Selective grazing of burned patches can be intense if animal distribution is not controlled and may compound the independent effects of fire and grazing on soil characteristics. Our objectives were to quantify the effects of patch burning and grazing on wind erosion, soil water content, and soil temperature in sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia Torr.) mixed prairie. We selected 24, 4-ha plots ...

This study investigated the performance of steers grazing rhizomatous birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) (RBFT) compared to nonrhizomatous birdsfoot trefoil (BFT) in pure stands or when interseeded with endophyte-free tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.; TF). Five forage treatments of RBFT, BFT, TF, RBFT+TF, and BFT+TF (four replicate paddocks per treatment) were continuously stocke...

Top-down grazer control of cyanobacteria is a controversial topic due to conflicting reports of success and failure as well as a bias toward studies in temperate climates with large generalist grazers like Daphnia. In the tropical lowland lakes of Brazil, calanoid copepods of the Notodiaptomus complex dominate zooplankton and co-exist in high abundance with permanent blooms of toxic cyanobacter...

BACKGROUND A mixed methods study was undertaken in the Kachia Grazing Reserve of northern Nigeria. Surveys in March, June and October 2011 included focus group discussions, key informant and in-depth household interviews, concerning livelihood practices, animal health, ownership, and productivity. In May 2011, 249 Fulani families fleeing post-election violence entered the reserve with their liv...

investigation of the grazing behavior of grazing animals on the rangeland is one of the basic necessities of grazing management in different climatic regions. the current study with the aim of exploring the grazing behavior of makuyi sheep breed was conducted in the mountainous rangelands of kelid daghi of jolfa as representative rangelands for makuyi sheep breed dispersion in east azerbayjan p...

Despite our growing knowledge on plants' functional responses to grazing, there is no consensus if an optimum level of functional aggregation exists for detecting grazing effects in drylands. With a comparative approach we searched for plant functional types (PFTs) with a consistent response to grazing across two areas differing in climatic aridity, situated in South Africa's grassland and sava...

Circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) are associated with physiological adaptation to acute and chronic aerobic exercise in humans. To investigate the potential effect of grazing movement on miRNA circulation in cattle, here we profiled miRNA expression in centrifugally prepared exosomes from the plasma of both grazing and housed Japanese Shorthorn cattle. Microarray analysis of the c-miRNAs resulte...

In arid and semi-arid rangelands, grazing as one of the natural or human induced processes has direct and indirect effects on structure and dynamics of plant community and ecosystems. A study was done to analyze the effects of grazing on plant species diversity and Plant Functional Types‘ (PFTs) diversity of arid and semi-arid rangelands. We analyzed plant richness and diversity data from 75 sa...