Abstract
Key issues of concern regarding the environmental impacts of livestock on grazing land are their effects on soil, water quality, and biodiversity. This study was carried out to determine how grazing intensity influences soil physical and chemical properties and occurrence of herbaceous plant species in dambo wetlands. Three categories of grazing intensity were selected from communal, small scale commercial and large scale commercial land. Dambos from the large scale commercial land functioned as the control. Data analysis included ANOVA and multivariate tests from CANOCO. There were significantly negative changes to soil nutrient status in communal dambos though with a higher number of rare taxa. Sodium, phosphorous, pH and infiltration rate were significant determinants of plant species occurrence. Overgrazing is threatening the productivity, stability, and ecological functioning of dambo soils in communal Zimbabwe. These dambos also require special conservation and management priorities as they contain a large number of rare plant species.
Highlights
Key issues of concern regarding the environmental impacts of livestock on grazing land are their effects on soil, water quality, and biodiversity
Key issues of concern regarding the environmental impacts of livestock on both public and private grazing lands are their effects on soil, water quality, riparian areas, and biodiversity [1]
The objective of this study was to determine the extent at which grazing influences soil nutrient dynamics, interaction with plant community and how these influence occurrence of herbaceous plant species in wetlands
Summary
Key issues of concern regarding the environmental impacts of livestock on both public and private grazing lands are their effects on soil, water quality, riparian areas, and biodiversity [1]. Many wetlands in the past have been degraded or destroyed as a result of inappropriate land use or development pressures, more recently they have become the focus of intense conservation interest [5], since the establishment in 1971 of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (the “Ramsar Convention”) This convention promotes sustainable use of wetlands and provides a framework for the conservation of more than 1600 wetlands that have been nominated as internationally important on the basis of their ecological, botanical, zoological, limnological or hydrological values [6]. With the exception of a typically narrow (
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