Carbon sequestration and biodiversity restoration potential of semi-arid mulga lands of Australia interpreted from long-term grazing exclosures

Witt, Bradd; Nöel, Mary-Hélène; Bird, Michael I.; Beeton, R. J. S.; Menzies, Neal W.

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2011.02.020

Cited by 93 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In rainfed agriculture, the development of practices for efficient use of the whole soil profile, such as the use of species and cultivars with deeper and improved root systems, must be considered, as it is highlighted in section 2.2. The development of better-adapted root systems needs to be accompanied by an improvement in the current knowledge about the changes that occur in soil biodiversity with soil depth and their effects on C cycling (Witt et al 2011).…”

Section: Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon management in dryland agricultural systems. A review

Plaza‐Bonilla¹,

Arrúe

Cantero‐Martínez

et al. 2015

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

131

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Section: Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon management in dryland agricultural systems. A review

Plaza‐Bonilla¹,

Arrúe

Cantero‐Martínez

et al. 2015

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

131

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“…The role of disturbances in determining aboveground biomass stocks is unpredictable, and we are less confident than Witt et al (2011) about manipulating substantial increases in aboveground woody stocks through grazing management. This finding appears to be inconsistent with other studies from Africa (Tobler et al 2003) and the USA (Asner et al 2003) that have exhibited a prolonged increase in tree cover with pastoralism.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on our predictions, the restoration of the 27 019 km 2 of cleared mulga forest in Queensland represents 331 Tg (teragrams) of CO 2 -e of aboveground biomass. After adding 20%, a conservative estimate of root biomass (Snowdon et al 2000), and asssuming that restoration occurs over 70 years (Vargas et al 2008), this would account for 1.04% of the 548 Tg CO 2 -e/yr recently reported as Australia's total annual emissions (Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency 2010), 2.3% of Garnaut's (2008) estimate for reversing ''degradation'' in Australian rangelands, and about 44% of the Witt et al (2011) estimate for changed grazing management in the Mulga Lands of New South Wales and Queensland. The estimated future drought scenarios would diminish stocks in mature mulga forest, although death will be more pronounced in the western areas where soils are shallower in these areas and droughts are more intense.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our study did not include contrasts represented by total grazing protection, as the exclusion of macropods is unrealistic and undesirable (cf. Witt et al 2011). Given the weak effect of distance to water, the patchy response of mulga protected from livestock, and the ubiquity of macropods in the region, the manipulation of aboveground biomass with practical grazing management is FIG.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent study (Witt et al 2011) estimated that total protection from grazing in the mulga dry forest of eastern Australia would result in increased density of woody trees contributing between 0.74 and 0.83 Mg CO 2 -eÁha À1 Áyr À1 , with an additional 0.18 Mg CO 2 -eÁha…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Potential aboveground biomass in drought‐prone forest used for rangeland pastoralism

Fensham

Fairfax

Dwyer

2012

Ecological Applications

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Abstract. The restoration of cleared dry forest represents an important opportunity to sequester atmospheric carbon. In order to account for this potential, the influences of climate, soils, and disturbance need to be deciphered. A data set spanning a region defined the aboveground biomass of mulga (Acacia aneura) dry forest and was analyzed in relation to climate and soil variables using a Bayesian model averaging procedure. Mean annual rainfall had an overwhelmingly strong positive effect, with mean maximum temperature (negative) and soil depth (positive) also important. The data were collected after a recent drought, and the amount of recent tree mortality was weakly positively related to a measure of three-year rainfall deficit, and maximum temperature (positive), soil depth (negative), and coarse sand (negative). A grazing index represented by the distance of sites to watering points was not incorporated by the models. Stark management contrasts, including grazing exclosures, can represent a substantial part of the variance in the model predicting biomass, but the impact of management was unpredictable and was insignificant in the regional data set. There was no evidence of density-dependent effects on tree mortality. Climate change scenarios represented by the coincidence of historical extreme rainfall deficit with extreme temperature suggest mortality of 30.1% of aboveground biomass, compared to 21.6% after the recent (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) drought. Projections for recovery of forest using a mapping base of cleared areas revealed that the greatest opportunities for restoration of aboveground biomass are in the higher-rainfall areas, where biomass accumulation will be greatest and droughts are less intense. These areas are probably the most productive for rangeland pastoralism, and the trade-off between pastoral production and carbon sequestration will be determined by market forces and carbon-trading rules.

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Grazing management options for restoration of alpine grasslands on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau

et al. 2018

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In an attempt to alleviate the problem of grassland degradation on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau in China, state and local authorities in 2003, initiated the “Retire Livestock and Restore Pastures” ecological engineering program, requiring the use of enclosure fencing to enable grazing exclusion and rotational grazing. A five‐year controlled grazing experiment was conducted to determine the effects of this program on (1) sheep live weight gain; and (2a) standing herbage biomass; and (2b) species diversity. Effects of temporal within‐year variation in precipitation and temperature on livestock productivity, standing herbage biomass, and species diversity were also investigated. At the end of 5 yr, grazing exclusion showed no significant difference in standing herbage biomass or in species diversity, compared with either continuous grazing or rotational grazing. Rotational grazing at the high stocking rate significantly promoted sheep live weight gain per hectare, but not per sheep; neither standing herbage biomass, nor species diversity, whether under continuous (i.e., traditional) or rotational grazing, showed a significant difference. Under rotational grazing, higher standing herbage biomass and species diversity were required to maintain or increase sheep liveweight, compared with continuous grazing. Temporal distribution of precipitation and temperature had more influence on alpine grassland parameters, than did grazing. Results of this study suggest that herders’ local traditional knowledge and expertise might be useful in modifying Government guidelines to fine tune grazing management with the dynamics of the alpine meadow ecosystem, and that it is important to consider equilibrium and non‐equilibrium theory in formulating a policy which benefits both herders and grassland. Traditional continuous grazing at a carefully chosen light stocking rate appears to be the most appropriate way to manage livestock and grassland in this region.

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Carbon sequestration and biodiversity restoration potential of semi-arid mulga lands of Australia interpreted from long-term grazing exclosures

Cited by 93 publications

References 29 publications

Carbon management in dryland agricultural systems. A review

Carbon management in dryland agricultural systems. A review

Potential aboveground biomass in drought‐prone forest used for rangeland pastoralism

Grazing management options for restoration of alpine grasslands on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau

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