scholarly journals Building the GLENCOE Platform -Grasslands LENding eConomic and ecOsystems sErvices

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thais Devincenzi ◽  
Martín Jaurena ◽  
Martín Durante ◽  
Jean Víctor Savian ◽  
Gabriel Ciappesoni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grazing Management ◽  
System Level ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Natural Grasslands ◽  
Grazing Systems ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Livestock Systems

To feed the rising population whilst also preserving ecosystem functions, creative solutions are needed for the ecological intensification of natural grassland-based livestock systems. In Uruguay, natural grasslands are the main nutritional resource for livestock production. In these ecosystems, cattle and sheep graze together all the year round, and grasslands are frequently heavily grazed. Considerable research has been generated concerning grassland management, but there is still no knowledge about the impact of decision rules that supports management actions on long-term ecosystem functioning, at the system level. To meet this deficit, a participatory working group of farmers, researchers, and consultants have developed the GLENCOE platform. This platform is a large-scale facility, supported by INIA-Uruguay, designed to answer the following question: How to intensify the grazing management to improve the sustainability of livestock systems based on natural grasslands? To build the platform three steps were followed: (I) definition of the research problem using a problem tree analysis; (ii) conceptualization of the platform and the design of the grazing systems to be evaluated; and, (iii) spatial allocation of the grazing systems according to the variability of soil, slopes, and seasonal dynamic of vegetation indexes. These criteria were considered across farmlets that were equivalent in the initial stage, allowing causal inferences for the systems trajectories on productive and environmental traits. The platform is composed of three independent farmlets of 50 ha each, where multiparous Hereford cows and Merinos wethers co-graze under three grazing management systems. Each farmlet is managed according to different spatio-temporal decisions of the specific management of vegetation communities, grazing methods, and the stockpile of forage that is allowed by the number of the existing paddocks. Farmlet-1; comprises less decisions (2 paddocks), Farmlet-2; intermediate (8 paddocks), and Farmlet-3; high level of decisions (32 paddocks). This innovative platform will be used as a participatory and interdisciplinary space for research and co-learning of management on processes that can only be observed in long-term evaluations, and at farmlet scale. We expect that this new approach will contribute to the developement and implemention of sustainable grazing management systems in Uruguay.

Comparative assessment of morphological mechanisms of maintaining structural liver homeostasis in the dynamics of exposure to coal-rock dust and sodium fluoride on the body

2020 ◽  
pp. 189-194
Author(s):  
M. S. Bugaeva ◽  
O. I. Bondarev ◽  
N. N. Mikhailova ◽  
L. G. Gorokhova
Keyword(s):  
Sodium Fluoride ◽  
Morphological Changes ◽  
The Body ◽  
System Level ◽  
Production Factor ◽  
Coal Rock ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Structural Homeostasis ◽  
Rock Dust

Introduction. The impact on the body of such factors of the production environment as coal-rock dust and fluorine compounds leads to certain shift s in strict indicators of homeostasis at the system level. Maintaining the relative constancy of the internal environment of the body is provided by the functional consistency of all organs and systems, the leading of which is the liver. Organ repair plays a crucial role in restoring the structure of genetic material and maintaining normal cell viability. When this mechanism is damaged, the compensatory capabilities of the organ are disrupted, homeostasis is disrupted at the cellular and organizational levels, and the development of the main pathological processes is noted.The aim of the study is to compare the morphological mechanisms of maintaining structural homeostasis of the liver in the dynamics of the impact on the body of coal-rock dust and sodium fluoride.Materials and methods. Experimental studies were conducted on adult white male laboratory rats. Features of morphological mechanisms for maintaining structural homeostasis of the liver in the dynamics of exposure to coal-rock dust and sodium fluoride were studied on experimental models of pneumoconiosis and fluoride intoxication. For histological examination in experimental animals, liver sampling was performed after 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 weeks of the experiment.Results. The specificity of morphological changes in the liver depending on the harmful production factor was revealed. It is shown that chronic exposure to coal-rock dust and sodium fluoride is characterized by the development of similar morphological changes in the liver and its vessels from the predominance of the initial compensatory-adaptive to pronounced violations of the stromal and parenchymal components. Long-term inhalation of coal-rock dust at 1–3 weeks of seeding triggers adaptive mechanisms in the liver in the form of increased functional activity of cells, formation of double-core hepatocytes, activation of immunocompetent cells and endotheliocytes, ensuring the preservation of the parenchyma and the general morphostructure of the organ until the 12th week of the experiment. Exposure to sodium fluoride leads to early disruption of liver compensatory mechanisms and the development of dystrophic changes in the parenchyma with the formation of necrosis foci as early as the 6th week of the experiment.Conclusions. The study of mechanisms for compensating the liver structure in conditions of long-term exposure to coal-rock dust and sodium fluoride, as well as processes that indicate their failure, and the timing of their occurrence, is of theoretical and practical importance for developing recommendations for the timely prevention and correction of pathological conditions developing in employees of the aluminum and coal industry.The authors declare no conflict of interests.

scholarly journals Soil macrofauna under integrated crop-livestock systems in a Brazilian Cerrado Ferralsol

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1011-1020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robélio Leandro Marchão ◽  
Patrick Lavelle ◽  
Leonide Celini ◽  
Luiz Carlos Balbino ◽  
Lourival Vilela ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Management Systems ◽  
Soil Biology ◽  
Soil Macrofauna ◽  
Arable Crops ◽  
Mixed Grass ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Favorable Conditions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Livestock Systems ◽  
Diptera Larvae

The objective of this work was to assess the effects of integrated crop-livestock systems, associated with two tillage and two fertilization regimes, on the abundance and diversity of the soil macrofauna. Four different management systems were studied: continuous pasture (mixed grass); continuous crop; two crop-livestock rotations (crop/pasture and pasture/crop); and native Cerrado as a control. Macrofauna was sampled using a modified Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility method, and all individuals were counted and identified at the morphospecies level for each plot. A total of 194 morphospecies were found, distributed among 30 groups, and the most representative in decreasing order of density were: Isoptera, Coleoptera larvae, Formicidae, Oligochaeta, Coleoptera adult, Diplopoda, Hemiptera, Diptera larvae, Arachnida, Chilopoda, Lepidoptera, Gasteropoda, Blattodea and Orthoptera. Soil management systems and tillage regimes affected the structure of soil macrofauna, and integrated crop-livestock systems, associated with no-tillage, especially with grass/legume species associations, had more favorable conditions for the development of "soil engineers" compared with continuous pasture or arable crops. Soil macrofauna density and diversity, assessed at morphospecies level, are effective data to measure the impact of land use in Cerrado soils.

scholarly journals A Statistical Modeling Methodology for Long-Term Wind Generation and Power Ramp Simulations in New Generation Locations

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jussi Ekström ◽  
Matti Koivisto ◽  
Ilkka Mellin ◽  
Robert Millar ◽  
Matti Lehtonen
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Wind Power ◽  
Statistical Modeling ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Measurement Data ◽  
Wind Power Generation ◽  
System Level ◽  
Wind Generation ◽  
The Impact

In future power systems, a large share of the energy will be generated with wind power plants (WPPs) and other renewable energy sources. With the increasing wind power penetration, the variability of the net generation in the system increases. Consequently, it is imperative to be able to assess and model the behavior of the WPP generation in detail. This paper presents an improved methodology for the detailed statistical modeling of wind power generation from multiple new WPPs without measurement data. A vector autoregressive based methodology, which can be applied to long-term Monte Carlo simulations of existing and new WPPs, is proposed. The proposed model improves the performance of the existing methodology and can more accurately analyze the temporal correlation structure of aggregated wind generation at the system level. This enables the model to assess the impact of new WPPs on the wind power ramp rates in a power system. To evaluate the performance of the proposed methodology, it is verified against hourly wind speed measurements from six locations in Finland and the aggregated wind power generation from Finland in 2015. Furthermore, a case study analyzing the impact of the geographical distribution of WPPs on wind power ramps is included.

