Management of Australia's Rangelands

Harrington, G. N.; Wilson, A. D.; Young, Mike

doi:10.2307/3899756

Cited by 18 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…Similar results were reported from elsewhere, for example in Africa [29], Australia [30], India [31], North America [32], and South America [33]. Gilson [34] reported cyclic changes in tree abundance in Serengeti ecosystem within 100 -500 years.…”

Section: Land Cover Change Detection Matrix For 1975 To 1991 and 1991supporting

confidence: 75%

Vegetation Cover Changes in Ngorongoro Conservation Area from 1975 to 2000: The Importance of Remote Sensing Images~!2009-02-12~!2009-11-24~!2010-04-29~!

Niboye¹

2010

TOGEOGJ

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Ngorongoro conservation area is a multiple land-use system established in 1959 to provide for both wildlife conservation and economic development of resident Maasai pastoralists. A study was conducted by analyzing remote sensing images (Landsat MSS 1975, Landsat TM 1991, and Landsat TM 2000 in order to determine trends in vegetation cover changes between 1975 and 2000. The results indicates that major changes in the study area from 1970 to 2000 involved increase in woody vegetation cover types including forest (+ 48.7%), bush land (+42.7%); and loss of scrubland (-29.1%) and grasslands (-37.0%). Other changes involved invasion of highland grassland by unpalatable grass species (-34.4%). The period covered was associated with restrictive conservation policies that disrupted traditional pastoral mobility restricting large herds of livestock on highland areas that induced range deterioration. It is concluded that pastoral land use system has preserved the savanna landscape in Ngorongoro area whereas land-use policies that disrupts traditional pastoral land use systems threaten a breakdown of savanna ecosystem that supports a tourism industry in the area.

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Section: Land Cover Change Detection Matrix For 1975 To 1991 and 1991supporting

confidence: 75%

Vegetation Cover Changes in Ngorongoro Conservation Area from 1975 to 2000: The Importance of Remote Sensing Images~!2009-02-12~!2009-11-24~!2010-04-29~!

Niboye¹

2010

TOGEOGJ

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“…For these reasons the arid zone is relatively flat and possesses extremely poor, nutrient-deficient soils (Stafford Smith & Morton, 1990;Orians & Milewski, 2007). The most distinctive and important vegetation types in the Australian arid zone are hummock grasslands, eucalypt woodlands, Acacia woodlands, Mitchell grasslands, chenopod shrublands and stony deserts (Harrington, Wilson & Young, 1984). As the most extensive of the inland biomes, hummock grasslands occur in both the summer-and winter-dominated rainfall regions.…”

Section: Climate and Landscape In Arid Australiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource pulses and mammalian dynamics: conceptual models for hummock grasslands and other Australian desert habitats

2010

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Resources are produced in pulses in many terrestrial environments, and have important effects on the population dynamics and assemblage structure of animals that consume them. Resource-pulsing is particularly dramatic in Australian desert environments owing to marked spatial and temporal variability in rainfall, and thus primary productivity. Here, we first review how Australia's desert mammals respond to fluctuations in resource production, and evaluate the merits of three currently accepted models (the ecological refuge, predator refuge and fire-mosaic models) as explanations of the observed dynamics. We then integrate elements of these models into a novel state-and-transition model and apply it to well-studied small mammal assemblages that inhabit the vast hummock grassland, or spinifex, landscapes of the continental inland. The model has four states that are defined by differences in species composition and abundance, and eight transitions or processes that prompt shifts from one state to another. Using this model as a template, we construct three further models to explain mammalian dynamics in cracking soil habitats of the Lake Eyre Basin, gibber plains of the Channel Country, and the chenopod shrublands of arid southern Australia. As non-equilibrium concepts that recognise the strongly intermittent nature of resource pulsing in arid Australia, state-and-transition models provide useful descriptors of both spatial and temporal patterns in mammal assemblages. The models should help managers to identify when and where to implement interventions to conserve native mammals, such as control burns, reduced grazing or predator management. The models also should improve understanding of the potential effects of future climate change on mammal assemblages in arid environments in general. We conclude by proposing several tests that could be used to refine the models and guide further research.

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“…1984a; Landsberg, O’Connor & Freudenberger 1999c). However, the area of rangeland affected by heavy grazing is generally small and restricted to high‐use areas such as the immediate vicinity of stock watering points; most rangeland areas experience much lower intensities of use (Harrington, Wilson & Young 1984b; James, Landsberg & Morton 1999; Nash et al . 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scale‐related effects of grazing on native plant communities in an arid rangeland region of South Australia

Landsberg

James²,

Maconochie³

et al. 2002

Journal of Applied Ecology

107

108

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Summary 1.To explore how rangeland grazing affects native plant diversity at local and regional scales, we measured the frequency of occurrence of plant species along six transects spread across a large region of arid calcareous rangelands in north-western South Australia. Four transects were in commercial sheep-grazed paddocks and two were in otherwise similar lands that had never been developed for pastoralism. Each transect comprised four sites of area 0·5 km 2 , at distances of 1, 4, 7 and 10 km from the nearest stock watering point in a paddock, or from a nominal starting point > 10 km from water in the undeveloped lands. 2. Nearly 200 plant species were recorded, but distributions were patchy, with > 30% of species present at < 10% of sites. 3. The apparent influence of pastoral development and proximity to water varied with the scale of inquiry. At the regional level, pastoral development had a predominantly negative effect on the abundance of species: 16 species were less abundant in paddocks than in lands that had never been developed, and only one species was more abundant. Localized trends within paddocks were more positive: significantly more species showed trends of increasing abundance with increasing proximity to watering points and associated grazing activity. 4. The study results are consistent with a general pattern whereby pastoral development enhances richness of plant species at a local scale (by providing opportunities for more species to establish) but has the potential to decrease it at a regional scale (by removing the most grazing-sensitive species from the regional species pool). 5. The results suggest there may be two fundamentally different mechanisms whereby species decline in abundance under grazing. Palatable, drought-hardy, perennial species are more likely to decline in abundance with proximity to water and associated accumulated grazing pressure in paddocks. Uncommon or short-lived species that are selectively grazed during very good seasons are more likely to decline everywhere in paddocks, regardless of the location of water points. 6. If both mechanisms contribute to species decline there may need to be a mix of strategies for protecting all species in any regional network of conservation reserves.

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Management of Australia's Rangelands

Cited by 18 publications

References 0 publications

Vegetation Cover Changes in Ngorongoro Conservation Area from 1975 to 2000: The Importance of Remote Sensing Images~!2009-02-12~!2009-11-24~!2010-04-29~!

Vegetation Cover Changes in Ngorongoro Conservation Area from 1975 to 2000: The Importance of Remote Sensing Images~!2009-02-12~!2009-11-24~!2010-04-29~!

Resource pulses and mammalian dynamics: conceptual models for hummock grasslands and other Australian desert habitats

Scale‐related effects of grazing on native plant communities in an arid rangeland region of South Australia

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