Enclosure Management Research Articles

A local perspective on the links between flora biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Northwest Highlands of Ethiopia

The main concern that this study attempts to address is the reason that the local people sustainably conserve church forests while aggressively exploiting biodiversity in common forests, shrublands, and grasslands. The study assesses the local perspective on the links between flora biodiversity and ecosystem services across a range of management options in the typical watershed of the Northwest highlands of Ethiopia. A mixed study design that included questionnaires, remote sensing, and hermeneutics was used because of the multidisciplinary character of the research. There has been a perceptible decline in flora biodiversity in the open-access shrublands, forests, and grasslands as a result of increased settlement encroachment, unchecked and continuous overgrazing, excessive firewood collection, and the cutting of living and dead tree and shrub biomass. Because of this, it was noticed that the availability of wild edible plants, medicinal plants, trees to produce tools, habitat for wild animals, and lumber production is drastically reduced. Alternatively, the church forests were preserved with responsive caring, which enables the outstanding performance of the majority of ecosystem services (except for collecting firewood and fibers) for the local community with the principles of equality and inclusiveness. Therefore, to restore open-access communal grazing ecosystems and the synergy of many ecosystem services in a given watershed, an effective institutional structure must be developed at the local administration level. To offer a range of ecosystem services and socioeconomic benefits, reforestation and planting of both exotic and native plants with enclosure management established on the values of justice, equality, inclusivity, and well-managed local governance with strict laws, sanctions, and enforcement must be the cornerstones of the management plan.

A taste of wilderness: supplementary feeding of red deer (Cervus elaphus) increases individual bacterial microbiota diversity but lowers abundance of important gut symbionts

The gut microbiome plays a crucial role in the health and well-being of animals. It is especially critical for ruminants that depend on this bacterial community for digesting their food. In this study, we investigated the effects of management conditions and supplemental feeding on the gut bacterial microbiota of red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany. Fecal samples were collected from free-ranging deer, deer within winter enclosures, and deer in permanent enclosures. The samples were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing of the 16 S rRNA gene. The results showed that the gut bacterial microbiota differed in diversity, abundance, and heterogeneity within and between the various management groups. Free-ranging deer exhibited lower alpha diversity compared with deer in enclosures, probably because of the food supplementation available to the animals within the enclosures. Free-living individuals also showed the highest beta diversity, indicating greater variability in foraging grounds and plant species selection. Moreover, free-ranging deer had the lowest abundance of potentially pathogenic bacterial taxa, suggesting a healthier gut microbiome. Winter-gated deer, which spent some time in enclosures, exhibited intermediate characteristics between free-ranging and all-year-gated deer. These findings suggest that the winter enclosure management strategy, including supplementary feeding with processed plants and crops, has a significant impact on the gut microbiome composition of red deer. Overall, this study provides important insights into the effects of management conditions, particularly winter enclosure practices, on the gut microbiome of red deer. Understanding these effects is crucial for assessing the potential health implications of management strategies and highlights the value of microbiota investigations as health marker.

The Integration of Kansei Engineering and Kano Model on Natural Language Processing (NLP) to Support Development of Service Product in the Borobudur Temple Tourism

The Borobudur Temple Compounds is one of the spearheads of Indonesian tourism, anticipating introduction to the international community. Currently, the management of the compound is focused on maintaining the existing condition of tourism and increasing enthusiasm among visitors to experience the temple area. Amidst the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the management has implemented stringent health procedures to ensure the safety and health of visitors. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the service required to increase visitor enthusiasm and satisfaction in the Borobudur Temple Compounds using the Natural Language Processing (NLP) method to extract visitor sentiments as Kansei words from TripAdvisor. The results obtained were processed using Kansei Engineering type 1 to determine the most critical service quality category through Kano model. The integration of NLP, Kansei Engineering, and Kano model proved effective, showing attributes like popular Tripadvisor searches, such as exit, morning, temple, sunrise, and heat. Other attributes not listed but considered necessary based on Kansei Engineering and Kano model integration were identified, such as ticket prices, elephant enclosure management, and pamphlets. Based on the results, it was discovered that the management of Borobudur Temple Compounds needed to improve in two main aspects. These included the distance between each facility and the compound elephant cage, considered unenjoyable.

