Correlation of trends in cashmere production and declines of large wild mammals: response to Berger et al. 2013

The cashmere connection, biodiversity, and climate: response to von Wehrden et al. 2014

“…Von Wehrden et al (2015) agree with our report of rising goat numbers but challenge the idea that the cashmere trade is an important driver of this increase. But, they offer no alternative reasons for the proportionally greater increase in goats relative to other livestock.…”

“…We believe the von Wehrden et al () comment is misguided in 3 key areas: its failure to move beyond the science of ecology by concentrating on climate as the ultimate driver of goats (Fig. ); its omission of the biocomplexity of the system, especially the nature of direct and indirect interactions; and its biased use of the literature to inappropriately refute our points.…”

“… Schematic outline of nonequilibrium model of the livestock grazing system in Central Asia as suggested by von Wehrden et al ( ) (left) compared with a model that incorporates biocomplexity components (gray) including (1) direct and (2) indirect (as prompted through humans) external drivers to illustrate connections to biodiversity and cashmere trade (right). Effects of dzuds (i.e., intense winter storms) and drought on biodiversity are poorly known, although dzuds kill a disproportionate number of livestock .…”

The Palaearctic steppe biome: a new synthesis

“…This triggered an extensive discussion about widespread degradation (Hilker et al 2014;Liu et al 2013;Sneath 1998). Consensus is emerging that degradation is unevenly distributed, being pronounced in the central part of the typical steppes, while the dry southern parts and the vast tall grass steppes in eastern Mongolia are in a better state (Addison et al 2012;Eckert et al 2015;Gao et al 2015;von Wehrden et al 2015).…”

Seasonal Variations in Voluntary Intake and ApparentDigestibility of Forages by Goats in the Chinese Altai Mountains

“…To assure adequate nutrition and thus performance of grazing animals, the amount and quality of feed ingested on rangelands must be known. For the context of the Chinese Altai Mountains, only one study [6] has so far adopted the combined livestock-rangeland perspective recommended by von Wehrden et al [18] and reported detailed data on the forage intake of sheep as affected by biomass offer, biomass quality, and stocking density on alpine summer pastures. The present study aimed at complementing this information by investigating the feed intake of grazing goats in view of forage supply on the mountain pastures, so as to provide a basis for more informed decisions for rangeland utilization.…”