Effect of protection and controlled grazing on the vegetation of a Mediterranean desert ecosystem in Northern Egypt

✍ Scribed by Ayyad, M. A. ;El-Kadi, H. F.

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 856 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-5052
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00123837

✦ Synopsis

The present study provides preliminary assessments of the effect of protection and controlled grazing on the vegetation composition and phytomass in a Mediterranean desert ecosystem, 80 km W of Alexandria.

Plots were fenced in 1974 and 1977, and different degrees of grazing pressure (no grazing, 25 and 50% of the grazing pressure freely practiced by the inhabitants) were applied. Changes in density, cover, frequency, phytomass and the phenological sequence of species were recorded and compared to those of the same species outside the fenced plots.

Density and cover of perennials, frequency and presence of annuals, and total phytomass increased as a result of protection and controlled grazing. The arrangement of stands along ordination axes correlated with the degree of grazing pressure, which indicated that the distribution of species in the study area was more related to overgrazing than to the factors of the physical environment.