Rangeland vegetation productivity and biomass

Pieper, Rex D.

doi:10.1007/978-94-009-3085-8_18

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…for each pasture type based on Tothill and Gilles (1992) (Figure S18 and S19, Table S7). The pasture consumption per adult equivalent was set at 9 kg per day (± 1 kg per day) based on a range of studies (Queensland Government Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) 2013, Scanlan et al 1994, Pieper 1988, Holechek 1988, Walsh and Cowley 2011, Bernado 1989, and multiplied by 365 to give an annual value. We constrained the model to the broad area currently grazed by livestock to avoid unsuitable vegetation types, soils, or topographies, and ensure appropriate land tenure (primarily pastoral leasehold).…”

Section: Simulations Of Safe Stocking Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing production and environmental outcomes in Australia’s tropical savanna under global change

Runting,

King,

Nolan

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Livestock production is an integral part of the global food system and the livelihoods of local people, but it also raises issues of environmental sustainability due to issues such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity decline, land degradation, and water use. Further challenges to the social and environmental sustainability of extensive livestock systems may arise from changes in climate and the global economy (e.g., changing livestock demand and carbon prices). However, significant potential exists for both mitigating these impacts and adapting to change via altering stocking rates, managing fire, improving pastures, and supplementing cattle to reduce methane emissions. We developed an integrated, spatio-temporal modelling approach to assess the effectiveness of these different options for land management in Australia’s tropical savanna under different global change scenarios. Performance was measured against a range of sustainability indicators, including environmental outcomes (GHG emissions, biodiversity, water intake, and land condition) and production (profit, beef production). We find that maintaining baseline stocking rates is not environmentally sustainable due to the accelerated land degradation exacerbated by a changing climate. Alternatively, planned early dry season burning resulted in substantial emissions reductions, and in our simulations became profitable under all global change scenarios that included a carbon price. Although there were no perfect win-wins, the balance between production and environmental outcomes could be improved by stocking at modelled carrying capacity and implementing fire management. This scenario was the most profitable (with a four-fold increase from the historic baseline), prevented land degradation, and reduced GHG emissions by 15%. As climate change is likely to reduce the potential for cattle production in Australia and elsewhere, the opportunity to diversify income streams may prove vital in a changing climate.

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Section: Simulations Of Safe Stocking Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing production and environmental outcomes in Australia’s tropical savanna under global change

Runting,

King,

Nolan

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…For each quadrat, a small sample (100 g) was collected and dried to a constant weight to determine percent moisture. Percent moisture for the clipped vegetation was applied to the mass recorded for the quadrat to estimate the dry forage mass in kg/ha [47].…”

Section: Field Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pilot Study to Estimate Forage Mass from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in a Semi-Arid Rangeland

et al. 2020

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The application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the monitoring and management of rangelands has exponentially increased in recent years due to the miniaturization of sensors, ability to capture imagery with high spatial resolution, lower altitude platforms, and the ease of flying UAVs in remote environments. The aim of this research was to develop a method to estimate forage mass in rangelands using high-resolution imagery derived from the UAV using a South Texas pasture as a pilot site. The specific objectives of this research were to (1) evaluate the feasibility of quantifying forage mass in semi-arid rangelands using a double sampling technique with high-resolution imagery and (2) to compare the effect of altitude on forage mass estimation. Orthoimagery and digital surface models (DSM) with a resolution <1.5 cm were acquired with an UAV at altitudes of 30, 40, and 50 m above ground level (AGL) in Duval County, Texas. Field forage mass data were regressed on volumes obtained from a DSM. Our results show that volumes estimated with UAV data and forage mass as measured in the field have a significant relationship at all flight altitudes with best results at 30-m AGL (r2 = 0.65) and 50-m AGL (r2 = 0.63). Furthermore, the use of UAVs would allow one to collect a large number of samples using a non-destructive method to estimate available forage for grazing animals.

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“…The distance was maintained at 550 m and 300 m, between transects and plots, respectively. In each plot, parameters such as herbaceous biomass productivity, trees stocking parameters (standing density, diameter at breast height and tree height), and soil samples were enumerated and recorded as per (Behera et al, 2017;Pieper, 1988;Rubanza et al, 2006) as shown below:…”

Section: Study Design and Forest Inventorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change mitigation through carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration in community reserved forests of northwest Tanzania

Malunguja

Devi

Kilonzo

et al. 2020

Arch. Agric. Environ. Sci.

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Forests play a key role in climate change mitigation through sequestering and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, there is inadequate information about carbon accumulation and sequestered by community reserved forests in Tanzania. A study was carried to quantify the amount of carbon sequestered in two forests namely; Nyasamba and Bubinza of Kishapu district, northwestern Tanzania. A ground-based field survey design under a systematic sampling technique was adopted. A total of 45 circular plots (15 m radius) along transects were established. The distances between transect and plots were maintained at 550 and 300 m, respectively. Data on herbaceous C stocking potential was determined using destructive harvest method while tree carbon stocking was estimated by allometric equations. The collected data were organized on excel datasheet followed by descriptive analysis for quantitative information using Computer Microsoft Excel and SPSS software version 20, while soil samples were analyzed based on the standard laboratory procedures. Results revealed higher carbon sequestration of 102.49±39.87 and 117.52±10.27 for soil pools than plants both herbaceous (3.01±1.12 and 6.27±3.79 t CO2e/yr) and trees (5.70±3.15 and 6.60±2.88 t CO2e/yr) for Nyasamba and Bubinza respectively. The study recorded a potential variation of soil carbon sequestration, which varied across depths category (P < 0.05). However, there was no difference across sites (P >0.05) and species (P > 0.05) for herbaceous and trees. The findings of this study portrayed a significantly low value for carbon stocking and sequestration potential for enhanced climate change mitigation. Therefore, proper management of community reserved forest is required to accumulate more C for enhancing stocking potential hence climate change mitigation through CO2 sequestration offsets mechanism.

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Rangeland vegetation productivity and biomass

Cited by 7 publications

References 86 publications

Balancing production and environmental outcomes in Australia’s tropical savanna under global change

Balancing production and environmental outcomes in Australia’s tropical savanna under global change

A Pilot Study to Estimate Forage Mass from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in a Semi-Arid Rangeland

Climate change mitigation through carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration in community reserved forests of northwest Tanzania

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