10535/3303
dc.description.abstract "Pastoralists around the globe are being sedentarised and livestock mobility is declining. Animals once able to move about landscapes to access ephemeral green forage are being confined to small areas with fewer forage choices. The ecosystem model SAVANNA was used to quantify the effects of land subdivision and sedentarisation on vegetation traits in South Africa and Kenya. In South Africa, significant declines in high palatability green leaf biomass, annual net primary productivity, and root biomass were recorded as a 300 km2 block of land was subdivided into parcels of 10 km2. In contrast, low palatability biomass measures generally increased. Woody plant populations and slow decomposing soil organic matter increased significantly, whereas surface litter declined. In southern Kajiado District, Kenya, group ranches in which livestock populations declined under subdivision showed increases in herbaceous biomass, whereas the ranch where livestock populations did not change under subdivision had less herbaceous biomass. Livestock within small parcels were food stressed in the dry season and their populations declined so that vegetation increased beyond what could be eaten in the wet season. The vegetation changes modelled led to, or reflected, significant declines in livestock. The results suggest that stakeholders should retain open access to subdivided lands to reduce loss of vegetation productivity." en_US
dc.subject grazing en_US
dc.subject pastoralism en_US
dc.subject ecosystems--models en_US
dc.subject livestock en_US
dc.subject productivity en_US
dc.title Quantifying Changes in Vegetation in Shrinking Grazing Areas in Africa en_US
dc.type Journal Article en_US
dc.type.published published en_US
dc.coverage.region Africa en_US
dc.coverage.country South Africa, Kenya en_US
dc.subject.sector Grazing en_US
dc.subject.sector General & Multiple Resources en_US
dc.identifier.citationjournal Conservation and Society en_US
dc.identifier.citationvolume 3 en_US
dc.identifier.citationnumber 1 en_US
dc.identifier.citationmonth January en_US
dc.submitter.email efcastle@indiana.edu en_US


Files in this item

Files Size Format View
boone.pdf 168.7Kb PDF View/Open

This item appears in the following document type(s)

Show simple item record