Calibrated predictive relationships obtained from simple and multiple regression of thematic mapper or broad-band (BB) and 1.4 nm interval or narrow-band (NB) spectral data were evaluated for quantifying 11 rangeland components (including total vegetation, forb, grass, shrub, litter, and bare soil) and distinguishing among 6 long-term grazing treatments of sagebrush steppe. In general, all 4 da...

One hundred twenty crossbred steers (450 lb, +/37 lb) were stratified by weight and randomly assigned to one of two feeding blocks. The cattle grazed dormant rangeland for 56 days from October 12 through December 7. Each block was supplemented three times a week with the equivalent of 7 days of dried corn distiller’s grains (DDG) at 0, 0.25, 0.50, or 0.75% body weight (BW)/d on a dry matter bas...

Land degradation of alpine rangeland in Dachigam National Park, Northern India, was evaluated in this study using MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land products. The park has been used by a variety of livestock holders. With increasing numbers of livestock, the managers and users of the park are apprehensive about degradation of the grazing land. However, owing to weak infr...

Kachergis, E. (corresponding author, emily. [email protected]): Rangeland Resources Research Unit, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, 8408 Hildreth Road, Cheyenne, WY, 82009, USA Rocca,M.E. ([email protected]): Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA Fernandez-Gimenez,M.E. ([email protected]): De...

Herbivory and fire are natural interacting forces contributing to the maintenance of rangeland ecosystems. Wildfires in the sagebrush dominated ecosystems of the Great Basin are becoming larger and more frequent, and may dramatically alter plant communities and habitat. This synthesis describes what is currently known about the cumulative impacts of historic livestock grazing patterns and short...

The objective of the current study was to determine seasonal changes in glucose, cholesterol, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), serum inorganic phosphorous (SIP), calcium, magnesium and iron concentrations in Nguni and crossbred cattle on the sweet and sour rangelands of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Body weights, body condition scores (BCS) and serum concentrations of energy-rela...

The objective of this paper is to examine the sustainability of rangeland agriculture (i.e., managed grazing) on a world-wide basis, with a focus on North America. Sustainability is addressed on three fronts: 1) ecological, 2) economic, and 3) social acceptance. Based on previous and on-going research, we suggest that employment of science-based rangeland grazing management strategies and tacti...

The role of ungulate grazing in shaping rangeland ecosystems is well known relative to other important plant-animal interactions such as pollination, seed dispersal, granivory, and belowground herbivory. Successful rangeland revegetation may be enhanced by strategies that favor certain groups of animals and discourage others. Many perennial forbs and shrubs require animals for successful pollin...

The complexity of natural resource management is increasingly recognized and requires adaptive governance at multiple levels. It is particularly significant to explore the impacts of government interventions on the management practices of local communities and on target social-ecological systems. The Inner Mongolian rangeland was traditionally managed by indigenous people using their own instit...

Conservation policy often incentivizes managers of human-impacted areas to create landscape heterogeneity to maximize biodiversity. In rangeland, patchy disturbance regimes create landscape heterogeneity (patch contrast), but outcomes of heterogeneity-based management are rarely tested for a universal response. We analyzed four habitat variables – vegetation structure, plant functional group co...