Towards evenly distributed grazing patterns: including social context in sheep management strategies.

ABSTRACT: Background. A large proportion of natural grasslands around the world is exposed to overgrazing resulting in land degradation and biodiversity loss. Although there is an increasing effort in the promotion of sustainable livestock management, rangeland degradation still occurs because animals' foraging behaviour is highly selective at different spatial scales. The assessment of the ecological mechanisms modulating the spatial distribution of grazing and how to control it has critical implications for long term conservation of resources and the sustainability of livestock production. Considering the relevance of social interactions on animals' space use patterns, our aim was to explore the potential effects of including animals' social context into management strategies using domestic sheep

SUBMITTER: di Virgilio A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4924134 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature