Impacts of Livestock Grazing and Tree Clearing on Birds of Woodland and Riparian Habitats

Abstract:  We investigated the impact of pastoral management on birds in subtropical grassy eucalypt woodland in southeastern Queensland, Australia, where the patterns of land management have made it possible to disentangle the effects of livestock grazing from those of tree clearing. We recorded changes in bird species composition, density, and relative abundance across two woodland habitat types (riparian and nonriparian) and two levels of clearing (wooded and nonwooded) and three levels of livestock grazing (low, moderate, and high) replicated over space (1000 km²) and time (2001–2002). We predicted that species that depend on understory vegetation would be most negatively affected by livestock grazing. A Bayesian generalized linear model showed that the level of grazing had the greatest effect when trees were present. When trees were absent, the impact of grazing was overshadowed by the effects of a lack of trees. Over 65% of species responded to different levels of grazing, and the abundance of 42% of species varied markedly with habitat and grazing. The most common response to grazing was high species relative abundance under low levels of grazing (28% of species), species absence at high levels of grazing (20%), and an increase in abundance with increasing grazing (18%). Despite having similar bird assemblages, the effect of grazing was stronger in riparian habitat than in adjacent woodland habitat. Our results suggest that any level of commercial livestock grazing is detrimental to some woodland birds, particularly the understory-dependant species, as predicted. Nevertheless, provided trees are not cleared, a rich and abundant bird fauna can coexist with moderate levels of grazing. Habitats with high levels of grazing, on the other hand, resulted in a species-poor bird assemblage dominated by birds that are increasing in abundance nationally .     

以德钦县为例探讨高原牧区农村环境保护

介绍了德钦县概况，分析了德钦县存在的主要问题，提出了保护对策及建议。     

A forage-based vision of Ontario agriculture

The necessity of incorporating societal and environmental concerns into publicly funded agricultural initiatives in research, extension, and practice is increasingly evident. Agriculturalists are urged to acknowledge and respond to societal concerns before an insensitive and largely ill-informed urban majority assumes a dominant posture in agricultural policy. In recent history, the availability of unrealistically cheap energy encouraged the evolution of a form of commercial agriculture unfettered by sound ecological principles. At present, external, resource-intensive intervention of increasing magnitude is needed to compensate for the apparent ecological instability generated by practices such as intensive cereal management or conservation tillage practices. Polarization of the enterprises of plant and animal agriculture to enable centralized, concentrate-intensive, confinement feeding has disrupted the natural cycling of nutrients and carbon in the soil, encouraged the withdrawal of perennial forages from crop rotations, and invoked a widely ramifying network of agricultural and societal problems. Solutions to these problems must evolve from a holistic and far-reaching appraisal of causes, rather than from a piecemeal approach to individual symptoms.     

Concentrations of (137)Cs in summer pasture plants that reindeer feed on in the reindeer management area of Finland

Samples of summer pasture plants that reindeer feed on were collected in order to study ¹³⁷Cs concentrations in different plant species and in species nested in certain site types, and to study the regional distribution of ¹³⁷Cs in the Finnish reindeer management area. Plant species were categorized by the site types of mineral soil forest (xeric heath forest and mesic heath forest) and peatland. A third category called ’other plant species’ included plants with various site types, poorly determined species and species with poor statistics. The ¹³⁷Cs concentrations in different site types differed significantly. The mean ¹³⁷Cs concentrations of the whole reindeer management area in the xeric heath forest plant species was 44 ± 27 Bq/kg dw, in the mesic heath forest plant species 75 ± 59 Bq/kg dw and in the peatland plant species 219 ± 150 Bq/kg dw. The peatland species uptake ¹³⁷Cs more efficiently than plant species of mineral soil forests. A particularly efficient collector of ¹³⁷Cs was Trichophorum sp. It is suggested that Trichophorum sp. could be used as an indicator species for reindeer summer fodder plants. The highest concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs were found in Southern Lapland and the lowest in Northern Lapland. Today, the concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs in summer pasture plants that reindeer feed on in Finland are at such a level that there is no need to avoid any plant species. In the case of future nuclear fallout, reindeer grazing in peatlands would increase concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs in reindeer meat.     

