Abstract

CINGOLANI, Ana M; NOY-MEIR, Imanuel; RENISON, Daniel D  and  CABIDO, Marcelo. Is extensive livestock production compatible with biodiversity and soil conservation?. Ecol. austral [online]. 2008, vol.18, n.3, pp.253-271. ISSN 1667-782X.

The effect of commercial livestock production on biodiversity and soil conservation is difficult to evaluate due to the lack of relicts without livestock, landscape heterogeneity and the complexity of responses. We analyzed the available information and models, integrating different scales, to describe in what conditions commercial livestock production results compatible with biodiversity and soil conservation. We conclude that in systems that evolved with heavy pressure of either wild or domestic herbivores, commercial livestock production is compatible with conservation, and may even be necessary. However, biodiversity is maximized with a heterogeneous herbivore pressure within each of the habitats that constitute the landscape, while livestock production tends to be optimized with a homogeneous pressure. Thus, even in systems that evolved with heavy herbivore pressure, compatibility with conservation requires certain heterogeneity of herbivore pressure, which may decrease production relative to the potential maximum. In systems which evolved with light herbivore pressure, commercial livestock production is less likely to be compatible with biodiversity and soil conservation.

Keywords : Diversity; Erosion; Fauna; Evolutionary history of grazing; Landscape.

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