Effects of Grazing Management on Vegetation and Soil Carbon
Grazing by large ungulates is widespread across the globe. It is the #1 land use on grasslands and other rangelands, which cover more than 40% of the earth’s land surface.
My postdoctoral research compares the effects of different grazing management strategies on vegetation properties and on soil carbon stocks across two different grassland types: tropical grasslands in northern Kenya, dominated by C4 grasses, and temperate C3-dominated grasslands in the northern Patagonia region of Argentina.
My postdoctoral research compares the effects of different grazing management strategies on vegetation properties and on soil carbon stocks across two different grassland types: tropical grasslands in northern Kenya, dominated by C4 grasses, and temperate C3-dominated grasslands in the northern Patagonia region of Argentina.
This work explores how adaptive planned grazing management, often involving a rest-rotation system of grazing, compares to more traditional, "business as usual" management. I conducted this work on communal group ranches in Kenya and across privately-owned ranches in Argentina.
I used camera traps, small grazing exclosures, and manager reports to monitor grazing intensity at plots across these ranches. I am also using the camera data to determine the proportion of grazers that are domestic livestock or wildlife.
I used camera traps, small grazing exclosures, and manager reports to monitor grazing intensity at plots across these ranches. I am also using the camera data to determine the proportion of grazers that are domestic livestock or wildlife.
I used monthly transects across each plot to collect data on vegetation characteristics including species composition, plant height, and estimates of plant biomass. Soil cores collected at each plot were analyzed to determine how soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen vary across ranches with differing management.
This research was funded by The Nature Conservancy's NatureNet Fellowship and was done in collaboration with TNC's Tim Boucher and Dan Rubenstein of Princeton University. Read more about it on TNC's Cool Green Science blog here!