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Impact of Livestock Grazing on the Vegetation and Wild Ungulates in the Barandabhar Corridor Forest, Nepal

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Himalayan Biodiversity in the Changing World

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.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to several organizations in Nepal, including the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC); Department of Forest (DoF); National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) and many volunteers. We would like to thank Jagan Adhikari, Manukala Bhattarai, Bhimsen Paudel and Prakash Bhattarai for supportive discussions and logistic assistance during the data collection. We are grateful to the staff of the National Trust for Nature Conservation for their valuable support during the data collection. Last but not least, we thank all the local communities around the Barandabhar corridor forest for their cooperation and support. Financial support was provided by the grant No. 06073 of the MSMT CR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biodiversity Research, Global Change Research Centre, AS CR, Na sádkách 7, CZ-370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai

  2. University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, CZ-370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai

  3. CzechGlobe – Global Change Research Centre AS CR, Biodiversity Research Centre, Na sádkách 7, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Pavel Kindlmann

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  1. Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai
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Correspondence to Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai .

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  1. , Biodiversity Research Centre, CzechGlobe - Global Change Research Cent, Na Sadkach 7, Ceske Budejovice, 370 05, Czech Republic

    Pavel Kindlmann

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Bhattarai, B.P., Kindlmann, P. (2012). Impact of Livestock Grazing on the Vegetation and Wild Ungulates in the Barandabhar Corridor Forest, Nepal. In: Kindlmann, P. (eds) Himalayan Biodiversity in the Changing World. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1802-9_7

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