Soil organic carbon stock assessment for soil fertility improvement, ecosystem restoration and climate-change mitigation

Food insecurity, land degradation, desertification, and climatechange are prevalent in Eritrea. Though SOC stock is very crucial for soil fertility improvement, ecosystem restoration and climate-change mitigation, the status of it in different land uses in Eritrea is unknown. Thus, the study collected 64 surface soil samples from rainfed, irrigated, enclosure and grazing land uses from Keren subzone, Eritrea, and analysed for SOC. The ANOVA test results showed that land uses had very highly significant effects on SOC stock (p < 0.001). Rainfed and irrigated cropping recorded the minimum and maximum mean SOC stocks, 6.57 and 25.29 Mg ha-1, respectively. This implies that shifting from rainfed to irrigated agriculture would not only contribute to soil fertility improvement, increased yield, and food security but also to climate-change mitigation. Converting the 2500 hectares rainfed land in the study area to irrigated, would store 46,800 Mg C and offset 171,756 Mg CO2 emission. Grazing and enclosure land uses with 18.53 and 18.92 Mg SOC stocks ha-1, respectively, had no significant difference between them (Tukey test) which indicates poor enclosure management. Thus, the study realizes that irrigated agriculture with good agronomic practices is helpful to improve soil quality and mitigate climatechange.

Effects of Enclosure Succession on the Morphological Characteristics and Nutrient Content of a Bamboo Whip System in a Moso Bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) Forest on Wuyi Mountain, China

To investigate the morphological characteristics and nutrient content of bamboo whip systems in the Wuyi Mountain Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) forest in response to enclosure succession. The mixed Moso bamboo forests in the Wuyi Mountain Nature Reserve with 0, 4, 6, 11, 16, and 41 enclosure years were taken as the object of investigation. All the bamboo whips in the 2 m × 2 m sample plots were excavated layer-by-layer according to the soil layers of 0–20 cm, 20–40 cm, and 40–60 cm, and a total of 54 plots were dug. The morphological characteristics and nutrient contents of the Moso bamboo whips in the different soil layers were analyzed and evaluated. Enclosure management measures can not only effectively improve vegetation coverage, biodiversity, and biomass, but also improve soil moisture and nutrient status, indirectly affecting the vegetation, which is of great significance for preventing soil erosion. The results showed that the whip number, whip diameter, flagella number, whip length, and whip weight in the 0–20 cm soil layer were significantly increased by 169.2%, 11.0%, 197.5%, 113.7%, and 109.0% (p < 0.05), respectively, compared with CK after 41 years of enclosure. The average internode length was significantly decreased by 27.9% (p < 0.05) compared to CK after 41 years of enclosure. In the 20–40 cm soil layer, the whip diameter increased by 9.7% after 41 years of enclosure compared with CK, but the whip number, flagella number, whip length, and whip weight were significantly reduced after 16 and 41 years of enclosure compared to CK (p < 0.05). In the 40–60 cm soil layer, the whip number, number of flagella, and whip length increased significantly after 6 and 11 years of enclosure compared with CK (p < 0.05). In the 0–20 cm soil layer, the contents of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total potassium in CK were higher than those in other enclosure years, and the soluble sugar content in CK was significantly higher than that in the enclosures of 4, 6, 11, and 41 years by 39.8%, 37.9%, 34.4%, and 34.0% (p < 0.05). The organic carbon content was significantly increased by 14.8%, 12.7%, 7.2%, and 7.1% (p < 0.05) after 4, 6, 11, and 41 years of enclosure compared with CK, respectively. The starch content was significantly increased by 34.1%, 23.0%, and 62.7% (p < 0.05) after 6, 16, and 41 years of enclosure compared with CK, respectively. In the 20–40 cm and 40–60 cm soil layers, the total nitrogen content and soluble sugar content in CK were significantly lower than that in the enclosures of 4 years (p < 0.05), the total phosphorus and total potassium content in CK were significantly higher than that in the enclosures of 41 years (p < 0.05), and the organic carbon content and starch content in CK were significantly higher than that in the enclosures of 6 years (p < 0.05). In summary, enclosure measures were implemented for Moso bamboo forests in the Wuyi Mountain Nature Reserve, which promote the growth of Moso bamboo whips and optimize the structure of bamboo whips.

Effects of grazing and enclosure management on soil physical and chemical properties vary with aridity in China's drylands

Dryland soils are nutrient-poor and prone to degradation due to aridity, grazing and enclosure. It is essential to examine the effects of grazing and enclosure on aridity-induced soil degradation in dryland ecosystems to optimize land management practices in response to climate change. However, quantitative evaluation on this topic is scarce due to a lack of long-term field monitoring data. This study evaluated the combined effects of aridity and grazing/enclosure using long-term data (2005–2015) from three research stations on soil physical and chemical properties in typical steppes and desert steppes across the semi-arid and hyper-arid areas of China's drylands. Results showed that soil organic matter (OM) content was higher for enclosures (20.50 g/kg) than for grazing (19.06 g/kg). In the semi-arid steppe, enclosures aged 30–33 years had the highest soil total nitrogen (TN) content (1.21 g/kg). Longer enclosures aged 34–36 years showed decreased soil TN content (0.88 g/kg). In the desert steppe, enclosures aged 5–8 years exhibited the highest soil OM (2.44 g/kg) and TN (0.21 g/kg) contents. Grazing enhanced the decrease of OM content (from 4.57 to 2.39 g/kg) with increasing aridity (1 − aridity index) from 0.35 to 1. These findings indicate that enclosures can improve soil fertility, but prolonged enclosures may have negative effects. Grazing had a synergistic effect on the decrease of OM with aridity. Results can be used in response to climate changes to formulate sustainable land management strategies, such as reducing the enclosure period in wetter and restored areas, and diminishing the grazing intensity in areas with higher aridity.

