Overgrazing In A Semi-Arid Rangeland Of North-Eastern Iran

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Bobby Kmetz Oct 21, 2010 Research Report #1Topic In the world today there are many things that are affecting are environment and a lot of those things have to do with effecting the land and soil around us that we use every day to grow plants on and use to raise livestock on. With all the damaging things that are happening to the worlds soil that we all know of such as erosion and irrigation of lands one type of soil degradation that is just as serious as all the others is overgrazing. Overgrazing can degrade soil because of the way it is treated by the animals and not maintained by the land owners. In the book Essential environments it briefly talks about what different activities have effect on the soils. It talks about how even though…show more content…
To summarize what this article talked about it was a study done on the effects of soil degradation and the effects on the vegetation in areas around watering points and normal grazing lands. The study showed that in these ecosystems the overgrazing reduced the ecosystem diversity of plants in poor soils. It also talked about how overgrazing around certain areas can not only destroy the soil but it can also cause the destruction of certain types of species. Overgrazing differs in all areas of the world but it still has a common problem which is that when there is overgrazing no matter what type of environment you are in that environment will be…show more content…
When cattle or any type of livestock overgraze it causes them to compact the soil which makes it harder for soils to receive water or be aerated, and it also doesn’t allow for the plants roots to expand. This all affects the soil because it will eventually end up causing soil erosion which will lead to even more erosion. The effects that overgrazing have on soil are so bad because it disrupts the whole balance of the certain type of ecosystem that you are in. By having all these effects on the plants and soil around the ecosystem it doesn’t allow nature to return that ecosystem back to its original state and eventually will cause it to make everything worse. Now there are ways that people have been able to have grazing livestock without destroying the environment. Some ways that allow people to raise livestock without affecting the ecosystem around it and the soils is by having just enough animals in a certain area so that the animals do not consume the grasses and plants fast allowing for the grasses and plants to regrow and be replaced. Another way that people are stabilizing there grazing practices is by having laws set in place restrict the areas where land can be grazed so that the ecosystem is not destroyed. In all overgrazing is just as serious as things like soil erosion and needs to be watched carefully to ensure that the soil and ecosystem where

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