Somayeh Dehdari; Hosein Arzani; Hamid Movahed; Mohammad ali Zare Chahouki; Hosein shabanali Fomi
Volume 21, Issue 3 , December 2014, , Pages 383-393
Abstract
This research was aimed to prioritize the factors affecting rangeland utilization as well as comparing 60 rangelands with/without Range Management Plan (RMP) using application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Initially, the criteria for rangeland utilization were prioritized using Delphi ...
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This research was aimed to prioritize the factors affecting rangeland utilization as well as comparing 60 rangelands with/without Range Management Plan (RMP) using application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Initially, the criteria for rangeland utilization were prioritized using Delphi method and Expert Choice software. Then, 60 rangelands (with/without RMP) were compared to each other. Document and field research methods were used to collect the data. For this purpose, a questionnaire was designed and in the field studies, direct sampling was conducted to calculate the rangeland production, condition, and trend while completing the questionnaires in the statistical population. According to the results, significant differences were found for rangeland production, trend, condition, and early grazing in comparison of rangelands with RMP and those with no RMP (p<0.01). In addition, significant differences were found for the number of available livestock to the allowed number of livestock, encroachment into the rangeland, contention and conflict among rangeland beneficiaries and the beneficiaries' attitude towards range management plan (RMP) in the studied rangelands (p<0.05).
Masoud Borhani; Hosein Arzani; Mehdi Basiri; Mohammad Ali Zare Chahouki; Mehdi Farahpour
Volume 21, Issue 3 , December 2014, , Pages 530-540
Abstract
In order to investigate the effects of range management plans on cover, production, litter, and regeneration of plants in Semirum rangelands, 54 sites including 29 with plan and 25 without plan were selected. The implementation of range management plans resulted in the decrease of stocking rate, affecting ...
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In order to investigate the effects of range management plans on cover, production, litter, and regeneration of plants in Semirum rangelands, 54 sites including 29 with plan and 25 without plan were selected. The implementation of range management plans resulted in the decrease of stocking rate, affecting the improvement of vegetation. According to the obtained results, no significant differences were found for the mean total cover, production and number of seedlings between two managements (P<0.05), while in the sites with plan, the cover, production and number of seedlings of class 1 plants, and cover and production of perennial grasses were significantly more than those of the sites without plan. This result was also true in the case of litter. These variations in plant composition were due to the impact of controlling the intensity and timing of grazing on the competition between palatable and perennial species with invasive and annual ones.
Reza Yari; Hosein Azarnivand; Mohammad Ali Zare Chahouki; Jalil Farzadmehr; Firoozeh Moghimi Nejad
Volume 21, Issue 2 , August 2014, , Pages 247-259
Abstract
This research was aimed to evaluate the environmental factors affecting the distribution of vegetation in Sarchah Amari ranglands, Birjand. After field visits, five vegetation types were selected based on physiognomy method and soil and vegetation sampling was done in key area of each vegetation ...
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This research was aimed to evaluate the environmental factors affecting the distribution of vegetation in Sarchah Amari ranglands, Birjand. After field visits, five vegetation types were selected based on physiognomy method and soil and vegetation sampling was done in key area of each vegetation type along the transect and within square plots with systematic-random method. Depending on the type and distribution of plant species, the plot size was calculated to be 1.3 and 16 m2 and 45 plots were established in each vegetation type along transects. The percentage of vegetation cover was measured in all plots but soil sampling was done in the first and last plots of each transect at soil depths of 0-30 and 30-80 cm. Soil characteristics including soil texture, percentage of lime, saturated moisture, gypsum, pH, electrical conductivity, sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, chlorine and topographic features including slope, aspect and altitude above sea level were measured. Soil and vegetation data were analyzed by PCA and ANOVA. The results of PCA showed that among the environmental factors, EC, the percentage of sand, slope, gypsum, organic matter and the soluble sodium were the most important environmental factors affecting the distribution of vegetation. Overall, these factors could explain 89.73% of the vegetation distribution. The results of ordination (PCA) showed that 70.74% and 18.63% of vegetation distribution were explained by the first and second axes, respectively. The first axis variables included the percentage of sand, electrical conductivity (EC), percentage of gypsum, sodium and the organic matter of first depth. According to the algebraic sign of variables, the distribution of vegetation was positively correlated with the percentage of sand while it showed a negative correlation with electrical conductivity (EC), gypsum, sodium and organic matter in first depth. The second axis variables of the ordination diagram included the percentage of slope and organic matter of second depth and according to the algebraic sign of variables, the distribution of vegetation had a negative correlation with the percentage of slope and soil organic matter of second depth.