Overgrazing
Overgrazing is excessive animal consumption of plants for a period of time to an extend that plants have insufficient recovery periods. This cause plants do not have enough time to recover and reproduce. Overgrazing takes time to occur as it is not a rapid process. One indicator of overgrazing is when the animals starting to run out of food. Another indicator is when soil starts to be visible between the plants. Overgrazing is the major cause of soil degradation worldwide.
The main causes of overgrazing is due to excessive density of animals in the area. When the density of animals is too high, the rate of consumption of plants by the animals is higher than the recovery rate of plants. Therefore, the density of plants in the area starts to decrease. Another cause is lack of rotation of grazers. Farmers tend to confine their animals like sheep and cow to an area. This cause the animals only consume the plants in that area instead of other areas. The farmers seldom change the area for the animals to graze causing the plants unable to recover. Grazing at inappropriate times relative to the flora productivity cycle also cause overgrazing. Some plants have low productivity in certain climate, season or conditions. This cause them has low recovery rate and overgrazing more likely to occur.
The major impact of overgrazing is soil erosion. Soils with low levels of plant cover become increasingly vulnerable to wind and water erosion. This encourages floods and landslides. The food web in that area will be affected. The ecosystem maybe disrupted as less favorable plants may replace the native plants. Reduction in native vegetation will lead to decrease in precious microorganisms, insects and animals in the area, due to the loss of food and habitat. Due to lack of ground cover, the land may overheat when exposed to sunlight causing drought. Animals’ faeces and urine will cause degradation of soil as lack of flora cause lack of absorption of nitrates from the soil. This will cause the soil become unsuitable for the native plants. In tropical grasslands and savannahs overgrazing induced desertification is considered the greatest threat to the integrity of these ecosystems.
In Australia included an estimate that about 14 percent of the arid rangelands were severely overgrazed since European settlement. One of the area severely overgrazed is Lake Mere in New South Wales in 1988. It is due to introduced sheep and cattle grazing areas. The sheep and cattle grazed in limited area lead to decrease in native plants. The feral animals, kangaroos and livestock numbers kept on increasing encouraging overgrazing to occur. The arid environment further decrease the recovery rate of native plants causing the area become overgrazed. Since then, the area is overgrazed until there was virtually no ground layer of vegetation.
The solution done in Lake Mere is a research station is introduced to study the effect of overgrazed lands and conserve the area. The land is carefully conserved in order to reduce the effect of overgrazing in Lake Mere. After 12 years, which is 2000, the native plants starting to spring back to life due to increased rainfall. The station protect the land from overgrazed again by minimize the number feral animals and kangaroos from grazing that area. This will help the plants to have enough time to fully recover. One more solution is to increase the knowledge of farmers. This will improve the management of livestock. For example, increase the rotation of areas for livestock to graze or limit the numbers of livestock in the area.
The main causes of overgrazing is due to excessive density of animals in the area. When the density of animals is too high, the rate of consumption of plants by the animals is higher than the recovery rate of plants. Therefore, the density of plants in the area starts to decrease. Another cause is lack of rotation of grazers. Farmers tend to confine their animals like sheep and cow to an area. This cause the animals only consume the plants in that area instead of other areas. The farmers seldom change the area for the animals to graze causing the plants unable to recover. Grazing at inappropriate times relative to the flora productivity cycle also cause overgrazing. Some plants have low productivity in certain climate, season or conditions. This cause them has low recovery rate and overgrazing more likely to occur.
The major impact of overgrazing is soil erosion. Soils with low levels of plant cover become increasingly vulnerable to wind and water erosion. This encourages floods and landslides. The food web in that area will be affected. The ecosystem maybe disrupted as less favorable plants may replace the native plants. Reduction in native vegetation will lead to decrease in precious microorganisms, insects and animals in the area, due to the loss of food and habitat. Due to lack of ground cover, the land may overheat when exposed to sunlight causing drought. Animals’ faeces and urine will cause degradation of soil as lack of flora cause lack of absorption of nitrates from the soil. This will cause the soil become unsuitable for the native plants. In tropical grasslands and savannahs overgrazing induced desertification is considered the greatest threat to the integrity of these ecosystems.
In Australia included an estimate that about 14 percent of the arid rangelands were severely overgrazed since European settlement. One of the area severely overgrazed is Lake Mere in New South Wales in 1988. It is due to introduced sheep and cattle grazing areas. The sheep and cattle grazed in limited area lead to decrease in native plants. The feral animals, kangaroos and livestock numbers kept on increasing encouraging overgrazing to occur. The arid environment further decrease the recovery rate of native plants causing the area become overgrazed. Since then, the area is overgrazed until there was virtually no ground layer of vegetation.
The solution done in Lake Mere is a research station is introduced to study the effect of overgrazed lands and conserve the area. The land is carefully conserved in order to reduce the effect of overgrazing in Lake Mere. After 12 years, which is 2000, the native plants starting to spring back to life due to increased rainfall. The station protect the land from overgrazed again by minimize the number feral animals and kangaroos from grazing that area. This will help the plants to have enough time to fully recover. One more solution is to increase the knowledge of farmers. This will improve the management of livestock. For example, increase the rotation of areas for livestock to graze or limit the numbers of livestock in the area.
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