The James Hutton Institute
This page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
The James Hutton InstituteThis page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
Many of the ecosystems found in disadvantaged areas are managed through
the presence of large herbivores, mainly domestic ruminant species. There
is "bell-shaped" curve relating plant species diversity to grazing
pressure, which indicates that low to moderate grazing pressure will maximise
diversity. This is also likely to be true for the impact of grazing pressure
of ruminants on the diversity of invertebrates, birds and mammal species.
There is thus an important role for ruminants in influencing overall diversity.
To meet the habitat requirements of particular taxa or species, their autoecology
needs to be fully understood, but the choice of ruminant species and management
system can play an important role in meeting their needs.
These concepts operate at a range of geographical scales, from the scale of a vegetation patch to one of the landscape. At the larger scale, ruminants have an important positive role in fire management in S. Europe, which can have important habitat consequences. The particular role for farm livestock will depend upon the ecosystem found in the different regions of Europe, but the application of the general principles outlined above, combined with appropriate experimentation can lead to the development of grazing strategies for different farmed species to meet nature conservation and environmental needs.