A coupled forage-grazer model predicts viability of livestock production and wildlife habitat at the regional scale.

ABSTRACT: Informed management of livestock on rangelands underpins both the livelihoods of communities that depend on livestock for sustenance, and the conservation of wildlife that often depend on livestock-dominated landscapes for habitat. Understanding spatial patterns of rangeland productivity is therefore crucial to designing global development strategies that balance social and environmental benefits. Here we introduce a new rangeland production model that dynamically links the Century ecosystem model with a basic ruminant diet selection and physiology model. With lightweight input data requirements that can be met with global sources, the model estimates the viability of broad livestock management decisions, and suggests possible implications of these management decisions for grazing wildlife

SUBMITTER: Kowal VA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6937286 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature