136 research outputs found
Recording the Prehensive Bite Diversity in Cows for a Dynamic Analysis of Foraging Behavior on Diversified Vegetation
Grazing Practices and Rangeland Conservation: Towards OutputâBased Contracts to Improve Relevance and Enhance Technical Innovation
A ResourceâExplicit Population Model for the Management of a Dominant Shrub that Takes into Account the Ruminants\u27 Feeding Strategy
Managing Resources by Grazing in Grasslands Dominated by Dominant Shrub Species
The European natural grasslands are attracting new attention because of their environmental value as habitats for threatened fauna and flora species and their contribution to the diversity of landscapes. Those responsible for the implementation of the European agri-environmental policy are hence encouraging livestock farmers to adopt grazing practices that contribute to the conservation of grassland biodiversity especially by limiting encroachment by dominant shrubs. However, current scientific knowledge and technical information are often insufficient to connect flock feeding and the impact of grazing on shrub dynamics and livestock farmers are not very enthusiastic about restoring or conserving âplant mosaicsâ including shrubs that support biodiversity in their fields. This paper presents results of an interdisciplinary study on interactions between small ruminant feeding strategy and population dynamics of dominant shrub species with the objective of managing by grazing the structure of plant community and thus to provide the renewal of resources on a multi-year scale
Livestock Selective Behaviour in Natural Grasslands Challenges the Concept of Plant Preference in the Elaboration of a Successful Diet
Conciliating livestock production and conservation of grassland biodiversity is now an imperative. We propose that a way to reach that goal is to take advantage of the natural tendency of herbivores to exploit environmental heterogeneity. However, it would go against the well-rooted concept that mammalian herbivores have invariable preference for some plants. Preference was defined as being âwhat the animal selects when given the minimum of physical constraintsâ (Parsons et al. 1994). But after decades of studies, the concept of preference remains particularly inefficient in predicting observed patterns of selection by herbivores (e.g. Newman et al. 1992; Parsons et al. 1994; Provenza 2006). We performed detailed descriptions of cattle diet composition and foraging strategy in highly diversified natural pasture of South Brazil. We present here preliminary results that seriously question the concept of plant preference
Des ressources fourragĂšres Ă construire en tenant compte du point de vue de lâanimal
SĂ©minaire 2013/11/20, Montpellier SupAgro organisĂ© par lâAssociation Française de Pastoralisme. Cet ouvrage collectif a Ă©tĂ© coordonnĂ© par Thomas Romagny (Association Française de Pastoralisme) ; Jean Pluvinage en assume la responsabilitĂ© scientifiqueNational audienc
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