Content uploaded by Daalkhaijav Damiran
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Daalkhaijav Damiran on Sep 18, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Monitoring Change on Mongolian Rangelands. Final report for Netherlands-Mongolia Environmental Trust Fund for Environmental Reform (NEMO)
Abstract and Figures
The study addresses monitoring of Mongolian rangelands. Monitoring is a component of management and, as such, supports management decisions about use and improvement of rangelands. Information obtained through monitoring also supports rangeland planning.
There are different techniques and methodologies available for rangeland monitoring, ranging from local-scale conventional rangeland monitoring to monitoring rangeland using high resolution satellite imagery. In our study, we established a study area in the South Gobi Region of Mongolia to demonstrate a variety of monitoring techniques. Our monitoring focused on 37 permanent rangeland monitoring sites that had been previously established during the Gobi Forage Project to develop a Mongolian Global Livestock Early Warning System (GLEWS). We also selected and described rangeland monitoring sites near the Oyu Tolgoi mine complex. Included in our demonstration of rangeland monitoring were monitoring techniques that had been used previously in other studies in the South Gobi Region.
A major focus of the study was demonstrating rangeland monitoring techniques such as the Forage Growth (PHYGROW) Model and Low Resolution Satellite methods that monitor in near-real time. Although our study area had limited area, it did include portions of five steppe and desert ecozones. At each monitoring site, we used frequency transects to compare changes in vegetation condition with earlier measurements and describe topo-edaphic characteristics, described potential Ecological Site and assessed current Rangeland Health. We also used databases from the Forage Growth (PHYGROW) Model to detect impacts of climate change, especially drought, on steppe and desert ecosystems.
We recommend establishment of a national rangeland monitoring program that utilizes Rangeland Health Assessment over multi-year time frames to determine condition of Ecological Sites, and also uses conventional rangeland monitoring techniques to annually assess impacts of large herbivore grazing on defined rangeland units. We also recommend incorporation of the Forage Growth (PHYGROW) Model in a national rangeland monitoring program.
Figures - uploaded by Daalkhaijav Damiran
Author content
All figure content in this area was uploaded by Daalkhaijav Damiran
Content may be subject to copyright.
... Omnigov province and the southern two-thirds of Dornogov province are in the Desert ecozone. Dundgov province and the northern one-third of Dornogov province are in the Dry Steppe ecological zone (Sheehy et al., 2012). The SGR was selected for our study because: i) it is a zone of intersection between Desert and Grass Steppe ecosystems, ii) many national and international development projects are established in the region, especially mining and infrastructure development, iii) both the 2000/01 and 2009/10 severe winters severely affected the region, and iv) the region is reported as becoming increasingly arid as climate change occurs. ...
... In 2011, we re-measured vegetation and soil attributes at 25 rangeland monitoring sites in the SGR along a north-south transect established in 2005 (Sheehy et al., 2012). Frequency, forage yield, and landscape attributes were used to describe above ground characteristics, and soil profiles were used to describe surface and below ground characteristics. ...
... Frequency, forage yield, and landscape attributes were used to describe above ground characteristics, and soil profiles were used to describe surface and below ground characteristics. Details of research techniques are described by Damiran et al. (2008) and Sheehy et al. (2012). In this paper, we use frequency and similarity index (SI) analysis (Morisita, 1959) to evaluate changes in plant species composition at monitoring sites as an indicator of change throughout the region. ...
A general consensus has developed among herders, government officials, donor institutions, and the public that Mongolian rangeland is degrading from a combination of overuse, especially livestock grazing, and weather events related to climate change. Although empirical evidence of the extent, degree, and nature of rangeland degradation is limited, there is growing evidence that it is occurring. Rangelands in the Dry Steppe ecozone are considered to be especially susceptible to climate change induced degradation because of highly variable annual precipitation. Three provinces comprise the South Gobi Region (SGR). Omnigov province and the southern two-thirds of Dornogov province are in the Desert ecozone. Dundgov province and the northern one-third of Dornogov province are in the Dry Steppe ecological zone . In 2011, we re-measured vegetation and soil attributes at 25 rangeland monitoring sites in the SGR along a north-south transect established in 2005. Frequency, forage yield, and landscape attributes were used to describe above ground characteristics, and soil profiles were used to describe surface and below ground characteristics. Plant species throughout the South Gobi Region of Mongolia were severely stressed (or changed) by drought, severe winters, and overuse by livestock between 2005 and 2011.
