Short-Term Impacts of Livestock Grazing on Vegetation and Track Formation in a High Mountain Environment: A Case Study from the Himalayan Miyar Valley (India)

Michal Apollo, Viacheslav Andreychouk and Suman S. Bhattarai
Additional contact information
Michal Apollo: Department of Tourism and Regional Studies, Institute of Geography, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Podchorazych Street 2, 30-084 Cracow, Poland
Viacheslav Andreychouk: Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 30, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland
Suman S. Bhattarai: Department of Biology, Tri-Chandra M. Campus, Tribhuvan University, Ghantaghar 2323, 44600 Kathmandu, Nepal

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: Animals’ activities are a significant geomorphologic factor. An important reliefogenic role is played by animals introduced by man; that is, livestock. The activity of livestock on the earth’s surface can be direct (horizontal displacement of the soil), or indirect (preparation of ground for degradation). In this research the areas that livestock tread most often were put under examination, that is, places used for resting (e.g., during the night) and paths used for moving (e.g., while passing to and from grazing spots). The experimental research areas were divided into two groups. During the two-week study period it was noted that (1) the number of plants and their stems had declined by 9.5% and 19% respectively, and the paths had widened by 6%; (2) the soil level had decreased, uncovering the measurement pins by 3.5 mm up to 24 mm, depending on the slope of the ground, while in the comparison (control) areas the pins were uncovered only up to an average 1.8 mm. The results of the research show the scale of the phenomenon of zoogenic erosion caused by livestock. Based on the research the following formula has been elaborated y = ( − 0.005 x + 0.0526 ) T × N × S P 100 × 0.86 . This provided the opportunity to calculate the average (hypothetical) data for soil loss (y), according to the slope degree (x), the number of animals (N), the time that those animals spend in the area (T), and the static pressure they caused on the ground (SP). The paper makes recommendations that could lead to a reduction in soil erosion caused by livestock.

Keywords: soil erosion; alpine meadow; grazing; mountain environment; Himalaya (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/951/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/951/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:951-:d:137869

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().