Habitat use and behaviour of cattle in a heterogeneous desert environment in central Australia
Anke S. K. Frank A B , Chris R. Dickman A and Glenda M. Wardle A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: anke.frank@utas.edu.au
The Rangeland Journal 34(3) 319-328 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ12032
Submitted: 17 May 2012 Accepted: 16 August 2012 Published: 6 September 2012
Abstract
The activities of livestock in arid environments typically centre on watering points, with grazing impacts often predicted to decrease uniformly, as radial piospheres, with distance from water. In patchy desert environments, however, the spatial distribution of grazing impacts is more difficult to predict. In this study sightings and dung transects are used to identify preferred cattle habitats in the heterogeneous dune system of the Simpson Desert, central Australia. The importance of watering points as foci for cattle activity was confirmed and it was shown that patchily distributed gidgee woodland, which comprises only 16% of the desert environment, is the most heavily used habitat for cattle away from water and provides critical forage and shade resources. By contrast, dune swales and sides, which are dominated by shade- and forage-deficient spinifex grassland and comprise >70% of the available habitat, were less utilised. These results suggest that habitat use by cattle is influenced jointly by water point location and by the dispersion of woodland patches in a resource-poor matrix. The findings were used to build a modified conceptual model of cattle habitat use which was compared with an original piosphere model, and the consequences for wildlife in environments where the model applies are discussed.
Additional keywords: Acacia georginae woodland, grazing gradients, piosphere, Triodia grassland.
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