Timely monitoring of plant biomass is critical for the management of forage resources in Sahelian rangelands. The estimation of annual biomass production in the Sahel is based on a simple relationship between satellite annual Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and in situ biomass data. This study proposes a new methodology using multi-linear models between phenological metrics from t...

Public land management agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), are charged with managing rangelands throughout the western United States for multiple uses, such as livestock grazing and conservation of sensitive species and their habitats. Monitoring of condition and trends of these rangelands, particularly with respect to effects of livestock grazing, provides critical informati...

In the countries surrounding the Mediterranean basin, most of the semi-natural grazing lands are covered by rangelands. Rangelands can be defined as highly heterogeneous natural vegetation communities with high conservation value, growing in harsh environments (poor soils, unfavourable climatic conditions). In the recent socio-economic context, traditional livestock grazing practices that enabl...

Article history: Received 14 November 2005 Received in revised form 24 April 2006 Accepted 26 May 2006 Available online 31 July 2006 Classic rangeland theory advocates stocking rangelands at relatively lowand constant levels. This theory has been labelled inappropriate for savanna rangelands, because savannas are strongly influenced by stochastic processes. Opportunistic strategies that force a...

Land use/cover trends in the Keiskamma catchment were investigated using Multi-temporal Landsat satellite imagery from 1972 to 2006. Object-oriented post-classification comparison and fragmentation analyses were performed; and the Landscape-Function analysis was used to assess the current rangeland condition of proximal hillslopes and the riparian zone. Temporal land use/cover analyses revealed...

Seed predation by rodents has limited successful re-establishment of desirable shrubs, forbs, and grasses on degraded western rangelands. We need to develop methods that temporarily reduce rodent numbers or their predation of planted seed if we are to establish diverse rangeland plant communities. Range site conversion treatments of chaining, prescribed burning, spraying, or drilling have not b...

Overgrazed rangelands can lead to soil degradation, yet long-term land application of organic amendments (i.e., biosolids) may play a pivotal role in improving degraded terms health. However, the effects on health properties response single or repeated, low excessive biosolids applications, semi-arid, overgrazed grasslands have not been quantified. Using Soil Management Assessment Framework (SM...