An evaluation of grazing intensity influences on California Annual Range

Published source details Rosiere R.E. (1987) An evaluation of grazing intensity influences on California Annual Range. Journal of Range Management, 40, 160-165.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Other biodiversity: Use fewer grazers Action Link

Other biodiversity: Use fewer grazers

A controlled study in 1979–1984 in improved and wooded grasslands in northern California, USA, found that the cover of different plant species varied with sheep-grazing intensity, and that the effects differed between improved and wooded grasslands. Plants: On improved grasslands, cover of one of five species was higher on plots with lower grazing intensity, whilst cover of two species was lower. Cover of two species either peaked at intermediate grazing intensities or did not vary. In wooded grasslands, cover of three of eight species was higher on plots grazed at lower intensities, whilst cover of five was either highest or lowest at intermediate intensities, or did not vary. In improved grassland, total herbaceous plant biomass was highest under intermediate grazing and lowest under high intensity (data not provided). In wooded grasslands, total herbaceous plant biomass did not vary with grazing intensity (data not provided). Methods: Improved grassland was seeded with subterranean clover and fertilized with sulphur (12 kg/ha) and triple super phosphate (11.3 kg P/ha). One plot in each habitat was grazed at each of low, medium, and high intensities (0.6, 1.8 and 3.1 sheep/ha for woodland and 5.3, 8.0 and 10.0 for improved grassland, respectively). Vegetation was monitored in April–May each year using point-step transects and clipping vegetation from ten 0.9 m² plots in each pasture.