In a study of the effects of grazing, fire and invasion by buffel grass, livestock grazing with light to moderate stocking rates and burning were found to be compatible with the conservation of floristic diversity in the savanna of north-eastern Australia but the invasion of the exotic buffel grass, Cenchrus ciliaris, diminished plant abundance and diversity. Land clearing exacerbates the spread of buffel grass and the control of this practice is an important contribution to the conservation of these savannas.

Calotropis procera (rubber bush) is an invasive weed posing a major threat to the grazing industry in northern Australia. A field study found that seed viability declined to zero in 15–24 months after burial and that plants flowered and set seed in 190 and 412 days, respectively, and its sister species C. gigantea, in 125 and 359 days, respectively. Annual control activities, therefore, should be sufficient to ensure that new plants do not produce seeds and replenish soil seed banks.

Regeneration of large areas of moderately degraded semiarid rangelands where perennial grasses have largely disappeared requires minimum-disturbance and low-cost methodologies. It is essential to understand whether the limiting factors to regeneration are the availability of seed of local species, or the availability of sites suitable for seed germination and seedling survival. This study found that, in areas not heavily infested by shrubs, seasonal conditions and features which enhanced natural landscape processes were the major factors promoting regeneration and not seed supply.

This paper compares integrated vegetation bands to other methods of retaining regrowth of brigalow-eucalypt vegetation on their effects on biomass and carbon. Three sets of allometrics were applied to data recorded from regrowth of mixed-age brigalow-eucalypt to estimate aboveground biomass, carbon offsets (t CO₂e) and monetary value. The results showed that retaining vegetation bands, and to a lesser extent big trees, can retain considerable amounts of aboveground biomass as economically valuable carbon offsets.

The land-use change component of the ‘carbon footprint’ of agricultural products frequently has a high uncertainty due to data limitations. In this study, datasets for tree cover and biomass derived from remote sensing and allometric equations demonstrated that the GHG flux due to LUC in eastern Australian grazed woodlands producing premium beef ranged from a significant emission to a net sink. Spatially- and temporally-consistent data, including rates of regrowth, will improve estimates of the climate change impact of livestock products under current vegetation management practices.

Payment for ecosystem services mechanism is unlikely to reach its goal in Alxa of Inner Mongolia, China. Because it decoupled local social-ecological system through excluding the grazing disturbance from rangeland ecosystem, spreading out pastoralists and thus open up space for destructive use of rangeland, and encouraging agricultural activities in the extreme dry areas which enhanced local water crisis. We propose ‘payment for social-ecological system resilience’ to displace ‘payment for ecosystem services’.

The potential for rangelands to sequester soil organic carbon is considered high although the variation in soil organic carbon across the landscape and down the soil profile is largely unknown. We show that levels of soil organic carbon vary according to both the presence of trees and ground cover, with higher soil organic carbon levels at the soil surface associated with trees and perennial ground cover. This suggests that to measure soil organic carbon across a paddock we have to understand the distribution of vegetation first.

Transhumance grazing in the Himalayas is in decline due to accelerating change pressures. There is limited knowledge of the ecological role of such grazing in the Himalayan rangelands but the general perception is that grazing is detrimental to the biodiversity conservation. This study investigated patterns of plant species richness and composition at different distances from goths (semi-permanent stopping and camping points) to inform effects of traditional grazing to policies and practices.

Understanding the effects of livestock (cattle) grazing on plant communities is critical for developing effective land management practices. Ephemeral annual plants dominate arid systems in wet years, providing a rare opportunity to study their responses to livestock grazing. Indicators of grazing intensity can be identified during these conditions, but their responses are not always consistent in view of known preferences, demonstrating the need for careful application of the indicator species concept.