The Case of the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary and Camel Pastoralism in Rajasthan (India)

The Indian forest management system introduced during colonial times has led to the progressive loss of the grazing rights of the country’s pastoralists, culminating in the abolishment of grazing fees and replacement with grazing fines in 2004. This scenario has had a negative knock-on effect on the conservation of many of the livestock breeds that pastoralists have developed in adaptation to local environments and that are the basis of the country’s food security. This paper illustrates the dilemma with the example of the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) in Rajasthan that represents the traditional monsoon grazing area for local camel, sheep and goat pastoralists. Raika herders have engaged in a long-standing but losing legal battle with the state for their continued seasonal access to this area. This situation contributes to the rapid decline of the camel which is an iconic part of Rajasthan’s desert identity, a major attraction for tourists and was declared state animal in 2014. The aims of the forest department to conserve wild animals and those of pastoralists and camel conservationists could easily be integrated into a more equitable governance system as is endorsed by Aichi Target 11 of the CBD Strategic Plan 2011–2020. However, deeply engrained concepts about nature being separate from (agri-)culture, as well as unequal power structures, stand in the way.

Site selection for captive habitat of Cervus unicolor case study: Area suitability for captive C. unicolor in district of Tanah Laut South Kalimantan, Indonesia

Cervus unicolor is an animal with a protected status under government regulations in Kalimantan. Conservation efforts for this species can be done through captivity. This study aims to analyze the suitability of the area for captive C.unicolor with additional functions as educational tourism. The research location that will determine the feasibility of captive C.unicolor in Tanah Laut Regency, South Kalimantan consists of 3 selected locations. Data was collected by direct field observation and interviews. Secondary data collected in the form of thematic layers and other land characteristics data. Environmental characteristics that became the main study points in captivity of C.unicolor were analyzed descriptevely. The feasibility of the location for captivity was analyzed by weighting several parameters approach. Some of the feasibility parameters assessed are accessibility, topography, grazing area, shade, water sources, and savety aspects. The mapping of the assessed captive locations was analyzed using Arc Gis Software. The results of the analysis show that the location of the Gunung Kayangan tourist area is the most recommended area for captive C.unicolor. The disadvantage of this area compared to the other 2 options is the limited water source which can be overcome by optimizing existing water bodies as reservoirs for water supply for captive C.unicolor.

Land-use harmonization datasets for annual global carbon budgets

Land-use change has been the dominant source of anthropogenic carbon emissions for most of the historical period and is currently one of the largest and most uncertain components of the global carbon cycle. Advancing the scientific understanding on this topic requires that the best data be used as input to state-of-the-art models in well-organized scientific assessments. The Land-Use Harmonization 2 dataset (LUH2), previously developed and used as input for simulations of the 6th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), has been updated annually to provide required input to land models in the annual Global Carbon Budget (GCB) assessments. Here we discuss the methodology for producing these annual LUH2-GCB updates and extensions which incorporate annual wood harvest data updates from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations for dataset years after 2015 and the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) gridded cropland and grazing area data updates (based on annual FAO cropland and grazing area data updates) for dataset years after 2012, along with extrapolations to the current year due to a lag of 1 or more years in the FAO data releases. The resulting updated LUH2-GCB datasets have provided global, annual gridded land-use and land-use-change data relating to agricultural expansion, deforestation, wood harvesting, shifting cultivation, regrowth and afforestation, crop rotations, and pasture management and are used by both bookkeeping models and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) for the GCB. For GCB 2019, a more significant update to LUH2 was produced, LUH2-GCB2019 (https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1851, Chini et al., 2020b), to take advantage of new data inputs that corrected cropland and grazing areas in the globally important region of Brazil as far back as 1950. From 1951 to 2012 the LUH2-GCB2019 dataset begins to diverge from the version of LUH2 used for the World Climate Research Programme's CMIP6, with peak differences in Brazil in the year 2000 for grazing land (difference of 100 000 km2) and in the year 2009 for cropland (difference of 77 000 km2), along with significant sub-national reorganization of agricultural land-use patterns within Brazil. The LUH2-GCB2019 dataset provides the base for future LUH2-GCB updates, including the recent LUH2-GCB2020 dataset, and presents a starting point for operationalizing the creation of these datasets to reduce time lags due to the multiple input dataset and model latencies.

A High Cattle-Grazing Density Alters Circadian Rhythmicity of Temperature, Heart Rate, and Activity as Measured by Implantable Bio-Loggers

Six cows managed under extensive grazing conditions were used to study the effect of moving the animals to a higher grazing density on the circadian rhythms of temperature (T), heart rate (HR), and activity (ACT), which were recorded by implantable bio-loggers. Cows were maintained at a density of 1.5 livestock units per hectare (LSUs/ha; low density, LD) until they were moved to a grazing area at 128 LSUs/ha (high density, HD). Animals were implanted subcutaneously with a T, HR, and ACT bio-logger, which was programmed to record data at 5-min intervals. For each animal, cosinor rhythmometry (the study of circadian rhythms by fitting a sine wave to a time series) was applied to the data recorded over 5 days in LD and HD. Mean Midline Estimating Statistic of Rhythm (MESOR; the average value around which the variable oscillates), amplitude (difference between the peak and the mean value of a wave), and acrophase (timing of peak activity) were calculated and evaluated statistically. Differences between mean day and nighttime values, and mean LD and HD values were calculated. Cows presented cosinor curves that fit a 24-h rhythm (p < 0.001) in T, HR, and ACT at both densities. MESOR (T: 37.98 vs. 38.02°C; HR: 69.12 vs. 65.91 bpm; ACT: 49.39 vs. 40.41 mg, for LD and HD, respectively) and amplitude (T: 0.28 vs. 0.28°C; HR: 4.12 vs. 3.14 bpm; ACT: 18.14 vs. 11.28 mg, respectively) did not differ significantly between the two densities; however, significant (p < 0.05) differences between densities occurred in the acrophase of the three variables; specifically, the T acrophase was 2 h later at HD (22:45 h) than LD (20:45 h), and HR (LD: 19:51; HD: 16:49 h) and ACT acrophases 3 and 2 h earlier at HD than LD (LD: 14:47; HD: 12:49 h), respectively. T and ACT differed significantly (p < 0.01) between daytime (mean ± SE; 37.92 ± 0.19°C, 40.39 ± 4.74 mg) and nighttime (38.14 ± 0.17°C, 29.93 ± 5.66 mg). In conclusion, our study suggests that a high animal grazing density might exacerbate the social competence for valuable resources for animals, resulting in shifting the circadian rhythmicity of temperature, heart rate, and activity of the cows, advancing or delaying their acrophases.

Use and improvement of pastures for horse grazing in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia): a review

Исследованы этапы становления лугопастбищного хозяйства Якутии применительно к табунному коневодству со средних веков до нашего времени. В таёжно-мелкодолинной зоне табунного коневодства Якутии необходимая площадь пастбищ для одной взрослой лошади в бесснежный период (165 дней) составляет 5,2 га при урожайности угодий в среднем по 2 т/га в натуральной массе, в зимний период (200 дней) — 11 га при урожайности угодий 0,53 т/га, или в год — 16–17 га. Создание сеяных травостоев из травосмесей регнерии ленской, костреца безостого, ломколосника ситникового, превосходящих по продуктивности естественные природные травостои в 2–2,5 раза, позволяет повысить конеёмкость кормовых угодий в 2 раза. В таёжно-аласной зоне табунного коневодства Центральной Якутии для создания высокопродуктивных сеяных сенокосно-тебенёвочных угодий на аласных лугах рекомендуются кострец безостый сорта Аммачаан и люцерна сорта Якутская жёлтая, а также кострец в чистом виде. Конеёмкость аласных угодий повышается в 1,5–2 раза. Для использования в качестве замороженных тебенёвочных кормов для молодняка в возрасте до 3 лет и маточного поголовья лошадей якутской породы из однолетних культур высокоэффективны овёс, а также овёс с ячменём в два летних срока посева: 25–30 июня — первый срок, 10–15 июля — второй срок. Пробы зелёной массы овса летнего срока посева в замороженном виде (октябрь-март) по кормовым достоинствам мало отличаются от проб зелёной массы овса, взятых на тех же посевах в тёплое время года. Рекомендуемые сроки тебенёвки молодняка — с середины ноября по апрель; сроки тебенёвки маточного поголовья — с февраля по апрель. При этом для рационального тебенёвочного использования угодий необходимо выделять отдельные участки от 5 до 20–25 га каждый. This review provides insights on pasture cultivation in Yakutia from the Middle Ages to these days. In the taiga-bottomland zone of horse herd farming an adult horse requires 5.2 ha of grazing area under grass productivity of 2 t ha-1, while in winter (200 days) — 11 ha under the productivity of 0.53 t ha-1 (16–17 annually). Planting swards of Regneria spp., smooth brome and Russian wildrye increases forage land productivity by 2 times since these crops exceed natural stands in productivity by 2–2.5 times. To obtain high-productive forage lands in the taiga-alas zone of the Central Yakutia smooth brome “Ammachaan” and alfalfa “Yakutskaya zheltaya” are recommended. Alas productivity increases by 1.5–2 times. Oats or oat mixtures with barley (planted on the 25–30th of June or 10–15th of July) are effective in feeding of young horses (up to 3 years old) or breeding stock as frozen feed. Frozen green mass of oats seeded in summer has similar forage characteristics as the one collected in warm period. The best period for young horse grazing is from the middle of November to April; breeding stock — from February to April. It is necessary to separate areas of 5–25 ha for efficient grazing.

Distributed Skills in Camel Herding. Cooperation in a Human-Animal Relationship in Somaliland

This article examines interspecies cooperation in camel herding in Somaliland. It presents the case of a particular joint activity in this task-scape: moving a camel herd, by leading and driving it, from the night-camp to the daytime grazing area and back. The analytical aim is to clarify the role that skills and nonhuman agency play in the constitution of cooperative human-camel relationships. On the basis of empirical data, collected in a multispecies ethnographic project by following and observing one herd and herder closely, this article demonstrates how nonhuman agency, as an individual capacity to engage in an activity and an epistemological potential, manifests in this human-camel cooperative task. Cooperation is made possible through human-camel sociality and intersubjectivity, through the ability to interpret and respond to each other, and it depends on the empathetic acknowledgement of the enabling or disabling powers of each counterpart, her or his agency. Leading and driving camels is a skilled practice requiring the responding and enabling capacities of the cooperation partner. Hence, it is a case of distributed skills – distributed in the sense that skills of humans and nonhumans are intertwined in this practice, that they complement each other.

Effects of grazing disturbance of spatial distribution pattern and interspecies relationship of two desert shrubs

Grazing significantly affects the distribution, growth, and productivity of shrubs. In this study, we evaluated the effects of grazing disturbance on the spatial distribution patterns and interspecific relationships of two desert shrubs, Ammopiptanthus mongolicus and Sarcozygium xanthoxylon. Three types of grazing conditions were considered, including enclosed area (EA), seasonal rotational grazing area (SRGA), and grazing area (GA) (100 m × 100 m), in the West Ordos Nature Reserve of Inner Mongolia, China. The results showed that A. mongolicus and S. xanthoxylon populations were uniformly distributed at a small scale, and the distribution in EA and SRGA became gradually random. In GA, A. mongolicus population showed aggregated distribution but S. xanthoxylon population showed random distribution at a small scale. Moreover, both A. mongolicus and S. xanthoxylon populations at the 5–7 m scale showed random distribution. At the small and intermediate scales, the two species showed positive interspecific relationships of GA. However, no interspecific relationship was noted between the two species in EA and SRGA. A significant positive relationship (P < 0.01) was noted between the two species at 2–9 m and a negative relationship (P < 0.01) at 13–17 m scales in GA. Positive relationship (P < 0.01) was noted between the two species at 6–13 m scales and a significant negative relationship (P < 0.01) at 14–24 m scales in SRGA. The two species of desert shrubs showed positive interspecific relationships at the small scale, and they showed negative relationships as the interspecific competition intensified in the presence of grazing disturbance. When the grazing intensity exceeds a certain threshold, the interspecific relationships become weak. Therefore, moderate grazing would facilitate interspecific competition and species succession, whereas excessive grazing would disrupt natural competition causing desertification ultimately.