... Repeated monitoring studies have documented declining production and species diversity (Sheehy et al. 2012), and shifts in plant functional types, species cover and richness (Khishigbayar et al. 2015) in some regions, although Khishigbayar et al. (2015) found no changes in total standing biomass or cover at any of their sites. Remote-sensing studies have reported both increases (Liu et al. 2013, Eckert et al. 2015, John et al. 2016) and decreases (Hilker et al. 2014, Eckert et al. 2015, John et al. 2016) in greenness or productivity over the past two decades. ...
Interacting effects of climate change and livestock grazing on semi-arid grassland ecosystems have not been well studied, especially on a long-term basis. This paper analyzes changes in plant community composition in relation to grazing intensity and climate change based on repeated monitoring along long-term grazing intensity gradients in three Mongolian ecological zones over 20 yr. We synthesized our findings into state-and-transition models of vegetation change, contributing to our understanding of ecological dynamics in relation to management and environmental change, and to the development of tools for resilience-based rangeland management. In the mountain steppe (MS), community composition was driven largely by climate, and transitions from one community to another were associated with climate change or combined climate and grazing effects. The MS experienced the largest number of long-term transitions (14 of 15 plots) over 20 yr. In the steppe (ST), grazing intensity was the strongest influence on community composition, but transitions between communities from the early 1990s to 2013 were most strongly correlated with climate change. Ten of the 15 ST plots transitioned to other communities over 20 yr. Community composition in the desert steppe (DS) was unrelated to either grazing intensity or climate change and only six of 15 plots transitioned permanently over 20 yr. The MS appears most vulnerable to climate-induced community change, as others have suggested. Some degraded ST communities are resilient to climate change, while ST communities on drier sites are vulnerable to grazing-induced community changes. Our findings illustrate the utility of state-and-transition models as a means to synthesize and depict plant community dynamics in relation to climate and management factors. These models identify communities that may be growing rarer or more common under the combined effects of climate change and grazing, and highlight species and communities that may be useful conservation targets or indicators of climate- or grazing-induced change.
Livestock production systems throughout the world are adapting to the new realities of the 21st Century, especially in regard to the impact of global markets on local production activities. This is true of the family ranch in the Intermountain Region of the United States as well as Mongolia. In both regions, quality of livestock product rather than quantity of livestock product has become the focus of production activities. Rather then view quality as a “value added” activity in the supply chain, producing quality animals and products at the primary level of production has become an essential part of the “business” of livestock production. In the Intermountain Region, this reality is reflected in several aspects of livestock production, including: i) mitigating production risk by viewing livestock production from the perspective of an integrated annual livestock production cycle, ii) realizing that quality livestock production depends on livestock access to quality nutrition throughout the production cycle, iii) selecting animal breeds and production systems best suited to specific production environments, iv) managing financial risk associated with the ALPC, and v) effectively utilizing marketing venues that provide premiums for higher quality animals and products. The MCA-Peri-urban project has introduced new and improved concepts of livestock production to Mongolian herder groups involved in the project. While the outcome of these efforts are not yet known, successfully adapting Mongolian livestock production to the 21st Century will be constrained until the overriding problem of inadequate nutrition is resolved. In this report, elements of successful livestock production and sustainable use of rangeland resources in Mongolia are presented. Mongolian livestock production is compared with livestock production in the Intermountain Region of North America. The very similar environment of the two regions lends strength to recommendations offered in this report to adapt Mongolian livestock production to 21st Century needs. If successful, off take products from Mongolian livestock production will be positioned to supply quality meat and other products within Mongolia and also to other countries in the region.
In our study we have addressed monitoring of Mongolian rangelands. Monitoring is a component of management and, as such, supports management decisions about use and improvement of rangelands. Information obtained through monitoring also supports rangeland planning.
There are different techniques and methodologies available for rangeland monitoring, ranging from local-scale conventional rangeland monitoring to monitoring rangeland using high resolution satellite imagery. In our study, we established a study area in the South Gobi Region of Mongolia to demonstrate a variety of monitoring techniques. Our monitoring focused on 37 permanent rangeland monitoring sites that had been previously established during the Gobi Forage Project to develop a Mongolian Global Livestock Early Warning System (GLEWS). We also selected and described rangeland monitoring sites near the Oyu Tolgoi mine complex. Included in our demonstration of rangeland monitoring were monitoring techniques that had been used previously in other studies in the South Gobi Region.
A major focus of the study was demonstrating rangeland monitoring techniques such as the Forage Growth (PHYGROW) Model and Low Resolution Satellite methods that monitor in near-real time. Although our study area had limited area, it did include portions of five steppe and desert ecozones. At each monitoring site, we used frequency transects to compare changes in vegetation condition with earlier measurements and describe topo-edaphic characteristics, described potential Ecological Site and assessed current Rangeland Health. We also used databases from the Forage Growth (PHYGROW) Model to detect impacts of climate change, especially drought, on steppe and desert ecosystems.
