SPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES IN PASTURE AND RANGE MANAGEMENT: A REVIEW

This paper looked at practical ways in which pasture and range management (P&RM) can benefit from application of spatial technologies; namely Satellite Remote Sensing, Global Positioning System and Geographical Information Science. Brief mention of these spatial technologies’ components and ways of their integrations (linear, interactive, hierarchical and complex models) were discussed with specific reference to P&RM. The paper also dwells on salient principles of applied remote sensing and geospatial technics in P&RM using examples and case studies revolving around rangeland management, spatial decision support and resource conservation. Specifically, the relevance of hyper spectral imageries and vegetation indices in cattle population and range roaming determination, grazing land and paddock site-specific management were demonstrated. It is hoped that the review will create awareness for the inclusion and use of remote sensing and geospatial technics in many areas of livestock management in Nigeria.

Using Hyperspectral Imagery to Characterize Rangeland Vegetation Composition at Process-Relevant Scales

Rangelands are composed of patchy, highly dynamic herbaceous plant communities that are difficult to quantify across broad spatial extents at resolutions relevant to their characteristic spatial scales. Furthermore, differentiation of these plant communities using remotely sensed observations is complicated by their similar spectral absorption profiles. To better quantify the impacts of land management and weather variability on rangeland vegetation change, we analyzed high resolution hyperspectral data produced by the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) at a 6500-ha experimental station (Central Plains Experimental Range) to map vegetation composition and change over a 5-year timescale. The spatial resolution (1 m) of the data was able to resolve the plant community type at a suitable scale and the information-rich spectral resolution (426 bands) was able to differentiate closely related plant community classes. The resulting plant community class map showed strong accuracy results from both formal quantitative measurements (F1 75% and Kappa 0.83) and informal qualitative assessments. Over a 5-year period, we found that plant community composition was impacted more strongly by weather than by the rangeland management regime. Our work displays the potential to map plant community classes across extensive areas of herbaceous vegetation and use resultant maps to inform rangeland ecology and management. Critical to the success of the research was the development of computational methods that allowed us to implement efficient and flexible analyses on the large and complex data.

Fibre Characteristics of Huacaya Alpaca in Peru

Background: The fibre characteristics of fleece weight (FW), mean fibre diameter (MFD), coefficient of variation of mean fibre diameter (CVMFD) and common phenotypic correlations between them of Huacaya alpacas (Vicugna pacos) breed, were estimated on 959 one-year-old animals, under extensive rangeland management conditions. Methods: Samples were taken between 2005 and 2018 (male and female), of two coat colors (white and brown), at the Toccra CEDAT-DESCO Alpaca Development Center (Arequipa, Perú). Model were developed an they included year, sex and coat color and their interactions with FW, MDF and CVMDF of alpaca’s fibre under the experimental design was completely randomized with a factorial arrangement of 12×2×2. Result: Statistical significant effect was for year of birth × sex interaction when FW was analyzed while year of birth × color interaction explained MFD and CVMFD variation (p less than .001). Phenotypic correlation calculated by Pearson’s coefficient showed that FW was positively correlated with MFD (0.24) while CVMFD was positively correlated with MFD (0.10). Results from this study indicated that the FW was influenced by both year of birth and sex, while MFD and CVMFD were influenced by both year of birth and color. Overall, it was concluded that a genetic progress can be achieved in the huacaya alpaca breed of CEDAT genetic improvement program.

Land-use and Land-cover Changes in Pastoral Drylands: Long-term Dynamics, Economic Change, and Shifting Socioecological Frontiers in Baringo, Kenya

The ongoing fragmentation of pastoral drylands is a matter of concern throughout Africa. Using the example of rangelands in northern Baringo County, Kenya, that were under uniform pastoral use until the late twentieth century, we trace land-use and land-cover changes (LULCCs) since the 1980s. Based on ethnographic, historical, and remote sensing data, we show how bush encroachment and dryland farming have led to the increasing modification and conversion of formerly open rangelands and the diversification of livelihoods. These LULCC dynamics are related to and driven not only by internal processes of socioeconomic change (e.g., sedentarization, changing rangeland management practices, growing markets for small stock, increasing stratification and cultural differentiation) but also by ecological processes such as wildlife defaunation and ecological invasions. Based on our findings, we suggest that a socioecological approach to Kopytoff’s notion of the internal African frontier can be helpful in framing these LULCC-related dynamics.