Introduction: Rangeland ecosystems provide multiple ecosystem services, including feed resources for wild and domestic herbivores in semi-arid areas. However, under the ever increasing environmental changes, the impact of rainfall variability on the productivity and vegetation dynamics of rangelands are the great challenges that pastoral community are facing today. As a result, the potentials o...

The concept of functional redundancy is at the core of theory relating changes in ecosystem functioning to species loss. However, few empirical studies have investigated the strength and form of the relationship between species and functional diversity (i.e., the presence of functional redundancy in ecological communities) in this context. In particular, we know little about how local extinctio...

Some endemic shrubs in arid and semiarid ecosystems are in danger of extinction, and yet they can play useful roles in maintaining or restoring these ecosystems, thus practical efforts are needed to conserve them. The shrubs Amygdalus pedunculata Pall., Amygdalus mongolica (Maxim.) Ricker and Ammopiptanthus mongolicus (Maxim. ex Kom.) Cheng f. are endemic species in arid and semiarid regions of...

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...

Abstract Over the last fifty years, most of the semi-arid rangeland in Iran has been converted to cropland without an equivalent reduction in grazing animals. This shift has led to heavy grazing pressure on rangeland vegetation. The present study has been conducted in Sisab Research Station in the North Khorasan Province to evaluate effects of long-term grazing exclosures on biodiversity of ra...

palatability includes plants physical and chemical property that encourages an animal selecta plant for grazing. this study is an attempt for intruducing an indicator for determining thepalatability of rangeland plants. to do this, the relationship between palatability and foragequality of rangeland plants in karsanak rangelands of the chaharmahal-va-bakhtiari provincewas studied. first, plant ...