Factors influencing the spatial distribution of beef cattle on Mediterranean rangeland

摘要：

Introduction The rules governing spatial distribution of beef cattle on rangelands are poorly understood.Nevertheless,animal movement patterns are known to often lead to non uniform utilization of the rangeland.For example,cattle prefer to move along trails that incur low costs of energy expenditure that depend on vegetation quality and paddock size (Ganskopp et al.,2000).Their movements are influenced also by the location of watering points ( Ganskopp 2001 ).The spatial differences in forage consumption lead to high grazing pressure on some patches,while in others cattle presence is low.Understanding the rules of cattle movement can provide us with tools for improving the utilization of rangelands,and can enable us to direct cattle utilization to management-targeted areas.

关键词： cattle grassland landscape spatial distribution

作者: A.Dolev E.D.Ungar Z.Henkin

作者单位: Northern R & D,Migal,Industrial Area,P.O.Box 831 Kiryat Shemona 11016,Israel Department of Agronomy and Natural Resources,Agricultural Research Organization-the Volcani Center,P Beef Cattle section,Newe-Yaar Research Center,Department of Natural Resources,Agricultural Research

会议类型: 国际会议

会议名称: 2008世界草地与草原大会

会议地点: 呼和浩特

会议语种:英文

在线出版日期: 2008-06-29（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）