Estimation of pasture infectivity according to weather conditions through a fuzzy parametrized model for the free-living stage of Ostertagia ostertagi

Gastrointestinal parasitism is one of the diseases that has the highest economic impact on the Argentinian beef production system, rendering it inefficient. In the region of the Humid Pampas, it has been estimated that 22 million dollars are lost annually because of the death of calves and 170 million dollars are lost in sub-clinic costs. A mathematical model with fuzzy parameters was constructed for the analysis of the free-living stages of gastrointestinal parasites, with the purpose of estimating the pool of L3 larvae available for migration to pasture and the levels of infection in pasture at any time of the year under different climatic conditions. The model is formulated in terms of a system of three difference equations. These equations describe the abundance of parasites in each of the successive stages of the population development. The model was calibrated and tested with data gathered through fieldwork carried out in Tandil (37°19′S, 59°08′05″W), province of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and the corresponding weather data. A comparison between model simulations and fieldwork data obtained in other locations achieved satisfactory results.     

白音锡勒牧场草原植物群落的数量分析

采用双向指示种分析（Two—Way Indicator Species Analysis,TWINSPAN）和无趋势对应分析（Detrended Correspondence Analysis,DCA）技术,对白音锡勒牧场2004年和2005年的48个样点的草原植物群落调查数据进行分析。结果表明：1．TWINSAN分类与DCA排序具有高度的一致性,吻合度达83％,输出结果准确可信;2．研究区域有草甸草原和典型草原两种草原类型,其中在典型草原内可划分为五个植物群落类型,即1）大针茅（Stipa grandis）＋羊草（Leymus chinensis）＋糙隐子草（Cleistogenes squarrosa）群落;2）克氏针茅（Stipa krylovii）＋糙隐子草（Cleistogenes squarrosa）＋冰草（Agropyron cirstatum）群落;3）冷蒿（Artemisia frigida）＋糙隐子草（Cleistogenes squarrosa）＋大针茅（Stipa grandis）群落;4）糙隐子草（Cleistogenes squarrosa）＋冷蒿（Artemisia frigida）＋一、二年生植物（annual—biennial）群落;5）星毛委陵菜（Potentilla tanacetifolia）＋糙隐子草（Cleistogenes squarrosa）＋一、二年生植物（annual-biennial）群落,这五个植物群落类型反映了典型草原植物群落退化演替序列;3．研究区不同植物群落类型的物种数量、生态种组类型等不同。冷蒿（Artemisia frigida）＋糙隐子草（Cleistogenes squarrosa）＋大针茅（Stipa grandis）群落为研究区植物群落退化演替中的中度退化阶段,物种数量最多,生态种组类型最多,样点间差异较大。     

Per-capita estimations of long-term historical land use and the consequences for global change research

Changes in land use and land cover are important in global climate change, but the many uncertainties in historical estimates seriously hamper climate modelling. We collected new data on estimated per capita land use over the last two millennia, using new data sources from the Humanities. In general, and in agreement with literature, we found that per capita land use indeed has not been constant in the past, but differ per region and over time. Land use in the distant past was mostly less than 1 ha/cap. However, the recently colonised regions show much higher values and have experienced a much higher per capita land use for the recent past. Most known trajectories follow a concave or bell-shaped curve towards the present.     

Transaction costs and agri-environmental policy measures: are preferences influencing policy implementation?

This paper investigates whether the level of transaction costs of a Swedish agri-environmental policy measure is attributable to technical factors or whether political factors, such as lobby groups and political majorities at the county level, influence the costs. A previous study indicated that political factors may influence the level of transaction costs, but the extreme bounds analysis performed in this paper reveals that those results are fragile. It shows that three of the technical variables are robust with respect to model specifications but that none of the political variables are. Thus, no evidence can be found that political factors influence the level of transaction costs.     

集约化养殖场羊与兔粪尿产生量的监测

以集约化养羊场、养兔场为研究对象,监测了不同季节羊与兔的粪尿排泄量、粪尿养分含量、饲料养分摄入量等.结果表明,兔日平均粪便排泄量0.37 kg·只-1,年粪便排泄总量135.05 kg·只-1,粪便中氮、磷、钾和有机质平均质量含量分别为25.55、5.07、6.59和660.4 g·kg-1;羊日平均粪便排泄量1.09 kg·只-1,年排泄总量397.85 kg·只-1,粪便中氮、磷、钾以及有机质平均质量含量分别为19.89、4.90、11.79和649.1 g·kg-1.同一季节,同种动物磷的排泄量与摄入量比值高于氮、钾,同种动物养分排泄量与摄入量比值在不同季节也有差异.     

内蒙古阴山北麓丘陵区生态农业模式建设的研究——以化德县七号乡小公勿素村为例

本文通过对内蒙古化德县七号乡小公勿素村几个生态模式系统结构、产业结构、系统功能及畜草平衡的分析，提出在内蒙古阴山北麓农牧交错带进行生态经济型农业建设的途径和农业可持续发展的系统结构与模式。