Goat trampling affects plant establishment, runoff and sediment yields over crusted dunes

Abstract

Abstract:Mainly attributed to goat and sheep trampling, the sand dunes at the Israeli and the Egyptian sides of the border present contrasting geomorphological conditions. In an attempt to assess the trampling effect upon vegetation, runoff and sediment yield, two pairs of plots and miniplots (each pair contains a trampled plot and a control) were constructed during 1991 and monitored during 1991-1995. In order to assess the impact on vegetation, three pairs of vegetation plots, subjected to light, medium and heavy trampling, were established during 1993 and monitored. In addition, the effect of the micro structures created by the goat hooves (mounds and depressions) were studied in three pairs of plots subjected to medium trampling during 1993 and monitored during 1993-1996. As far as trampling intensity is concerned, the findings indicate an increase in species diversity, density and biomass from the intact crusted surface to the plots subjected to light and medium trampling with a decrease thereafter at the plots subjected to heavy trampling. As for the micro scale, the findings indicate significantly higher plant biomass for the first 2 years at the hooves-formed mini mounds and mini depressions in comparison to intact crusted surfaces, with no significant difference during the third year. Significantly lower runoff and sediment yields characterized the trampled plots implying a reduction in water redistribution. The data point to the differential effect that trampling has upon plants and soil. While increasing annual plant growth along the slope, it hinders runoff flow to the footslope, negatively affecting water availability for footslope vegetation. Recovery, as also supported by chlorophyll and microrelief measurements, was scale dependent (attributed to differential supply of aeolian sand) with estimated recovery for the plots and miniplots being 4-5 and 8-10 years, respectively. The data indicate that upon the cessation of grazing and under similar precipitation regime, recovery time of the biocrust in the Sinai sand dunes may be short, within 5-6 years.

Albedo feedbacks to future climate via climate change impacts on dryland biocrusts

“…A rise in dryland surface albedo could create a large impact on the mean global albedo, where slight alterations greatly affect global climate patterns 41 , and this could be of growing concern with the degradation and disturbance of dryland biocrusts observed globally 6 9 10 42 43 44 45 46 . To explore the global effects of rising dryland surface albedo, we utilized the MODIS/Köppen ecosystem classification scheme from Elbert et al .…”

Biocrusts and its disturbance controls on soil infiltrability in a semi‐arid ecosystem

“…Trampling tends to cause a disruption of hydrological barrier caused by biocrusts, which could explain the positive effect of disturbance in this study. Previous studies have also reported that trampling increased infiltration (Belnap & Eldridge, 2003;Bowker et al, 2013;Chung et al, 2019;Faist et al, 2017;Kidron, 2016;Zaady et al, 2013) (Table 5). On the contrary, some authors found that trampling resulted in decreased infiltration (Barger et al, 2006;Chamizo, Cant on, Lázaro, et al, 2012;Herrick et al, 2010).…”

Impacts of Grazing by Small Ruminants on Hillslope Hydrological Processes: A Review of European Current Understanding

“…Goats trampling over crusted dunes caused reduction in runoff and sediment yield (Kidron, 2016). Elliott and Carlson (2004) investigated seasonal effects on infiltration capacity of a hill-country farm (sheep grazing) in Waikato (New Zealand).…”

“…The hydrological implications of grazing by SRs were increased runoff and decreased evapotranspiration rates (Wood et al., 2008). High attention has been paid to the effects of grazing intensity in other parts of the world, such as Israel (Kidron, 2014, 2016), Mongolia (Onda et al., 2007), USA (Neff et al., 2005; Warren et al., 1986), Australia (Bartley et al., 2010), and New Zealand (Donovan & Monaghan, 2021; Elliott & Carlson, 2004).…”