We recommend establishment of a national rangeland monitoring program that utilizes Rangeland Health Assessment over multi-year time frames to determine condition of Ecological Sites, and also uses conventional rangeland monitoring techniques to annually assess impacts of large herbivore grazing on defined rangeland units. We also recommend incorporation of the Forage Growth (PHYGROW) Model in a national rangeland monitoring program.
The usefulness of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) for predicting diet quality of free-ranging cattle through fecal analysis was examined. Diet samples were obtained with esophageal fistulated steers; subsequently, study areas were grazed with nonfistulated lactating and dry cows to provide fecal samples representing differing forage diet quality. Diet samples, which were analyzed by conventional laboratory procedures for in vivo corrected digestible organic matter (DOM) and crude protein (CP), provided dependent variable reference data while fecal sample spectra provided independent variable data for development of NIRS predictive equations by stepwise regression. Equations were developed from a data set at one location with subsequent equation development using expanded data ranges obtained by adding samples from a second location. Standard errors of calibration (SEC) and validation (SEV) for the DOM equation developed from the expanded data range were 1.66 and 1.65, respectively; these values were nearly equivalent to the laboratory standard error (SEL) of 1.68. SEC and SEV for the CP equation developed from the expanded data range were 0.89 and 0.93, respectively, compared to the 0.44 SEL. Coefficients of determination for DOM and CP equations were 0.80 and 0.92, respectively. These statistical parameters developed from fecal spectra to predict forage diet quality are equal to or better than statistics reported in the literature for NIRS equations developed using forage spectra. Furthermore, equation standard errors were within acceptable limits for NIRS calibrations. No effects of physiological stage of animals on calibration were noted in this study. Results are interpreted to indicate that prediction of diet DOM and CP of free-ranging herbivores can be accomplished with NIRS fecal analysis to a degree of precision equivalent to conventional laboratory diet analyses.
The establishment of the Rangeland Interagency Ecological Site Manual by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management heralds a new era of rangeland management in the US. The Major Land Resource Areas (MLRA) and Land Resource Units (LRU) used within the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service are the broadest levels in this hierarchy. Most ecological sites and state-and-transition models thus far have been developed in upland grasslands, shrublands, and savannas. Efforts in forests and riparian areas have revealed that ecological site development protocols require distinct concepts and approaches as a consequence of differences in ecosystem organization. Advances in soil science, plant science, geography, and rangeland, community, and ecosystem ecology have had clear impacts that are illustrated in this special issue. But there is not yet a well-developed, interdisciplinary field of study that unifies concepts toward the development of ecological sites.
Spatial interpolation of a variety of meteorological fields lies at the heart of most meteorological data assimilation and prediction systems. Accurate interpolation is usually required to be made from irregularly spaced observations onto regular grids at resolutions that may range from global resolutions of over 100 km down to the finer end of the mesoscale at 1-5 km. The task is made difficult by a number of factors. Data are often contaminated by error. More significantly, the density of the data may be much less than the resolution of the required interpolated grid. In spite of this, the size of the available data set may be sufficient to cause computational difficulties, particularly when dealing with continental or global data sets. This paper describes the technique of thin plate (or Laplacian) smoothing splines and its application to continent-wide interpolation of climate data down to resolutions of less than 1 km. The technique and its extensions address the problems described above and provide insight into the nature of the spatial variation of meteorological variables. An important factor in overcoming the problem of sparse data is the incorporation of significant dependencies on variables such as elevation in addition to the usual dependence on longitude and latitude. Partial thin plate splines are a particularly robust way of incorporating additional dependencies. It is found that monthly mean values of daily maximum and minimum temperature across Tasmania are well described by a partial spline with a linear dependence on elevation. The magnitudes of this dependence differ, both for maximum and minimum temperatures and for different months, in ways that are physically reasonable.
The potential for west Texas ranchers to increase the profitability of
their enterprises by becoming more proactive in their management
practices by using seasonal climate forecasts is investigated using a
focus group and ecological-economic modeling. The focus group felt
forecasts could potentially be used in making decisions concerning
stocking rates, brush control, and deer herd management. Further, the
focus group raised concerns about the potential misuse of `value-added'
forage forecasts. These concerns necessitate a revisiting of the
value-added concept by the climate-forecasting community. Using only
stocking-rate decisions, the potential value of seasonal forage
forecasts is estimated. As expected, the economic results suggest the
value of the forecasts depends on the restocking and destocking price
along with other economic factors. More important, the economic results
and focus-group reactions to these results suggest the need for
multiyear modeling when examining the potential impact of using improved
climate forecasts.