Incorporation of Temporal and Local Variations in The Management Process in Syrian Arid Rangelands

Abstract

The study was conducted in the central and south-east areas of the Syrian arid rangelands (Homs province Badiyah). The area has faced the danger of continuous degradation to such an extent that it is no longer able to fulfill its original previous functions due to the absence of sustainable management plans. This study focused on sustainable rangeland management in the Syrian arid areas, as related to temporal and local variations, and the significance of different grazing patterns on the range environment. The objective of the study was to investigate the management aspects of Badiyah range in Syrian arid areas as affected by local and temporal variations. The area was divided into two range types (mountain and steppe), and each type was divided into three areas (sites) based on the local variations indicated by topographical features, which may consequently lead to different soil and vegetation characteristics. Based on Rẻleve method, an area that best represents the community, in each of these sites in Badiyah rangeland was located with a dimension of 1km x 1km. Selected types of measurements or assessment were conducted, that included ground and vegetation covers, composition, frequency, density, diversity, similarity indices, dominance and herbage mass. In addition direct count method was used to assess the tree density across the three areas. From each site within the two range types five samples of soil were randomly taken to determine the soil organic matter and seed bank. For the socioeconomic investigation 121 households of the pastoral communities were surveyed using a questionnaire. The study revealed that the Syrian arid rangelands are characterized by a high degree of spatial and temporal variations in structure and dynamic of the plant community, which were reflected by the great variations in the plant cover, composition, frequency, density, diversity, dominance and herbage mass, which have high values in mountain range than steppe range, with local variations within sites of each range type. The values of classic similarity indices (Sørensen and Jaccard) between mountain and steppe rangelands through both seasons were 0.12 and 0.21 respectively. However the similarity indices values between two seasons were 0.29 and 0.25 across mountain and steppe rangelands respectively. Furthermore the similarity indices varies among sites of each range type, the more similar sites in mountain of range were site I and site II with a similarity value of 0.55 and 0.5 respectively, on the other hand, the less similar sites were site I and site III with a similarity value of 0.23 at second season. The similarity indices among the three sites of steppe range were also greatly varied. The results showed that the density and richness of seed bank were high in mountain (165 seed/m2) range than steppe range (147 seed/m2), they were also increased from lower to upper areas of mountain range, and from flat to valley areas of steppe range. Heavy selective grazing and overgrazing through the growing season, caused high dominance and composition of less-palatable species, such as Artemisia herba alba, Peganum harmala, Anabasis syriaca, Haloxylon salicornicum, etc, in seed bank. The results revealed that there was great loss of soil due to high rate of depletion of vegetative and litter covers resulted in high loss of soil organic matter content and increased in bare soil percentage, which lead to deterioration of physical, chemical and biological soil properties. Early, continuous and over grazing and selective grazing, and frequents drought caused unfavorable and long-term changes in the composition and productivity of range vegetation to be insufficient for livestock requirements, which in turn led to more dependence on supplementary feeds, then having far-reaching implications for pastoral social and economies in Syrian arid rangelands. The study concluded that the Syrian Badiyah rangelands are inherently heterogeneous where ground and vegetation cover, composition, frequency, density, diversity, similarity indices, dominance and herbage mass highly variable across multiple spatial and temporal scales. The study recommended that differential selection of range improvement measures including of seed types for reseeding in addition to management of utilization patterns to suit peculiarities of range site are required. Enrichment of herbaceous cover is necessary to control soil deterioration. Formation of CBO’s to ensure involvement of the pastoral communities in the management process, in addition to make use of the existing channels of information like radio for awareness raising and community mobilization.