Impact of Livestock Grazing on the Vegetation and Wild Ungulates in the Barandabhar Corridor Forest, Nepal
Abstract
We investigated how livestock grazing inside the Barandabhar corridor forest (lowland in the south-central part of Nepal) affects plant community structure and standing biomass of grassland in this area. There were 2,432 domestic animals regularly grazing inside the natural habitats.
As much as 73% of the area is grazed by livestock, which resulted in competition between the livestock and wild ungulates for food. Grazed areas differed from ungrazed in species composition and community structure.
In the ungrazed areas, the standing biomass was higher, the proportion of barren ground smaller and the number of plant species larger compared with grazed areas. Livestock grazing also affected the species composition of herbaceous plants and grasses.
In order to restore these degraded grasslands, the grazing by livestock needs to be reduced by establishing public grazing areas for the local people.