Effects of Grazing and Fire on Soil and Vegetation Properties in a Semi-Arid Rangeland

Authors
D. Akhzari 1
M. Pessarakli 2
F. Mahmoodi 3
B. Farokhzadeh 1
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Watershed and Rangeland Management, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran
2 Professor, School of Plant Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
3 Former M.Sc. Student of Environmental Management, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran
Abstract
Livestock grazing and rangelands fire are important ecological disturbances influencing the vegetation and soil properties in rangelands ecosystem. This study was conducted to determine the effects of different burned treatments and distances from the water sources on some soil and vegetation properties of rangelands ecosystem. The experiment was conducted in Lashgar Dar Rangelands. Vegetation samplings were done based on the randomized systematic method across transects. Fifty randomized quadrats were sampled at each transect. One hundred soil samples per each transect were systematically taken by auger along each transect. The ANOVA and Duncan tests were employed for statistical analyses. The results indicated that the highest and the lowest above-ground biomass production (630 and 117 kg ha-1), Shannon-Wiener diversity index (2.37 and 1.07), soil TOC (18.34 and 6.66 g kg-1), soil gravimetric water content (16.4 and 6 %) and soil porosity (69.43 and 57.74%) values were found in the unburned rangelands with 2000 m distance from the water source and the one year post burned rangelands with 10 m distance from the water source, respectively. Whereas, the maximum and the minimum values of soil bulk density and soil EC were seen in the one year post burn with 10 m distance from the water source and the unburned rangelands with 2000 m distance from the water source, respectively. There were no relations between the soil pH change trends and the different burned treatments or distances from the water source.
Keywords
Burned rangelands diversity
Ecological disturbances
Soil management
Water resource
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