In northwestern Costa Rica, cattle are being used as a "management tool" to reduce the amount of combustible material, mainly dominated by Hyparrhenia rufa, an African grass. This project is being developed within Parque Nacional Palo Verde and Reserva Biológica Lomas Barbudal, both of which form part of the only remaining tropical dry forests in Mesoamerica. To determine the short-term effects...

The effects of grazing winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) by Canada geese (Branta canadensis) was assessed in 3 fields during 2 years of experimentation at the Wye Research and Education Center, Queenstown, Maryland. Randomly placed wire enclosures prevented goose grazing on 11.1 m sq. control plots. Grazed plots were marked in each field soon after the geese migrated in March. Grazed plots had c...

A modified litter-bag method was used to measure plant fineroot decomposition in relation to biomass quality in a mixedgrass prairie. Measurements were made during three years on moderately and heavily grazed pastures that had been under cattle grazing for 17 years prior to sampling. Although we found no significant difference in initial fine-root litter quality between grazing treatments, nitr...

Grassland management type (grazed or mown) and intensity (intensive or extensive) play a crucial role in the greenhouse gas balance and surface energy budget of this biome, both at field scale and at large spatial scale. However, global gridded historical information on grassland management intensity is not available. Combining modelled grass-biomass productivity with statistics of the grassbio...

Populations of Grasshopper Sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum) have been declining, and agricultural practices, such as grazing by domestic cattle (Bos taurus), are likely contributing factors. Grazing can alter the composition and structure of vegetation and influence prey availability, and such changes can impact the nesting success of grassland birds. Our objective was to examine the nesting su...

Comparisons of vegetation dynamics of riparian plant communities under livestock use and esclusions over a 10 year period were quantified in a Northeastern Oregon riparian zone. We measured species frequency, richness, diversity, evenness, and livestock utilization in 8 plant communities. Livestock grazed the study area from late August until mid September at a rate of 1.3 to 1.8 ha/AUM. Utiliz...

Cover crops are a suite of non-marketable plant species grown to improve soil quality. They may have additional benefits including reduced weed pressure and enhanced habitat for beneficial arthropods, but they do not provide direct revenue. Integrating sheep grazing for cover crop termination could make the use of cover crops more economically feasible. However, if grazing shifts biological com...

The aim of this experiment was to study the effect of breed (Churra and Merino) and advancing season (middle June, late July and early October) on rumen fermentation in sheep grazing a continuously stocked grass /white clover pasture. Six mature sheep (three Churra and three Merino) fitted with rumen cannulae were used. During each grazing period, samples of the grazed herbage (obtained using t...