Cattle grazing and Yosemite Toad (Bufo canorus Camp) breeding habitat in Sierra Nevada meadows

Published source details Roche L.M., Allen-Diaz B., Eastburn D.J. & Tate K.W. (2012) Cattle grazing and Yosemite Toad (Bufo canorus Camp) breeding habitat in Sierra Nevada meadows. Rangeland Ecology & Management (previously Journal of Range Management 1948-2004), 65, 56-65.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Water: Exclude grazers Action Link
	Other biodiversity: Exclude grazers Action Link

Water: Exclude grazers

A replicated, randomized, controlled study in 2006–2010 in alpine meadows in central California, USA, found that most measures of water quality did not change in pools in meadows from which cattle were excluded, compared to pools in grazed meadows. Nutrients and Sediments: There was no change over time in ungrazed meadows, compared to grazed meadows, in total nitrogen concentration (0.4–1.5 ppm), nitrate-nitrogen (0.006–0.016 ppm), dissolved organic carbon (4.5–9.2 ppm), turbidity (reported as nephelometric turbidity units), or pH (6.1–6.8) in pools. Ammonium-nitrogen, soluble reactive phosphorus, and total phosphorus differed between meadows with different grazing regimes, in some years, but there was no clear pattern (details not reported). Methods: Nine meadows were studied, with cattle completely excluded from three meadows in 2006–2008, excluded from Yosemite toad Bufo canorus breeding habitat in three meadows, or not excluded (grazed over summer). All meadows were grazed for at least a decade before the study. Water quality was sampled each summer.
Other biodiversity: Exclude grazers

A replicated, randomized, controlled study in 2006–2010 in alpine meadows in central California, USA, found no difference in non-woody plant cover in pools in meadows from which cattle were excluded, compared to pools in grazed meadows. Plants: There was no difference in the cover of non-woody plants in pools in ungrazed meadows, compared to grazed meadows (56–80% cover). Methods: Nine meadows were studied, with cattle completely excluded from three meadows in 2006–2008 and excluded from Yosemite toad Bufo canorus breeding habitat in three meadows. The other three meadows were grazed over summer. All meadows had previously been grazed for at least a decade before the study. Plant cover was measured each summer in transects across the pools.