Difference in soil water holding capacity and the influencing factors under different land use types in the alpine region of Tibet, China

To investigate the variation of soil water holding capacity under different land use types can provide scientific basis for evaluating the change characteristics and regulation mechanism of water conservation capacity in alpine ecosystems. We collected soil samples at different depth intervals (0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm) under three land use types (farmland, forest, and grassland) in Tibet alpine region to measure the maximum water holding capacity, capillary water holding capacity, field capacity, and basic soil physicochemical properties. The associated environmental factors (mean annual precipitation, normalized difference vegetation index, altitude, slope gradient and surface roughness) were extracted to analyze the change characteristics and influencing factors of soil water holding capacity under different land use types. The results showed that soil water holding capacity (the maximum water holding capacity, capillary water holding capacity, and field capacity) of farmland, forest, and grassland all decreased with increasing soil depth. The mean values of the maximum water holding capacity, capillary water holding capacity, and field capacity in the 0-30 cm soil layer of grassland were 379.79, 329.57 and 194.39 g·kg-1, respectively, which were significantly higher than that of farmland (301.15, 259.67, and 154.91 g·kg-1) and forest (293.09, 251.49, and 117.01 g·kg-1). Results of the redundancy analysis showed that soil properties significantly influenced soil water holding capacity, with explanation rate of 44.6%, 42.7%, 37.6% and 35.8% for total porosity, soil organic matter, capillary porosity and soil bulk density, respectively. Results of the principal component analysis showed that mean annual precipitation, normalized difference vegetation index, altitude, slope gradient, and surface roughness were the main environmental factors affecting the spatial variation of soil water holding capacity, with a cumulative contribution of 72.4%. The grassland in the alpine region of Tibet had the highest water holding capacity and could effectively prevent soil erosion. Therefore, the implementation of returning farmland to grassland and the enclosure management of degraded grassland would be conducive to improve soil water conservation capacity in the alpine regions.

Land Use/Cover Changes and Surface Temperature Dynamics Over Abaminus Watershed, Northwest Ethiopia

The study investigates the impact of land use/cover changes on the dynamics of surface temperature in the Abaminus watershed, Northwest Ethiopia. Landsat-5 images of 1987, 1999, and 2010, and the Landsat-8 image of 2018 were used as the sources of data. The land use/cover changes were calculated using a land-use transition matrix. Data generated from household surveys were presented using percentage values to identify the driving forces of land use/cover changes. The land surface temperature (LST) result was quantified using the respective index equation. Results indicated that wetland, forest, shrublands, and grasslands declined by 96.6%, 72%, 77.7%, and 89.4% respectively over the analysis period. The encroachment of cultivation and overgrazing to marginal lands, weak institutional arrangement, sedimentation, high drainage of wetlands for crop production, and recurrent drought were the major driving forces behind the land use/cover change. Within this effect, the average land surface temperature was increased by 11.5°C, 3.22°C, and 2.02°C due to wetland loss, clearing of the forest, and decline of shrublands respectively for the last 31 years. LSTs had correspondingly decreased by 5.42°C and 3.77°C on the afforested barren surfaces and planted shrublands. Hence, there should be an improved institutional arrangement for managing open access resources through the participation of local people in the management for minimizing the increase of land surface temperature in the study watershed. Moreover, enclosure management and plantation of multipurpose species on degraded communal lands shall be scaled-up to significantly reduce land surface temperatures.

Study on the Management of Fever Clinic Renovation Engineering During the COVID-19 Epidemic

COVID-19 is spreading worldwide. The fever clinic in the hospital is the most important area for epidemic prevention and control. The Management of Fever Clinic Renovation Engineering needs to consider the epidemic prevention and control requirements comprehensively. Firstly, the overview and background of fever clinic renovation engineering in the hospital are introduced, and the problems in the management of fever clinic engineering are presented. In view of existing problems, the management of hospital fever clinic renovation engineering is analyzed from five aspects: design management, quality management, personnel management, time management, and construction management. The special requirements of construction management are analyzed in depth from enclosure management, area management, and channel management. Through the study, it is found that the difficulty of fever clinic engineering management is greater than that of conventional engineering management, which will provide new ideas for the study of hospital engineering management.

