Impacts of livestock grazing on plant species composition in montane forests on the northern slope of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Kikoti, Imani; Mligo, Cosmas

doi:10.1080/21513732.2015.1031179

Cited by 30 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The rainfall also varies with exposure to the wind blowing from the Indian Ocean where the northern slopes on the shadow sides receive much less rainfall [19]. The montane forest experiences two distinct rainy seasons where the long rainy period occurs between March and May and the short rain periods occurs between November and December and hence the rainfall pattern being bimodal [5]. The maximum mean annual rainfall reaches up to 3000 mm at 2100 m.a.s.l.…”

Section: Location and Characteristics Of The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Observation from this study demonstrated a significantly decreased in SOC with increased grazing pressure in the montane forest of Mount Kilimanjaro. Previously Kikoti and Mligo, (2015) [5] reported on the impact of livestock grazing on plant species composition and diversity including the natural regeneration patterns within the montane forest. These impacts are accompanied with changes in accumulation of soil organic carbon in the montane forest.…”

Section: The Effect Of Livestock Grazing On Soil Organic Carbon (Soc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Kikoti (2013) [22] [5]. Some species are common among study sites while others are restricted in some sites only based on the habitat characteristics influenced by livestock grazing.…”

Section: Vegetation Characteristics In Montane Forest Of Mount Kilimamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is because of the human population pressure associated with increased in the land-use changes that affect soil properties [4]. The recent land use change from pasture to cropland in Longido District has caused scarcity of pasture and consequently increased the encroachment in montane forests through livestock grazing [5]. The negative impacts of livestock grazing on soil properties in montane forest of Mount Kilimanjaro forms part among recent ecological studies ( [5] [6]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recent land use change from pasture to cropland in Longido District has caused scarcity of pasture and consequently increased the encroachment in montane forests through livestock grazing [5]. The negative impacts of livestock grazing on soil properties in montane forest of Mount Kilimanjaro forms part among recent ecological studies ( [5] [6]). Livestock grazing disturbance may be reflected through its impacts on every aspect of soil structure, nutrient cycles and soil microbial communities [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of Livestock Grazing on Soil Characteristics in Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Mligo¹

2015

GEP

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Livestock grazing is an anthropogenic disturbance on the soil properties in montane forests of the northern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. It was determined the effect of livestock grazing on SOC, N, CEC, SAS, SFD and P in the montane forest. Forty plots were randomly established for collection of soil samples. Data showed livestock grazing decreased the accumulation of SOC and consequently negatively affected the natural pattern of N, P, SFD, CEC and SAS. An opposing pattern of available soil phosphorus was interpreted that the nutrient pool retained in plant tissues particularly in the long-lived trees, which were absent in heavily grazed area. The observed positive correlation between SOC with TN and CEC implies the livestock grazing impacts on the former negatively affected the later soil parameters. Low fungal density in degraded parts of the montane forest indicates that they are sensitive to the current land use change. Based on the observation from this study, it can be regarded that excessive livestock grazing has a long-term negative ramification for soil conservation in montane forest. An important decision has to be sought off with regard to the conservation management of soil characteristics of the montane forest in Kilimanjaro Mountain.

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Section: Location and Characteristics Of The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Effect Of Livestock Grazing On Soil Organic Carbon (Soc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Vegetation Characteristics In Montane Forest Of Mount Kilimamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of Livestock Grazing on Soil Characteristics in Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Mligo¹

2015

GEP

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Small effects of livestock grazing intensification on diversity, abundance, and composition in a dryland plant community

Jordan

Palmquist

Burke

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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Livestock grazing is a globally important land use and has the potential to significantly influence plant community structure and ecosystem function, yet several critical knowledge gaps remain on the direction and magnitude of grazing impacts. Furthermore, much of our understanding of the long‐term effects on plant community composition and structure are based on grazer exclusion experiments, which explicitly avoid characterizing effects along grazing intensity gradients. We sampled big sagebrush plant communities using 68 plots located along grazing intensity gradients to determine how grazing intensity influences multiple aspects of plant community structure over time. This was accomplished by sampling plant communities at different distances from 17 artificial watering sources, using distance from water and cow dung density as proxies for grazing intensity at individual plots. Total vegetation cover and total grass cover were negatively related to grazing intensity, and cover of annual forbs, exotic cover, and exotic richness were positively related to grazing intensity. In contrast, species richness and composition, bunchgrass biomass, shrub density and size, percentage cover of bare ground, litter, and biological soil crusts did not vary along our grazing intensity gradients, in spite of our expectations to the contrary. Our results suggest that the effects of livestock grazing over multiple decades (mean = 46 years) in our sites are relatively small, especially for native perennial species, and that the big sagebrush plant communities we sampled are somewhat resistant to livestock grazing. Collectively, our findings are consistent with existing evidence that indicates the stability of the big sagebrush plant functional type composition under current grazing management regimes.

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Assessing the response of rare and common plant species to human induced rangeland degradation at a landscape scale in western Iran

Faramarzi,

Isselstein

2023

Land Degrad Dev

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Knowledge of plant species distribution and abundance at different landscape scales and management‐induced degradation is essential for the conservation, planning, and enhancement of the biodiversity of rangelands. In this study, additive partitioning of species diversity based on contribution diversity was used to analyze the interaction of landscape scale and grazing intensity factor to better understand the distribution of rare and common species. A total of 64 units (quadrats) were sampled by using a nested hierarchical sampling design at three scales of two regions (semi‐arid vs. Mediterranean), four sites, and four quadrats in both exclosure and grazing areas. The regional‐scale species richness (γs(q)) was calculated by the sum of the quadrat (αs(q)) and site (βs(q)) scale contributions to the region. The calculated rank of αs(q) indicated that an abundance of rare species for exclosures (α < 0.05) and the Mediterranean area (α < 0.01) was significantly greater than for grazing and the arid area, respectively. The highly palatable plants significantly correlated (α < 0.01) with the contribution diversity components (alpha/beta) in the exclosure areas but not in grazed areas. Furthermore, of the measured explanatory variables, the electrical conductivity (EC) of the soil was significantly negatively related to γs(q) which shows a sensitivity of rare species to the variable environmental conditions that are related to human influences interacting with soil and climatic conditions. The vegetation attributes of biomass and vegetation cover were significantly (α < 0.01) higher for managed exclosure sites than the grazed areas. The findings of this investigation demonstrate an increasing trend for rare species in managed and better environmental conditions. In conclusion, the protection and restoration of plant species diversity in semi‐arid and Mediterranean grasslands in western Iran are possible through the application of sustainable management practices by decision‐makers and managers.

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Impacts of livestock grazing on plant species composition in montane forests on the northern slope of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Cited by 30 publications

References 24 publications

The Impact of Livestock Grazing on Soil Characteristics in Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

The Impact of Livestock Grazing on Soil Characteristics in Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Small effects of livestock grazing intensification on diversity, abundance, and composition in a dryland plant community

Assessing the response of rare and common plant species to human induced rangeland degradation at a landscape scale in western Iran

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