TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schaldach, Rüdiger
A1  - Wimmer, Florian
A1  - Koch, Jennifer
A1  - Volland, Jan
A1  - Geissler, Katja
A1  - Köchy, Martin
T1  - Model-based analysis of the environmental impacts of grazing management on Eastern Mediterranean ecosystems in Jordan
JF  - Journal of environmental management
N2  - Eastern Mediterranean ecosystems are prone to desertification when under grazing pressure. Therefore, management of grazing intensity plays a crucial role to avoid or to diminish land degradation and to sustain both livelihoods and ecosystem functioning. The dynamic land-use model LandSHIFT was applied to a case study on the country level for Jordan. The impacts of different stocking densities on the environment were assessed through a set of simulation experiments for various combinations of climate input and assumptions about the development of livestock numbers. Indicators used for the analysis include a set of landscape metrics to account for habitat fragmentation and the "Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production" (HANPP), i.e., the difference between the amount of net primary production (NPP) that would be available in a natural ecosystem and the amount of NPP that remains under human management. Additionally, the potential of the economic valuation of ecosystem services, including landscape and grazing services, as an analysis concept was explored. We found that lower management intensities had a positive effect on HANPP but at the same time resulted in a strong increase of grazing area. This effect was even more pronounced under climate change due to a predominantly negative effect on the biomass productivity of grazing land. Also Landscape metrics tend to indicate decreasing habitat fragmentation as a consequence of lower grazing pressure. The valuation of ecosystem services revealed that low grazing intensity can lead to a comparatively higher economic value on the country level average. The results from our study underline the importance of considering grazing management as an important factor to manage dry-land ecosystems in a sustainable manner.
KW  - Sustainable management of Mediterranean grazing land
KW  - Land-use modeling
KW  - Climate change
KW  - Landscape metrics
KW  - Ecosystem service value
KW  - Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP)
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.11.024
SN  - 0301-4797
SN  - 1095-8630
VL  - 127
IS  - 9
SP  - S84
EP  - S95
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - London
ER  -