半干旱草地植物枯落物碳、氮和磷元素释放对放牧和封育管理的响应

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 半干旱草地植物枯落物碳、氮和磷元素释放对放牧和封育管理的响应 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202104160988 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 宁夏自然科学基金项目（2021AAC03047） Response of C, N and P release dynamics of plant litter to grazing and enclosure management in semiarid grassland ecosystem Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:在半干旱草地，关于放牧和封育管理对草地植物枯落物分解及其与土壤动物互作关系的研究一直是该区域生态系统物质循环与生态恢复过程研究的重要科学问题。以放牧和封育样地中赖草（Leymus secalinus）、牛枝子（Lespedeza potaninii）及其混合枯落物为研究对象。于2017年9月、2018年5月和9月、2019年5月和9月，采用2种不同孔径（30目和250目）网袋量化中小型土壤动物的作用，调查了宁夏半干旱草地枯落物碳、氮和磷元素分解与土壤动物群落分布及其对放牧和封育样地的响应规律。结果显示：（1）封育样地中，枯落物碳元素最终残留率均表现为3种枯落物处理间无显著差异；但250目网孔中枯落物氮、磷元素最终残留率和30目网孔中氮元素最终残留率均表现为牛枝子显著高于赖草和混合物，而后两者间无显著差异；仅30目网孔中磷元素最终残留率表现为牛枝子和混合物显著高于赖草，而前两者间无显著差异。放牧样地中，250目网孔的碳、磷元素最终残留率和30目网孔中的氮、磷元素最终残留率均表现为牛枝子显著高于混合物，而赖草居中；氮元素最终残留率表现为牛枝子显著高于赖草和混合物，后两者间无显著差异。（2）土壤动物对枯落物碳、氮和磷元素最终残留率的影响较小；但不同网孔下混合枯落物氮元素最终残留率均表现为放牧显著低于封育样地，而赖草和牛枝子枯落物磷元素残留率均表现为放牧显著高于封育样地，且30目网孔中赖草枯落物氮元素残留率表现为放牧显著高于封育样地。（3） Mantel检验和PCA分析进一步表明，土壤动物多样性分布和土壤理化性质显著影响枯落物碳、氮和磷养分元素释放。研究表明，半干旱草地枯落物碳、氮和磷元素释放受土壤性质和物种化学特性影响，放牧与封育管理通过影响网孔中土壤动物分布来调控植物枯落物碳、氮和磷元素释放。放牧干扰显著弱化土壤-土壤动物-枯落物之间的联系，但同时显著加速了混合枯落物中氮、磷元素的释放。 Abstract:In semi-arid grassland, plant litter decomposition and its interaction with litter arthropods under grazing and enclosure management play implications on material cycling and ecological restoration process. The litter from Leymus secalinus, Lespedeza potaninii, and their mixture were selected as samples, and they were set in situ in Ningxia semi-arid grasslands under enclosure and grazing management. This study probed into the distribution of litter arthropod and its relation to the release of C, N and P contents by using two sizes (30-mesh and 250-mesh) litterbag to quantify the role of small and medium litter arthropod collected in September of 2017, May and September of 2018, as well as May and September of 2019. The results showed that:(1) In the enclosed grassland, there was no significant difference in the final remaining rate of litter C in between L. potaninii, L. secalinus, and mixture; however, there was significantly greater final remaining rate of litter N and P in the 250-mesh, and that of litter N in the 30-mesh in L. potaninii than in L. secalinus and mixture; there was significantly greater final remaining rate of litter P in L. potanini and mixture than in L. secalinus. In the grazed grassland, there was significantly greater final remaining rate of litter C and P in the 250-mesh, and that of litter N and P in the 30-mesh in L. potaninii than in mixture, with intermediate values in L. secalinus. Regarding the final remaining rate of N, there were significantly higher values in L. potaninii than in L. secalinus and mixture, whereas there was no significant difference between L. secalinus and mixture. (2) There was little effect of litter arthropods on the final remaining rate of C, N and P in the three plant treatments. However, there was significantly lower final remaining rate of N in mixture from both 30- and 250 mesh in grazed grassland than in enclosed grassland. There was significantly higher remaining rate of P in L. secalinus in grazed grassland than in enclosed grassland. (3) The Mantel test and principal components analysis indicated a considerable effect of litter arthropods and soil physicochemical properties on the decomposition of litter C, N and P content. It was suggested that litter C, N and P contents were affected by soil properties and plant chemical properties in semi-arid grassland. The effect of grazing management on litter arthropod distribution induced the differences in C, N and P nutrient release between various species of plant litter. The grazing disturbance could weaken the linkage between litter decomposition, arthropod and soil, while in feedback grazing could promote the litter decomposition of N and P content in mixture. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

