The Mediterranean region covers about 854 million ha, but only 118 million (or 14 per cent) are suitable for agricultural production. In North Africa and the Middle East (MENA), agricultural land covers about 5 per cent; in Egypt and Algeria, it occupies less than 4 per cent and, in Libya, less than 2 per cent of the total national land area. Across the Mediterranean region land use divides between natural pastures/rangelands (ca. 15 per cent), forests and woodlands (ca. 8 per cent), with the ca.

Grazing intensity and bush encroachment are disturbance factors that may alter the floristic composition of herbaceous species. This paper investigates impacts of grazing (intensity) and bush encroachment on herbaceous species and rangeland conditions in Borana, southern Ethiopia. Herbaceous species richness and the abundance of each species were greater in the light‐ and moderate‐grazed areas than heavy‐grazed sampling plots. Similarly, herbaceous species richness was highest at an intermediate level of biomass and seems to decline as biomass increases.

This study used linear programming (LP) to analyse land-use alternatives in the traditional Umbundu farming system in the Angolan central highlands. Farmers of the region have traditionally produced maize and pulses for subsistence and vegetables and timber as cash crops. Different pasture and forest fallow rotations are used along catena production sites. The system is labour-intensive and uses animal traction. LP problems were formulated and solved for a baseline land-use alternative, improved diet alternative and maximal timber production alternative.

Burning of savanna is a globally important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In Australia, burning of savanna contributes between 2% and 4% annually of the nation’s reportable emissions. Complete removal of this source of emissions is unrealistic because fire is a ubiquitous natural process and important land-management tool. In the rangelands of northern Australia, fire is used to manage habitat for conservation, control woodland thickening, manipulate pastures for grazing and is an essential component of indigenous cultural and land-management practice.

Permanently maintained pastures in France are often located in less desirable areas of the country and are extensively used for grass based farming, dairy farming an mountainous regions), and suckler farming (cattle and sheep, down into the valleys). These production systems are of interest because they employ practices respectful of the environment and local biodiversity. We conducted observations of 73 cattle suckler farms (12 of which use organic agriculture) located in the Massif Central.

Numerous studies have focused on vegetation traits and soil properties in grassland, few of which concerned about effects of human utilization patterns on grassland yet. Thus, this study hypothesized that human disturbance (e.g., grazing, mowing and fencing) triggered significant variation of biomass partitioning and carbon reallocation. Besides, there existed some differences of species diversity and soil fertility.

Pastoralism is a highly traditional production system for livestock and livestock products. Under the surface of a seeming stability a variety of pressures of the modern time all seem to accumulate to put the sustainability of the pastoralist production system to the test. Population growth and growing demand for meat, put pressure on the natural resources used by pastoralists because the grazing lands that are saved from encroachment or conversion into arable lands, may be overexploited. Changing climatic conditions, such as frequent droughts, put even more pressure on the system.

Beef cattle grazing is the dominant land use in the extensive tropical and sub-tropical rangelands of northern Australia. Despite the considerable knowledge on land and herd management gained from both research and practical experience, the adoption of improved management is limited by an inability to predict how changes in practices and combinations of practices will affect cattle production, economic returns and resource condition.

Investigations were made of plant and soil responses to severe degradation through heavy grazing and browsing in arid, succulent, subtropical thicket. Severe degradation of thicket is of major concern in terms of threatened biodiversity, unsustainable utilization and collapse of other ecosystem services. We used a natural, field contrast, case‐study approach, sampling within plots under lightly and heavily stocked conditions.

Historical tensions between Nigeria's pastoralist Fulani and settled indigenous farmers have intensified in recent years, with dwindling natural resources and land availability greatly contributing to the ongoing, escalating conflict in the north of the country. The urgent requirement to engage with, rather than isolate, Nigeria's Fulani from various socioeconomic and environmental management strategies is fundamental to peace and agricultural productivity in the region.

Small burnet is a hardy, relatively long-lived evergreen forb with the potential to improve grazing lands, particularly to extend grazing into late fall and winter. Small burnet was evaluated for tolerance to spring and fall POST applications of aminopyralid, bromoxynil, clethodim, clopyralid, dicamba, dimethenamid-P, imazamox, metribuzin, pendimethalin, quinclorac, and 2,4-DB. Injury, seed yield, seed viability, and dry matter yield (DMY) were measured in the spring following application. Injury was observed in response to all spring and fall herbicide applications.

PURPOSE: Concern about the environmental impact of agriculture caused by intensification is growing as large amounts of nutrients and contaminants are introduced into the environment. The aim of this paper is to identify the geogenic and agricultural controls on the elemental composition of European, grazing and agricultural soils. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Robust factor analysis was applied to data series for Al, B, Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, S, Se, Sr, U, Zn (ICP-MS) and SiO2, K2O, Na2O, Fe2O3, Al2O3 (XRF) based on the European GEMAS dataset.