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Grazing Optimization: A Plea for a Balanced Perspective
Author(s) -
Briske David D.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
ecological applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.864
H-Index - 213
eISSN - 1939-5582
pISSN - 1051-0761
DOI - 10.2307/1941784
Subject(s) - plea , grazing , sustainability , ecology , population growth , population , environmental resource management , natural resource economics , biology , environmental science , economics , political science , demography , sociology , law
Compensatory plant growth may be a significant ecological process that minimizes the reduction of primary production in direct proportion to the severity of defoliation in some species and systems given the appropriate combination of environmental variables. However, the potential benefits of compensatory growth should not obscure the well—established ecological processes governing the sustainability of grazed systems in the face of large scale environmental degradation and a rapidly expanding human population. The sustainability of grazed systems is a more fundamental issue than grazing optimization.