Geospatial Assessment of Grazing Regime Shifts and Sociopolitical Changes in a Mongolian Rangeland |
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| Authors: | Temuulen Tsagaan Sankey Joel Brown Sankey Keith T. Weber Cliff Montagne |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Assistant Research Professor, Boise Center Aerospace Laboratory, Idaho State University, 322 E Front Street, Suite 240, Boise, ID 83702, USA;2. Graduate Research Assistant, Boise Center Aerospace Laboratory, Idaho State University, 322 E Front Street, Suite 240, Boise, ID 83702, USA;3. Director, Geographic Information Systems Training and Research Center, Idaho State University, 921 S 8th Avenue, Stop 8104, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA;4. Associate Professor, Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Department, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA;1. Former Graduate Student, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA;2. Former Graduate Student, Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 210646, Mongolia;3. Professor, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA;1. Professor of Terrestrial Ecology, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;7. Division Director of Grazing Research and Mapping, Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute, Ås, Norway;3. Professor, Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Science, Ås, Norway;5. Doctoral Student, Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway;6. Professor of Animal Husbandry, Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway |
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| Abstract: | Drastic changes have occurred in Mongolia’s grazing land management over the last two decades, but their effects on rangelands are ambiguous. Temporal trends in Mongolia’s rangeland condition have not been well documented relative to the effects of long-term management changes. This study examined changes in grazing land use and rangeland biomass associated with the transition from the socialist collective to the current management systems in the Tsahiriin tal area of northern Mongolia. Grazing lands in Tsahiriin tal that were formerly managed by the socialist collective are now used by numerous nomadic households with their privately owned herds, although the lands remain publicly owned. Grazing pressure has more than tripled and herd distribution has changed from a few spatially clustered large herds of sheep to numerous smaller herds of multiple species. Landsat image–derived normalized-difference vegetation index estimates suggest that rangeland biomass significantly decreased (P < 0.001) from the collective to the postcollective periods. The observed decrease was significantly correlated with changes in the grazing management system and increased stocking density (P < 0.001), even when potential climate-induced changes were considered. Furthermore, field- and Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre imagery–based rangeland assessments in 2007 and 2008 indicate that current rangeland biomass is low. Spatial pattern analyses show that the low biomass is uniform throughout the study site. The observed decrease in rangeland biomass might be further accelerated if current grazing land use continues with no formal rangeland management institution or organized, well-structured efforts by the local herding households. |
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