半干旱草地不同植物枯落物分解对放牧和封育的响应

为探究放牧和封育对半干旱草地植物枯落物分解的影响，选取赖草、牛枝子及其混合物为研究对象，调查了不同网孔分解袋中宁夏半干旱草地植物枯落物分解特征及对放牧和封育的响应规律。结果表明：（1）放牧样地250目网孔中，枯落物质量残留率表现为牛枝子显著高于赖草和混合物（P<0.05），而在放牧样地30目网孔、封育样地2种网孔中，枯落物质量残留率均表现为3种枯落物间无显著差异。（2）250目网孔中，放牧和封育样地枯落物分解衰减常数均表现为混合物显著高于牛枝子，而赖草居中；并且，牛枝子枯落物分解衰减常数表现为封育样地显著高于放牧样地。30目网孔中，放牧和封育样地枯落物分解衰减常数均表现为赖草、混合物显著高于牛枝子（P<0.05）；并且，牛枝子枯落物分解衰减常数表现为封育样地显著高于放牧样地（P<0.05）。（3）在放牧样地，仅牛枝子枯落物R_m表现为30目显著低于250目网孔（P<0.05），k表现为30目显著高于250目网孔（P<0.05）；土壤动物对枯落物分解的贡献率表现为混合物显著低于牛枝子，赖草居中（P<0.05）。而在封育样地，仅牛枝子枯落物k表现为30目显著高于250目网孔（P<0.05）；土壤动物对枯落物分解的贡献率表现为混合物和牛枝子均显著高于赖草，且混合枯落物的土壤动物贡献率表现为封育样地显著高于放牧样地（P<0.05）。（4）枯落物残留率与其初始N、P、木质素/N、C/P呈显著相关性（P<0.05）；枯落物分解衰减常数与其初始N、P、木质素、N/P、C/P和木质素/P间均呈显著相关性（P<0.05）。研究表明，植物种类组成显著影响枯落物的残留率和分解衰减常数。放牧与封育管理通过影响网孔中土壤动物分布来调控半干旱区草地植物枯落物的分解，而且封育管理更有利于促进土壤动物对低质量枯落物（牛枝子）的分解。;This present study was to explored litter decomposition of different plant species under grazing and enclosure management in semi-arid grassland ecosystems. The remaining mass and decay constant (k) of Leymus secalinus, Lespedeza potaninii litter, and their mixture were investigated within 30-and 250-mesh litterbags in semiarid grasslands under grazing and enclosure management in Ningxia. In addition, the contribution of litter arthropods to decomposition was analyzed in order to discuss the effects of grazing management on decomposition process. The results showed that:(1) there was a significant higher final litter mass remaining rate (R_m) in L. potaninii than in L. secalinus and mixture from 250-mesh litterbags in grazing grasslands, whereas there were no significant differences in R_m of plant litter either from 30-mesh litterbags in grazing grasslands, or from both size-mesh treatments in enclosure grasslands. (2) In 250-mesh litterbags, the k was significantly higher in the mixture than in L. potaninii in both grasslands under grazing and enclosure managements, with the intermediate values in L. secalinus litter (P<0.05). But the k of L. potaninii was significantly higher in enclosure than in grazing grasslands (P<0.05). In 30-mesh litterbags, the litter decay constant (k) was significantly higher in L. secalinus and mixture than in L. potaninii in both grasslands under grazing and enclosure managements; the k of L. potaninii litter was significantly higher in enclosure than in grazing grasslands (P<0.05). (3) In grazing grassland, the R_m of L. potaninii was significantly higher in 250-mesh than 30-mesh (P<0.05), while k was significantly higher in 30-mesh than in 250-mesh. There were significantly lower values in the mixture than in L. potaninii, with the intermediate values in L. secalinus (P<0.05). In enclosure grassland, the k of L. potaninii was significantly higher in 30-mesh than 250-mesh (P<0.05), while the contribution rate of litter arthropods to litter decomposition was significant higher in the mixture and L. potaninii than in L. secalinus. The contribution rate of litter arthropods to mixture litter decomposition was significantly higher in enclosure than in grazing grasslands (P<0.05). (4) The R_m indicated a positive correlation with litter lignin/N and litter C/P, but it indicated a negatively correlation with litter initial N and P content. And the k indicated a positive correlation with litter initial N and P, while it indicated a negatively correlation with litter lignin, N/P, C/P and lignin/P. It was suggested that plant species composition presented a significant effect on the litter final mass remaining and decay constant. The effect of grazing management on litter arthropod distribution between different mesh-size litterbags induced the decomposition differences between various species of plant litter. In conclusion, the enclosure management was conducive to promoting the contribution of litter arthropods to low-quality litter (i.e., L. potaninii) decomposition in semi-arid grasslands.

Enclosure increases nutrient resorption from senescing leaves in a subalpine pasture

Nutrient resorption from senescing tissues is the most critical nutrient source for plants in degradation grasslands, playing critical roles to primary productivity and interspecies competitiveness. Hence within-species and among-species variation of nutrient resorption is one of the mechanisms explaining the increasing productivity and decreasing biodiversity after enclosure. Yet, the response of plant nutrient resorption to enclosure remains poorly documented. We conducted a 6-year manipulative field study to estimate the effects of enclosure on nutrient resorption efficiency in five dominant species in a degraded subalpine pasture. Both soil, mature and senesced leaves showed significant increases in N, P, and K contents in response to enclosure. Despite some species-specific differences, enclosure generally increased the nutrient resorption in graminoids, but decreased in forbs (with the exception of phosphorus for Potentilla anserine), indicating an important difference in the adaptation of plant functional types to enclosure which may in turn strongly impact the productivity and structure of pasture vegetation under long-term enclosure. This study shows the positive effects of enclosure management on soil and plant nutrients accumulation, and our results highlight the importance of among-species and within-species variations in plant nutrient resorption to explain the effects of enclosure on biodiversity loss and productivity increase in a degraded ecosystem.

Performance of common pool resources management in the mixed farming system in Goncha district, northwest highlands of Ethiopia

Common pool resources, such as forests, shrubs, and grasslands, have been and continue to deliver a valuable contribution to the livelihood of millions of smallholder farmers in the mixed farming system areas. However, these resources are threatening by the overuse of the local community in the Ethiopian highlands. Studies accommodating sustainable management of ecological, economic, social, and institutional criteria on common pool resources are very limited over those highlands. The study is aimed at evaluating the performance of common pool resources management schemes in Goncha district, in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. It was developed as an alternative management scenario of common pool resources. Participatory key informant interviews were conducted with purposely selected twenty-four farmers, twelve practitioners, and three experts to generate the data. The data were analyzed by using a multi-criteria analysis (weighted score) method. The study indicated that complete enclosure management of forests and shrublands was highly contributed to enhancing biodiversity and curb gullies expansion, while poorly performed in harvesting and fair distribution of fodder and fuelwood. Alternatively, grasslands management in the periodic enclosure without rotation was largely emphasized on the fair distribution of fodder. Natural forests and shrublands in the semi-open-access management and grasslands in the open-access management were performed between very weak and poor performance to almost all criteria/indicators. Therefore, the management schemes of common pool resources should reformulate to the integrated premise of ecological, economic, institutional, and social criteria for sustainable management and productive crop-livestock mixed farming systems.

Fractal Features of Soil Particle Size Distributions and Their Implications for Indicating Enclosure Management in a Semiarid Grassland Ecosystem

Soil particle size distribution (PSD) is becoming an increasingly useful tool for the objective description of soil structure and intrinsic links between soil and the environment. Here we examined the fractal features of PSD and its correlation with soil physiochemical properties in grasslands under grazing and protected from grazing (enclosure) animals, before and after plant growing periods in a semiarid grassland ecosystem, in northern China. Our results showed that sand content was significantly higher in grassland soils under grazing compared with the enclosure at both sampling times (May and September), whereas their silt and clay contents followed the reverse pattern. The fractal dimensions of PSD (Dm) under enclosure were significantly greater than those found under grazing. The soil clay, silt contents and Dm were positively correlated with soil total N, total C, soil pH, and moisture content. By contrast, the soil sand content declined with increasing total N, total C, pH, and moisture content of soil. The soil fractal dimension of PSD had a positive correlation with soil clay and silt content, whereas it had a negatively correlated with sand content. From these results, we conclude installing enclosures can promote soil clay, silt, and soil particles' fractal dimension, with the latter could be used as a quantitative indicator of soil fertility characteristics. But it is unnecessary to use the fractal dimension of PSD as an index to evaluate the effects of enclosure management on degraded grassland.

Effects of enclosure management and rangeland sites on chemical composition of herbaceous species in south central Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Adami-Tullu Jido-Kombolcha and Arsi Negelle districts, south central Ethiopia. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the interactive effects of grazing management systems and rangeland sites on dry-matter production and chemical composition of herbaceous plants in south central Ethiopia. Data were analyzed using GLM procedure in SPSS 16.0 version, which was used for mean comparisons using post-hoc t-test that can be employed to compare mean differences for enclosure and open-grazed areas. To test the effects of management systems and altitudinal variation on dry-matter production and chemical composition of herbaceous species, mixed model analysis was employed using sample site as a random variable while grazing management systems and altitude were fixed variables. A total of 28 herbaceous species were identified. Of the identified herbaceous species, 20 species were grasses, 2 species were legumes while 6 species were forbs. Among the recorded grass species, some were highly desirable, while others were in the categories of intermediate in terms of desirability and less desirable. We identified the dominant and common grass species that included: Arstida adscensionis, Cenchrus ciliarus, Chloris gayana, Chloris roxburghiana, Bothriochloa insculpta, Eragrostis papposa, Heteropogon contorus, Panicum maximum, Indigofer spinosa, Tephrosia pumila, Sporobolus pyrmidalis, Themeda triandra, B. nigropedata, Ocimum basilicum, Amaranthus dubis, Tribulos terrestris and Achyrantes aspera. The chemical composition of herbaceous plants were analyzed for DM, CP, NDF, ADF, ADL and Ash comparing two grazing management systems and three rangeland sites as patch mosaic units. The results of the present analysis showed that the average CP content in the open-grazed areas was significantly (P&lt;0.05) higher than that of the enclosed areas. The upper and middle rangeland sites displayed significantly (P&lt;0.05) higher CP content for the open-grazed areas than the enclosure management across the study areas. The present findings suggest that the DM, NDF, ADF, ADL and Ash contents of herbaceous species was significantly (P&lt;0.05) lower in the open-grazed areas than in the enclosure management.

Effects of afforestation with Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica plantations combined with enclosure management on soil microbial community.

Grazing and litter removal can alter understory structure and composition after afforestation, posing a serious threat to sustainable forest development. Enclosure is considered to be an effective measure to restore degraded forest restoration. However, little is known about the dynamics of soil nutrients and microbial communities during the forest restoration process. In the present study, the effects of Arachis hypogaea (AH), Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica (PSM) and Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica with enclosure (PSME) on soil chemical properties and soil microbial communities were studied in Zhanggutai, Liaoning Province, China. The results showed that PSME could remarkably contribute to improve soil total C, total N and total P compared to PSM and AH. Additionally, PSM could clearly increase the soil bacterial community diversity and fungal Chao1 index and ACE index. Additionally, PSME could further increase soil Chao1 index and ACE index of soil bacteria. Soil total C, total N and available N were the main factors related to soil microbial diversity. Actinobacteria and Ascomycota were the predominant bacterial and fungal phyla, respectively. Specifically, PSME could increase the relative abundances of Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Ascomycota and Mortierellomycota and decreased the relative abundances of Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi and Basidiomycota than PSM. PSM and PSME could clearly change soil microbial communities compared with AH and PSME could remarkably shift soil fungal communities than PSM. What’s more, the soil microbial community structure were affected by multiple edaphic chemical parameters. It can be seen that afforestation combined with enclosed management potentially regulate microbial properties through shifting the soil properties. This study can provide new ideas for further understanding the impact of enclosure on PSM and provide theoretical support for the management of PSM.

Assessing the health risks of reintroduction: The example of the Amur leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis.

Translocation of wildlife as a means of reintroducing or reinforcing threatened populations is an important conservation tool but carries health risks for the translocated animals and their progeny, as well as wildlife, domestic animals and humans in the release area. Disease risk analyses (DRA) are used to identify, prioritize and design mitigation strategies to address these threats. Here, we use a DRA undertaken for Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis) to illustrate how specific methodology can optimize mitigation strategy design. A literature review identified a total of 98 infectious hazards and 28 non-infectious hazards. Separate analyses were undertaken for disease risks in leopards from hazards of source origin (captive zoo collections and the transit pathway to the Russian Far East), or of destination origin (in breeding enclosures and wider release areas); and for disease risks in other wildlife, domesticated species or humans, similarly from hazards of source or destination origin. Hazards were assessed and ranked as priority 1, priority 2, priority 3 or low priority in each of the defined scenarios. In addition, we undertook a generic assessment of stress on individual leopards. We use three examples to illustrate the process: Chlamydophila felis, canine distemper virus (CDV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). We found that many potentially expensive screening procedures could be performed prior to export of leopards, putting the onus of responsibility onto the zoo sector, for which access to diagnostic testing facilities is likely to be optimal. We discuss how our methods highlighted significant data gaps relating to pathogen prevalence in the RussianFarEast and likely future unpredictability, in particular with respect to CDV. There was emphasis at all stages on record keeping, meticulous planning, design, staff training and enclosure management, which are relatively financially inexpensive. Actions to minimize stress featured at all time points in the strategy and also focussed on planning, design and management.

