Abstract
The negative effect of soil erosion and soil compaction is well documented for the purpose of optimum rangeland functioning, while the impact of rangeland degradation on effective soil depth is seldom quantified. The aim of this study was to quantify the response of vegetation cover and soil properties, particularly effective soil depth and soil texture to rangeland degradation. Forty-one farms were sampled in the arid and semi-arid climate of South Africa. Within these farms, data was collected over a vegetation degradation gradient. Results showed a significant decline in relative basal cover (94% ± 15% to 39% ± 17%) and soil depth (90% ± 14% to 73% ± 24%) as rangeland degraded. Soil texture changes over the degradation gradients vary for different homogeneous vegetation types. Indications regarding the loss of a functioning rangeland ecosystem were also demonstrated, using objective long-term relations between rangeland conditions and grazing capacity. The study highlights the importance of sustainable rangeland management practices to reduce the loss in effective soil depth and to ensure the sustainable utilization of the rangeland ecosystem. These results can probably extrapolate to other arid and semi-arid rangelands worldwide.
Highlights
The results of this study showed distinct effects of rangeland conditions on effective soil depth, vegetation cover and soil texture
As a consequence of higher grazing pressure over the degradation gradients, degradation of rangelands in arid and semi-arid environments is driven by different vegetation and soil processes: 1) changing of plant species composition where palatable high producing species is replaced by unpalatable or low producing species, 2) decline of vegetation cover, 3) loss in effective soil depth due to soil erosion and soil compaction and 4) changes in the texture of topsoils
This will further lead to a decline in fodder production, grazing capacity and rangeland ecosystem functioning
Summary
When the production potential of rangelands is overestimated, the subsequent overgrazing will lead to a decrease of palatable perennial plants in favor of less palatable, undesirable vegetation (Van der Westhuizen et al, 2005), while the vegetation cover, soil quality (Kotzé et al, 2020) and productivity of the rangeland will decline. This causes permanent degradation of rangeland and soil quality, hampering the ability to sustain optimal livestock production which will have a negative impact on global food demand in future
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