Acceptability of plant species along grazing gradients around watering points in Tunisian arid zone

Tarhouni, Mohamed; Salem, Farah Ben; Belgacem, Azaiez Ouled; Neffati, Mohamed

doi:10.1016/j.flora.2009.12.020

Cited by 31 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…While the piosphere zone has been depicted to be devoid of vegetation; this assertion was relatively feasible in the protected kraals piospheres. On the other hand, we observed a gradual pattern with the sacrifice zone having low vegetation but gradually improving outward as has been previously articulated by several authors (Andrew 1988;Tarhouni et al 2010;Manthey and Peper 2010). According to Macchi and Grau (2012), piospheres represent rather paradoxical landscape patterns, where the supply of the key limiting factor in an ecosystem (in the case of this study, water and security in the protected kraals) results in biomass reduction and overall ecosystem degradation.…”

Section: Status Of Waterhole and Protected Kraal Piospheressupporting

confidence: 82%

Piospheric influence on forage species composition and abundance in semi-arid Karamoja sub-region, Uganda

et al. 2015

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Piospheres in semi-arid areas are gradients of animal impacts around watering holes. Few studies have examined the impact dynamics of herbaceous and woody species composition and abundance in relation to piospheres in East Africa. In this study, we identified the trend in piosphere development, assessed piosphere use and change indicators, and identified herbaceous and woody plant structure in relation to piospheres in the Karamoja sub-region, Uganda. Results revealed that piosphere development has been reactionary to drought and/or insecurity events and increased rapidly in the last decade. A diversity of herbaceous and woody plants exists around the piospheres. Use and change indicators revealed high trampling and grazing intensity, high presence of erosion signs and low litter cover. Gradient distance had both positive and negative effects on trampling intensity, percent exposure and plant height, respectively. A negative and positive effect of gradient distance was also observed on different herbaceous and woody forage species leading to the identification of both increaser and decreaser species around the piospheres. Therefore, as concentrated use of the piospheres continues unabated, an outward ripple effect leading to loss and/or increase of undesirable herbaceous and woody species will be felt. This will have an impact on the composition and abundance dynamics of desirable forage species in the sub-region.

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Section: Status Of Waterhole and Protected Kraal Piospheressupporting

confidence: 82%

Piospheric influence on forage species composition and abundance in semi-arid Karamoja sub-region, Uganda

et al. 2015

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“…The remarkably greater frequency of highly palatable species group adjacent to the dip‐tank point confirms the findings of Tarhouni et al . () in Tunisia that very palatable plants (mainly annual plants) constituted the largest proportion of the vegetation close to the watering points where the greatest disturbance occurred. However, these findings do not concur with results from other workers who found greater frequencies of this group away from the water point (Fensham, Holman & Cox, ; Simon, ).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Rangeland degradation in Swaziland: Dip tank use effects on range condition and grazing capacity in three soil types

Beyene

2014

Afr. J. Ecol.

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This study examined rangeland condition and degradation characteristics of the semi-arid savannahs of Swaziland in response to distance from dip-tank points in three soil types. Eight dip-tanks, three each in sandy and loamy, and two in stony soils, were selected. Two transects (1 km) radiating from each dip-tank were established. Total herbaceous yield (range: 176-363.8 kg DM ha À1 ) and grazing capacity (47.5-111.5 ha LSU À1 ) were very low throughout the studied areas. Palatability and ecological values of grasses were 18.7-67.6% and 43.2-64.1%, respectively. Most sites were dominated by woody seedlings and saplings (<0-2 m). Most vegetation variables did not respond considerably to distance, soil types and sites within soil types. When all measured variables were combined, the results showed a generally poor range condition scores across distance points from the dip-tank. A holistic restoration programme with full involvement of communal farmers, experts, policy makers and extension workers is recommended.

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“…Our results are in concordance with those of (Gamoun 2013;Salemkour et al 2016) and following the model of (Olff & Ritchie 1998) in which grazing in arid environment can lead to the reduction of diversity. The reduction of richness and diversity can lead to the deterioration of palatable species (Tarhouni et al 2010) and the decrease of the pastoral quality of rangelands. The effect of grazing on plant species richness and diversity is more accentuated under dry conditions (Tarhouni et al 2010).…”

Section: Discussion:-mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reduction of richness and diversity can lead to the deterioration of palatable species (Tarhouni et al 2010) and the decrease of the pastoral quality of rangelands. The effect of grazing on plant species richness and diversity is more accentuated under dry conditions (Tarhouni et al 2010). The cover of bare ground tended to increase with grazing gradient, representing more than 62% of the total cover.…”

Section: Discussion:-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Grazing Effect on Floristic Diversity and Structure in Arid Rangelands of Algeria.

Saifi¹,

Mustafa²,

Tahar³

2016

IJAR

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Land degradation is a global issue affecting environment around the world, when occurring in arid and semiarid environment this phenomenon is defined as desertification. Overgrazing can generate a regressive chain reaction leading to degradation of vegetation cover and loss of biodiversity. The use of indicators to assess desertification is suitable to detect the state of the health of rangeland ecosystems. In this study, we assessed species richness and diversity between two habitats (grazed and ungrazed), in addition, we evaluated the effect of grazing on the total vegetation cover, bare ground cover and cooccurrence between the two treatments. Our results indicated that richness, diversity, total vegetation cover and co-occurrence were affected by grazing activity. The high value of bare ground cover indicated a regressive trend, which can be interpreted as a process of desertification. However, the protection from grazing promoted vegetation cover and diversity. It is recommended to use controlled grazing and increase protected zone areas.

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Acceptability of plant species along grazing gradients around watering points in Tunisian arid zone

Cited by 31 publications

References 47 publications

Piospheric influence on forage species composition and abundance in semi-arid Karamoja sub-region, Uganda

Piospheric influence on forage species composition and abundance in semi-arid Karamoja sub-region, Uganda

Rangeland degradation in Swaziland: Dip tank use effects on range condition and grazing capacity in three soil types

Grazing Effect on Floristic Diversity and Structure in Arid Rangelands of Algeria.

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