Little is known about how basic soil properties respond to contrasting grazing intensities in the Karoo biome, South Africa. The aim of this study was to investigate impacts of long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term (>75 years) grazing at 1.18 heads ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921 (heavy; CGH), 0.78 heads ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921 (light; CGL), and exclosure on selected soil properties. Soil samples were collected to a depth of 60 cm from the long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term experimental site of Grootfontein Agricultural Development Institute, Eastern Cape. The samples were analyzed for C, N, bulk density and infiltration rate, among others.
RESULTSGenerally, heavy and light grazing reduced soil N storage by 27.5% and 22.6%, respectively, compared with the exclosure. Animal exclusion improved water infiltration rate and C stocks significantly (P < 0.05), which was 0.128, 0.097, and 0.093 Mg ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921 yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921 for exclosure, CGL and CGH, respectively. Soil penetration resistance was higher for grazing treatments in the top 3\uffe2\uff80\uff937 cm soil layer but for exclosure at the top 1 cm soil surface.
CONCLUSIONAlthough livestock exclusion has the potential to improve C sequestration, a sufficient resting period for 1\uffe2\uff80\uff932 years followed by three consecutive grazing years at light stocking rate would be ideal for sustainable livestock production in this arid region of South Africa. \uffc2\uffa9 2015 Society of Chemical Industry
", "keywords": ["570", "Livestock", "Time Factors", "Nitrogen", "[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]", "continuous grazing", "01 natural sciences", "630", "nitrogen", "Soil", "South Africa", "arid lands", "Animals", "exclosure", "Ecosystem", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "carbon", "Feeding Behavior", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Plants", "15. Life on land", "Carbon", "6. Clean water", "[SDV] Life Sciences [q-bio]", "soil properties", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.7302"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20the%20Science%20of%20Food%20and%20Agriculture", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/jsfa.7302", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/jsfa.7302", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/jsfa.7302"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2015-07-03T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1007/s11104-015-2625-z", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-05-23T16:14:59Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2015-08-08", "title": "Long-Term Impacts Of Season Of Grazing On Soil Carbon Sequestration And Selected Soil Properties In The Arid Eastern Cape, South Africa", "description": "The Karoo biomes of South Africa are major feed resources for livestock farming, yet soil nutrient depletion and degradation is a major problem. The objective of this study was to assess impacts of long-term (>75\u00a0years) grazing during spring (SPG), summer (SUG), winter (WG) and exclosure (non-grazed control) treatments on soil nutrients, penetration resistance and infiltration tests. A soil sampling campaign was carried out to collect soil to a depth of 60\u00a0cm to analyse bulk density, soil physical and chemical parameters as well as soil compaction and infiltration. Generally, grazing treatments reduced soil organic C (SOC) stocks and C:N ratios, and modified soil properties. There was higher SOC stock (0.128\u00a0Mg\u00a0ha\u22121\u00a0yr\u22121) in the exclosure than in the SPG (0.096\u00a0Mg\u00a0ha\u22121\u00a0yr\u22121), SUG (0.099\u00a0Mg\u00a0ha\u22121\u00a0yr\u22121) and WG (0.105\u00a0Mg\u00a0ha\u22121\u00a0yr\u22121). The C:N ratios exhibited similar pattern to that of C. From the grazing treatments, the WG demonstrated 7 to 10\u00a0% additional SOC stock over the SPG and SUG, respectively. Short period animal exclusion could be an option to be considered to improve plant nutrients in sandy soils of South Africa. However, this may require a policy environment which supports stock exclusion from such areas vulnerable to land degradation, nutrient and C losses by grazing-induced vegetation and landscape changes.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Soil organic carbon", "[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes", "Exclosure", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Total nitrogen", "15. Life on land", "630", "[SDE.BE] Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology", "[SDE.MCG] Environmental Sciences/Global Changes", "Grazing season", "\u00e9cosyst\u00e8me aride", "13. Climate action", "Arid ecosystem", "mati\u00e8re organique", "saison de p\u00e2turage", "carbone organique du sol", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Organic matter", "[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology", "azote total"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2625-z"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Plant%20and%20Soil", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1007/s11104-015-2625-z", "name": "item", "description": "10.1007/s11104-015-2625-z", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1007/s11104-015-2625-z"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2015-08-09T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.baae.2006.08.008", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-05-23T16:15:39Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2007-02-21", "title": "Time-Scale Effects In The Interaction Between A Large And A Small Herbivore", "description": "In the short term, grazing will mainly affect plant biomass and forage quality. However, grazing can affect plant species composition by accelerating or retarding succession at longer time-scales. Few studies concerning interactions among herbivores have taken the change in plant species composition into account. In a salt-marsh system, the longterm effects of exclusion of a large herbivore (cattle) on the abundance of a small herbivore (hare) were studied. Excluding cattle grazing for 30 years resulted in large changes in vegetation composition. In general, the cover of tall-growing species increased in the absence of cattle grazing. These long-term changes negatively affected hare grazing intensity. Hares preferentially fed on Festuca rubra and negatively selected tall growing plants, such as Elymus athericus, both in cattle-grazed and long-term ungrazed areas. However, the intensity of hare grazing was not related to the cover of F rubra. The cover of tall-growing plants (E athericus, A triplex prostrata and Juncus maritimus) appeared to be the best predictor and hare grazing intensity decreased sharply with an increase of the cover of tall plants. When cover of tall plants did not increase, hare grazing intensity was not affected. The study shows that the time-scale of the experiment is of prime importance in studying interactions between herbivores. Species that do not seem to influence the abundance of one another or are competing for the same resources on a short time-scale might well be facilitating each other when looking at larger time-scales while taking plant species replacement into account. (c) 2007 Gesellschaft fur Okologie. Published by Elsevier GrnbH. All rights reserved.
", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "Lepus europaeus", "productivity", "SUCCESSION", "COMPETITION", "brown hares", "barnacle geese", "HARES LEPUS-EUROPAEUS", "BARNACLE GEESE", "01 natural sciences", "facilitation", "SALT-MARSH", "MANAGEMENT", "BROWN HARES", "tall plants", "2. Zero hunger", "exclosures", "15. Life on land", "FACILITATION", "succession", "communities", "salt marsh", "hares lepus-europaeus", "salt-marsh", "13. Climate action", "mountain hares", "MOUNTAIN HARES", "COMMUNITIES", "competition", "management"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2006.08.008"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Basic%20and%20Applied%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.baae.2006.08.008", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.baae.2006.08.008", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.baae.2006.08.008"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2008-03-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.forpol.2011.09.008", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-05-23T16:16:13Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2011-11-23", "title": "Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Soil And Water Conservation Measure: The Case Of Exclosures In Northern Ethiopia", "description": "Abstract This paper is about the cost-benefit analysis of a specific soil and water conservation measure, commonly termed as \u2018 exclosures \u2019 in the case study area of this research, adopted in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. The analysis integrated available data on on-site and off-site effects of the conservation measure. Major benefit and cost items related to this specific measure were identified, quantified, and valued. Direct market prices and variants of indirect environmental valuation techniques (cost based and productivity change methods) were employed in valuing the benefit and cost items included in the analysis. Our results indicate that establishing exclosures in degrading marginal lands generate a large positive net present value (NPV) of ETB 5620\u00a0ha \u22121 . However, putting productive agricultural land under exclosures yields a negative NPV even under some hypothetical scenarios of 50% rise in prices of forest products and a social discount rate halved from the base rate of 8%. Sensitivity analyses indicate that the net present value is quite volatile to changes in biomass production and the social discount rate. Thus, appropriate forest management schemes have to be adopted in order to maximize sustainable biomass production. Furthermore, factors such as credit constraints that affect local people's time preference should be addressed to induce local people to discount the future at lower rate.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Net present value", "Tigray", "Cost-benefit analysis", "SEDIMENT DEPOSITION", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "FOREST", "01 natural sciences", "7. Clean energy", "6. Clean water", "HIGHLANDS", "Exclosures", "ECONOMIC-ANALYSIS", "Off-site effects", "Earth and Environmental Sciences", "LAND DEGRADATION", "TIGRAY", "MANAGEMENT", "AFFORESTATION", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "On-site effects", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2011.09.008"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Forest%20Policy%20and%20Economics", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.forpol.2011.09.008", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.forpol.2011.09.008", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.forpol.2011.09.008"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2012-02-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5061/dryad.v7t77ts", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-05-23T16:21:18Z", "type": "Dataset", "title": "Data from: Carbon sequestration and soil restoration potential of grazing lands under exclosure management in a semi-arid environment of northern Ethiopia", "description": "unspecifiedExclosures are used to regenerate native vegetation as a way to reduce soil erosion, increase rain water in\ufb01ltration and provide fodder and woody biomass in degraded grazing lands. Therefore, this study assessed the impact of grazing exclosure on vegetation biomass, carbon sequestration and soil nutrients under five and ten years of grazing exclosures and freely grazed areas in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Vegetation biomass, carbon stocks and soil nutrients increased with increasing grazing exclusion. However, open grazing lands and five years of grazing exclosure did not differ in aboveground biomass, above-and-belowground carbon stocks. Moreover, ten years of grazing exclosure had a higher (P<0.01) grass, herb and litter carbon stocks compared to five years exclosure and open grazing lands. The total carbon stock was higher for ten years exclosure (75.65 t C ha-1) than the five years exclosure (55.06 t C ha-1) and in open grazing areas (51.98 t C ha-1). Grazing lands closed for ten years had a higher SOC, organic matter, total N, available P, and exchangeable K+ and Na+ compared to five year\u2019s exclosure and open grazing lands. Therefore, establishment of grazing exclosures had a positive effect in restoring degraded grazing lands, thus improving vegetation biomass, carbon sequestration potentials and soil nutrients.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "grazing land", "13. Climate action", "carbon stock", "semi-arid", "soil property", "exclosure", "15. Life on land", "6. Clean water"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Gebregergs, Tsegay, Tessema, Zewdu K., Solomon, Negasi, Birhane, Emiru,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.v7t77ts"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5061/dryad.v7t77ts", "name": "item", "description": "10.5061/dryad.v7t77ts", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5061/dryad.v7t77ts"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2019-05-15T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Exclosure&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Exclosure&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Exclosure&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Exclosure&offset=5", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 5, "numberReturned": 5, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-05-25T05:03:58.928286Z"}