Grazing with Galloway cattle for floodplain restoration in the Syr Valley, Luxembourg

Schaich, Harald; Szabó, Isabel; Kaphegyi, Thomas A. M.

doi:10.1016/j.jnc.2009.12.001

Cited by 15 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Grazing alters plant diversity through mechanisms that influence local plant colonization ability and extinction dynamics (Olff and Ritchie, 1998;Alofs et al, 2014). Consequently, management of grazing has become a crucial component in efforts to restore or maintain biodiversity in particular habitats such as floodplains (Olff and Ritchie, 1998;Schaich et al, 2010). Grazing can influence species richness at both the local scale (plant neighbourhood) and the regional scale (spatial range of an individual).…”

Section: Influence Of Grazing On Species Richness Abundance and Specmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Grazing Intensity on Swamp Plant Communities in the Tropical Montane Wetland Ecosystems, Nilgiris, Southern India

Mohandass¹

2016

Appl Ecol Env Res

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Abstract. Livestock grazing is a major anthropogenic impact influencing both grasslands and wetlands of the world which often results in the alteration of the structure, diversity and functioning of the plant communities. Here, we seek to understand how grazing intensity influences swamp vegetation, with an emphasis on their diversity, structure and function. Six swamps were selected, two each in high, moderate and low intensity grazing sites, from the tropical montane swamps of the Upper Nilgiri Mountains, southern India. We recorded a total of 78 species belonging to 63 genera and 31 families. Our results showed that species richness, abundance and species composition differed significantly across grazing treatments. Moreover, mean vegetation cover and mean height differed significantly across grazing treatments, indicating that grazing significantly affected the vegetation structure and growth of swamp plant communities. Species compositional patterns showed that moderately grazed plant communities were significantly different from low and high grazing sites. In summary, grazing intensity influenced swamp species richness, abundance, and swamp plant communities. Specifically, high grazing pressure reduced vegetation cover causing changes in swamp community structure leading to the gradual conversion of the swamp habitat into grasslands.

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Section: Influence Of Grazing On Species Richness Abundance and Specmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Grazing Intensity on Swamp Plant Communities in the Tropical Montane Wetland Ecosystems, Nilgiris, Southern India

Mohandass¹

2016

Appl Ecol Env Res

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“…Cattle grazing provides high patchiness and heterogeneity in vegetation, which is beneficial for the conservation of species richness and habitat mosaics (Metera et al, 2010). The effect of cattle grazing is highly dependent on the type of grazer, duration of grazing, vegetation type and it is influenced by the grazing intensity (Schaich et al, 2010;Török et al, 2014). Traditional herding of local cattle breeds and free grazing are both considered as promising tools to achieve conservation goals in Europe.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing for species composition or diversity? Pastoral and free grazing systems in alkali steppes

Török¹,

Valkó²,

Deák³

et al. 2016

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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A B S T R A C TFree grazing and herding of local breeds have a long tradition in management and conservation of extended grassland habitats such as alkali steppes. However, there is a lack in studies evaluating the effects of grazing types and regimes on the vegetation composition and functional diversity. We selected Artemisia steppes, a widespread type of alkali steppes, to study the changes of vegetation composition and diversity along a grazing intensity gradient. We recorded the cover of vascular plant species, in altogether 150, 2 Â 2-m-sized plots of 15 steppes in 2014. The steppes were managed by free grazing, traditional Hungarian Grey cattle grazing (low, moderate and high intensity), or by heavy grazing (Grey cattle and sheep, and additional donkey grazing). We answered the following questions: (i) How do the species richness, diversity and species evenness change along the increasing intensity of grazing? (ii) How does the grazing affect the functional trait composition along the intensity gradient? (iii) How similar is the composition and diversity of free grazed steppes to the pastoral grazed ones? We detected no significant differences in species richness but a humped-back curve with a peak at the medium grazing intensity was found for the Shannon diversity, evenness and the proportion of subordinated target species. The highest Rao's quadratic entropy was found for low intensity grazing. The lowest scores of multi-trait functional evenness were detected for the medium grazing intensity, while for multi-trait functional divergence both medium and very high intensity displayed low scores. The intensity of grazing was negatively correlated with the plant height and LDMC, while positively with the rosette forming, SLA, thousand-seed weights, terminal velocity and flowering period. Our results suggest that for the highest functional diversity a low intensity traditional cattle grazing is recommended. A medium grazing intensity should be chosen to have the highest proportion of subordinated target species of conservation interest, and the highest species diversity and evenness. Our findings suggest that free grazing and lowintensity traditional grazing can be substitutive to each other; various grazing intensities from low to medium, alternating in space and/or time can be appropriate to maintain high compositional diversity.

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“…The cattle grazing impacts at different proximities from villagesforest boundaries were quantified through cattle dung count using belt transects following the methods of Schaich et al (2010). Domestic animals such as cattle, goat, sheep and buffalo graze freely in the sanctuary.…”

Section: Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

India's biodiversity hotspot under anthropogenic pressure: A case study of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

Baskaran

Anbarasan

Agoramoorthy

2012

Journal for Nature Conservation

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Grazing with Galloway cattle for floodplain restoration in the Syr Valley, Luxembourg

Cited by 15 publications

References 59 publications

Influence of Grazing Intensity on Swamp Plant Communities in the Tropical Montane Wetland Ecosystems, Nilgiris, Southern India

Influence of Grazing Intensity on Swamp Plant Communities in the Tropical Montane Wetland Ecosystems, Nilgiris, Southern India

Managing for species composition or diversity? Pastoral and free grazing systems in alkali steppes

India's biodiversity hotspot under anthropogenic pressure: A case study of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

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