Small Ruminants Grazing as a Rehabilitative Land Management Tool in the Negev Highland; Soil, Geomorphological and Topographical Perspectives

Amir Mor-Mussery,Eli Zaady,Shimshon Shuker,Hiam Abu-Glion

doi:10.3390/agronomy11091730

Abstract

The ‘wadis’ (ephemeral incised channels in arid regions) concern badlands with low agriculture utilisation that expands to neighbouring cultivated areas. They are noticeable and unique landforms characterised by vegetation patches and seasonal flood flows with scenic beauty that must be conserved. The wadi characteristics have influenced the way of life of their indigenous residents from ancient times until now. The main one is grazing with small ruminants (SR). The authorities and public consider grazing in these areas as a destructive land management practice that should be reduced. To assess the viability of grazing in such regions, we hypothesised that fluvial and biological flows tightly correlate with the wadis’ landforms, channels and slopes. The site of study is located in the Yeroham mountains nearby the Rahma planned Bedouin village. Five different transects of channels and slopes were located over representative wadis, including those exposed to grazing. The finding indicates that a herbaceous vegetation expansion uphill was observed only in grazed transects, while the wadi slope patterns affect its patterns. It contains an increased soil water content (from a similar value of 5% until 13% change in the grazed transect), 1.5% higher soil organic matter, 0.08 mg Kg−1 higher Nitrite content and 1–2% higher clay content in the grazed transects, up to 4 m ahead from the channel. The novelty of this finding suggested that the SR influences the organic matter to reach the wadi channel and facilitate the adherence of aggregated clay and the formed colluvial layer that serves as a substrate to the expanded vegetation growth. Adequate implementation of these grazing patterns may rehabilitate degraded ‘wadis’ and increase their tourism eligibility.

Highlights

The landforms of the Negev Highland represent a highly incised area with a dense net of wadis
The area is covered by a regolith arid regions vegetation [12,13] from the following species [14]: Malva sylvestris, Anthemis melampodina, Moricandia nitens, Thymelaea hirsute, Zygophyllum dumosum, Anabasis articulata, Onopordum palaestinum, Drimia maritima and species that correlated to previous cultivated species, such as Hordeum spontaneum and Triticum aestivium
Two grazing species are common in the area: camels and small ruminant (SR) herds

Summary

Introduction

The landforms of the Negev Highland represent a highly incised area with a dense net of wadis. The region is rich in wadi channels segmenting the soil surface. The flow in the wadis is characterised by flash floods due to convectional rainfall events [1]. In the dry Mediterranean regions and the Arab Peninsula, the wadis’ area, occupying a total area of >2 million km , is laid mostly over loamy deposits or limestone [3]. The wadis’ area is settled by indigenous residents, mostly from previously nomadic tribes, termed ‘Bedouin’. The wadi area is characterised by the existence of highly eroded landforms embedded between the channels as loessial plains, salty plains and rocky grounds, all of which are tightly connected to the existing wadis [4]

Methods

Results

Conclusion