Sustainable grazing systems for the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. 5. A bioeconomic framework for assessing the long-term economic benefits of grazing management tactics and implications for sustainability

2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 495 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Jones ◽  
P. M. Dowling ◽  
D. L. Michalk ◽  
W. McG. King
Keyword(s):  
Programming Model ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Grazing Systems ◽  
Sustainable Grazing ◽  
Management Tactics

There have been significant declines in the perennial grass (PG) content in native and sown pastures across temperate Australia. Not only has this reduced agricultural productivity, it has contributed to more serious degradation, such as loss of soil and biodiversity, decreasing water quality, and dryland salinity caused by rising watertables. Results from the Sustainable Grazing Systems Key Program (SGS) research undertaken at Carcoar on the Central Tablelands of New South Wales were reported by Michalk et al. (2003). This research indicated that grazing management tactics can be used to manipulate pasture composition, thereby changing animal production and water-use patterns. The main grazing tactic investigated was termed a summer grazing rest, where resting was imposed in late spring if PG composition was <50%. Reported in this present paper is an economic framework for valuing the long-term benefits of grazing management tactics. The framework involves the development of a bioeconomic modelling system that links a dynamic programming model with biophysical models for water and environmental processes, soil fertility, pasture growth, livestock energy requirements and the change in pasture species composition. The study concludes that long-term economic returns are improved by strategies, e.g. a summer rest, that lead to an increase in PG composition over time. The study also determined that environmental factors, such as deep drainage, runoff and soil loss, are reduced as perenniality is increased.

scholarly journals Impacts of forest management on soil properties: a fundamental research topic for Mexico

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla Valladares-Samperio ◽  
◽  
Leopoldo Galicia-Sarmiento ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Wood Harvesting ◽  
Intensive Forest Management ◽  
The Impact

Introduction: The increase in the intensity of wood harvesting has a negative influence on ecosystem functions of soils in temperate and boreal forests. Objective: To understand the impacts of intensive and extensive forest management methods on the physical, chemical and biological properties of soils, and consequences on nutrient availability and stabilization processes in temperate and boreal forests. Results and discussion: Intensive forest management methods can generate greater imbalance in the processes of availability and stabilization of nutrients, compared to selective methods. The impact is reflected in the deterioration of soil structure and the decrease of nutrient reserves and microbial communities. These damages affect fertility and functionality of soil, decreasing long-term productivity. Affectations depend on the intensity of biomass extracted, environmental conditions and site preparation. This makes evident the need to monitor forest management and its impact on soil ecology in temperate forests, which maintains long-term productivity and ensures the availability of wood volumes. Conclusion: In Mexico, the impact of forest management has been scarcely analyzed and it is indispensable to understand the functional changes in the processes that determine soil fertility and forest productivity.

The impact of livestock grazing on the persistence of a perennial forb in a temperate Australian grassland

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh Dorrough ◽  
Julian Ash
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Population Growth Rates ◽  
Perennial Plant ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Recent Occurrence ◽  
The Impact

The presence of perennial plant species in grazed habitats may be an imperfect predictor of their long-term ability to persist under grazing by livestock. This is particularly the case in landscapes where grazing by livestock is a relatively recent occurrence or where management practices are leading to intensification of grazing. This paper investigates the impacts of grazing on the native perennial inter-tussock forb Leptorhynchos elongatus (Asteraceae) in grasslands on the Monaro Tablelands of New South Wales. Although the species persists in grazed habitats, exclosures indicate that current grazing management can lead to severe depletion of seed, largely due to selective removal of flowers and seed heads by livestock. A population model suggests that under current grazing management, population growth rates may be negative. Removal of livestock during flowering and seed set may assist long-term persistence of this species in grazed habitats. Despite almost 200 years of livestock grazing on the Monaro Tablelands, recent intensification of grazing management could result in the future loss of some plant species in grazed habitats.

Grazing Management: Technology for Sustaining Rangeland Ecosystems?