Лісівничо-таксаційна характеристика насаджень у вольєрах Центрального Полісся

Досліджено лісівничо-таксаційну структуру лісових насаджень вольєрів Центрального Полісся. У межах регіону функціонує 20 вольєрів загальною площею 639,5 га. Встановлено, що 74,7 % (477,6 га) їх площі становлять лісові насадження. У межах вольєрів виділено 13 типів лісу. Боровий комплекс представлений тільки А2С (0,2 га). У суборових умовах серед чотирьох типів лісу (В2ДС, В3ДС, В4ДС, В5БС) абсолютна перевага належить В2ДС – 95,3 га, або 14,9 % від загальної площі лісових насаджень. Сугруди представлені 8 типами лісу. Переважаючими є С2ГДС (116,6 га) та С3ГДС (100,1 га). Ще 3 типи лісу займають великі площі, а саме: С2ГД (33,9 га), С3ГД (55,9 га) та С4Влч (25,0 га). У вольєрах переважають мішані насадження 56,1 % (268,1 га). Серед чистих найбільшу площу займають соснові насадження – 123,5 га, з яких 82,4 га належить типу лісу В2ДС. У вольєрах переважають пристигаючі насадження (48,3 %, або 230,8 га). На території вольєрів значна площа перестійних насаджень (36,3 га, або 7,6 %). Середня повнота становить 0,71. Виділено шість класів бонітету (від Іb до ІV), за якими зростають деревостани у вольєрах. Найбільші площі займають Іа (100,7 га), І (168,5 га), і ІІ (156,8 га). Серед мішаних насаджень переважають пристигаючі деревостани (53,7 %, або 143,9 га), молодняки вкривають 12,8 % площ (34,4 га), середньовікові – 17,1 % (45,8 га). Площа мішаних перестійних насаджень (25,4 га або 9,5 %) більша за стиглі (18,6 га, або 6,9 %). Повнота мішаних насаджень змінюється від 0,46 до 1,0. Класи бонітету змінюються від Іb до ІІІ. Найпоширенішими класами бонітету є Іа (69,4 га), І (60,3 га), і ІІ (104,7 га), що разом займають 87,4 % від площі мішаних насаджень.

Vegetation Diversity and Soil Physico-chemical Properties Under Traditional Management of Rangeland in Eastern Ethiopia

The changes of herbaceous vegetation (composition, diversity, richness, evenness, and biomass production) and soil physico-chemical attributes of Harshin rangelands, eastern Ethiopia were examined under continuously open grazed areas and three ages of enclosures group arranged along chronological sequence into: &amp;lt; 5 years (young), 5-10 years (mid) and &amp;gt; 10 years (old). The herbaceous species composition showed a clear pattern of difference between the enclosure and open access grazed areas with desirable species being more prevalent in the enclosures and the undesirable ones being dominant in the open access grazed areas. The principal component analyses (PCA) of herbaceous species composition were accounted distinct across the open grazing young, mid and old enclosure management types. The diversity, richness and biomass production of herbaceous species were significantly different in the study area. The principal component analysis (PCA) of soil physico-chemical attributes showed distinct separation in relation to open grazing and three age enclosure areas. Overall, we found that the increased biomass production in the old enclosures may threat the herbaceous species diversity by dominating by only few species and hence affected the plants which are susceptible for species inter-competition.

Enhancing soil organic carbon, particulate organic carbon and microbial biomass in semi-arid rangeland using pasture enclosures

BackgroundRehabilitation of degraded rangelands through the establishment of enclosures (fencing grazing lands) is believed to improve soil quality and livelihoods, and enhance the sustainability of rangelands. Grazing dominated enclosure (GDE) and contractual grazing enclosure (CGE) are the common enclosure management systems in West Pokot County, Kenya. Under CGE, a farmer owning few animals leases the enclosure to households with relatively more livestock, while GDE is where the livestock utilizing the enclosure are purely owned by the farmer. Livestock management in both systems is via the free-range system. This study evaluated the effect of enclosure management on total soil organic carbon (SOC), particulate organic carbon (POC) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) as key indicators of soil degradation at 0–40 cm depth. The two enclosure systems were selected based on three age classes (3–10, 11–20 and > 20 years since establishment) (n = 3). The adjacent open grazing area (OGR) was used as a reference (n = 9).ResultsRelative to OGR, the pasture enclosures significantly decreased soil bulk density and increased the concentrations of total organic C, POC, MBC and MBN compared to the degraded OGR (P < 0.001). Significantly higher concentrations of POC and MBC was recorded in GDE than CGE (P = 0.01). The POC accounted for 24.5–29.5% of the total SOC. MBC concentrations ranged from 32.05 ± 7.25 to 96.63 ± 5.31 µg C g−1 of soil in all grazing systems, and was positively correlated with total SOC and POC (P < 0.001). The proportional increase in POC and MBC was higher in GDE (56.6 and 30.5% respectively) compared to CGE (39.2 and 13.9% for POC and MBC respectively).ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that controlling livestock grazing through the establishment of pasture enclosures is the key strategy to enhance total SOC, POC, MBC, and MBN in degraded rangelands; a precondition for improving soil quality. Therefore, the establishment of enclosures is an effective restoration approach to restore degraded soils in semi-arid rangelands.