可持续放牧方法和载畜量的监测系统

健康的草地和灌丛即使在生产状态下也具有持续的系统功能。系统对土地利用的整体响应难以测定 ,这对系统管理提出了要求。系统的响应是各个水平和组织层次 (细胞 -器官 -有机体 -社会与自然环境 )动态信息的整合。管理者需要在昂贵的实测之外针对不同管理方法的可持续性建立监测体系并运用于生产实践。定期观测无法为土地管理者提供有效的反馈信息 ,管理者需要排除与管理方法和放牧率选择相关的不确定因素 ,这就必须区别哪些是管理对象 ,哪些是系统反馈指标。管理者需要几天乃至几个星期尺度的系统反馈信息 ,这些信息要足够强而且不随时间、地点或管理人员变化而变化 ,省钱省时 ,对系统响应的预测确定。正确地选择系统响应指标 ,有助于修正系统管理方案

Monitoring grazing practices and stocking rates for sustainability

Healthy grasslands and shrublands imply continuous system function, even while producing a product. Whole system responses are difficult to measure and present a management challenge. Response is the ongoing integration of information across all levels or organization - cells and organs to organisms to social and physical environments. Managers must find a way, beyond expensive measurements, to monitor the sustainability of different management practices and uses. Periodic measurements provide little adaptive-feedback information to the land manager. Mangers need tools that remove the uncertainty associated with any management practice or choice of stocking rates. The questions is, "what can be managed and what are the controllers of the processes that give a system response?" The manager needs system feedback on time scales of days to weeks. The information must be robust and not subject to differences in seasons, years, sites, or technicians. The cost must be low and the time investment small. Predictions of response must be certain. Properly chosen, indicators of response disclose the corrective plan of action.