1996 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 194 ◽  
Author(s):  
RK Heitschmidt ◽  
JW Walker
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Social Dilemma ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Formidable Challenge ◽  
Management Technology ◽  
The Impact

This paper examines the ecological, economic, and social aspects of grazing management technology as it relates to sustaining rangeland ecosystems. We adopt FAO's definition of sustainable agriculture, that is, 'The management and conservation of the resource base and the orientation of technological and institutional changes in such a manner as to insure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. Such sustainable development is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable." We explore the ecological aspects of grazing management as they relate to the need to balance solar energy capture and harvest efficiency so as to maximize productivity on a sustained basis. The long- term success or failure of all grazing strategies hinges around management's ability to control the frequency and severity of defoliation of individual plants over time and space. This is a particularly formidable challenge in rangeland environments because of high levels of environmental uncertainty. We then focus attention on the social aspects of grazing management. Grazing management is a social process by virtue of its human component and the major social dilemma encountered in grazed agroecosystems centers around the impacts that ever-increasing human desires have on rangeland resources. We examine the role of ecological economics and the impact of varying human value systems on management of rangeland resources. The fundamental problem encountered in the management of natural resources such as rangeland ecosystems is absence of perfect ecological knowledge. We conclude that the major social dilemma of grazing management stems largely from two phenomena: 1) supply side management tactics designed to meet ever increasing human demands; and 2) potential failure to accurately factor long-term ecological costs into present day value systems. As such, we conclude that current grazing management technology necessarily requires moderate rates of stocking be employed to insure rangeland agriculture (i.e. grazing) is ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially acceptable.

scholarly journals Managing the unmanageable: reinstating the dingo for pastoral sustainability in Australian rangelands

2021 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
David Pollock
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Grazing Pressure ◽  
Government Funding ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Rest Periods ◽  
Arid Rangelands ◽  
Term Management

The predominant grazing management system used in the arid rangelands regions of Australia, set stocking, is not conducive to sustainable land management. More appropriate grazing management systems based upon periodic rest periods for important pasture species have not been adopted by pastoralists because the unmanaged grazing pressure from animals such as goats and kangaroos has been too high. Dingoes are the only cost-effective and long-term management solution to the effect of unmanaged grazing by goats and kangaroos. Yet government funding targets dingo eradication in pastoral areas, and it does so by adopting misleading and scientifically inaccurate terms for describing dingoes.

Lucerne survival in south-east Queensland in relation to grazing management systems

1979 ◽  
Vol 19 (97) ◽  
pp. 208 ◽  
Author(s):  
GJ Leach
Keyword(s):  
Perennial Grass ◽  
Crown Rot ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Stocking Rate ◽  
Colletotrichum Trifolii ◽  
Tropical Environments ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
Average Monthly Rainfall

Survival of lucerne plants and changes in the row cover of lucerne in relation to grazing management were studied in an experiment at Lawes, south-east Queensland, from 1971 to 1977. There were six grazed treatments (resting for 32 or 44 days combined with grazing for 4 or 16 days, resting for 56 days with grazing for 4 days, and resting for 40 days with grazing for 8 days) and three mown treatments (mown every 36,48 or 60 days). All grazing was with sheep, at a stocking rate equivalent to 20 ha-1 on a year round basis. The experiment was irrigated when necessary to ensure that moisture at least equivalent to the long-term average monthly rainfall was received. There were about 42 lucerne plants m-2 in November 1971 and about 13 plants m-2 in October 1977; thus lucerne survival was good in all treatments, with stands losing about five plants m-2 annum-1. Management effects were small, with survival and row cover becoming slightly better as the interval between grazings or mowings increased from 32 to 60 days. Grazing for four days gave poorer survival than either grazing for 8 or 16 days or mowing. Perennial grass cover was much greater with four-day grazing than in the other treatments. Inspection at the end of the experiment showed nearly all crowns to have moderate symptoms of crown rot caused by Colletotrichum trifolii. The need for critical attention to the interaction between moisture supply, grass invasion and disease accumulation in maintaining lucerne stands in sub-tropical environments is discussed.

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