Browsing by Author "El Aich, Ahmed"
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Assessment of grazing selectivity in relation to land cover: a comparison between sheep and goatsPublication . Hassidou, Maroua; Castro, José; Castro, Marina; El Aich, AhmedEach agroforestry system has developed differently to each ecological, economic and social region of the world. ln Portugal, the traditional agroforestry landscape of Terra Fria is a mosaic of very small patches of annual and perennial agriculture, shrub and woodlands. This patch diversity- composition and configuration - plays a vital role in supporting biodiversity. On the other hand, traditionallivestock systems are based on grazing itineraries searched for different functions- gathering and resting among others- on this landscape mosaic. These agroforestry systems can be considered as a sustainable landscape management which integrates agriculture, livestock and forest on the same land management base. Landscape attributes such as topography, land cover and land use patterns influence the organization of grazing circuits and patch selection. The comparison between land use territory and land use crossed by flocks can be seen as a result of grazing selectivity made by animais and shepherds. The analysis of grazing selectivity is carried out by calculating a selection ratio (SR) for each land cover type :% of land cover of grazing circuit/% of available land cover type. A SR of 1 means that and cover type is used in a random way; a SR lower than 1 means that land cover type is rejected and SR higher than1 means that that land cover type is preferred. We investigated the set of land use patches crossed by sheep and goats flocks during a year and we compare it to the landscape composition, in a village context. For each month, we calculated a Selectivity Index (SI) for each land use- annual crops, perennial crops, forests, pasture and natural grasslands and shrubs. Our results indicate that flock displacement patterns are related with the shepherd and animais perception of benefits and requirements. They are guided by a complex interpretation of land uses and expectations of profitsforage, shade o r circulation among patches- in function of environmental constraints and land use types occurring around villages. The seasonal variation of SR for each land use suggests that the itineraries vary along the year regarding the different needs of animais and the resources availability. Shepherds recognize this complexity and use them accordingly to manage the productivity of the system.
- Assessment of landscape selectivity in relation to grazing a comparison between sheep and goatsPublication . Hassidou, Maroua; Castro, José; El Aich, Ahmed; Castro, MarinaThe aim of this study is to understand how the daily grazing paths of sheep and goats in the silvopastoral systems of the North of Portugal are connected with the rural landscape. For this purpose, A herd of sheep and a herd of goats were monitored with GPS every month during one year in order to record their geographical position. The total data includes 3210 GPS positions, 1948 for the goat's ock and 1262 for the sheep ock. A GIS was used to identify the land cover class of each GPS position on the thematic map COS 2007 published by Portuguese Geographic Institute (http://www.igeo.pt). The land cover selection/rejection was estimated by the Krueger’s preference index (Krueger 1972). The discriminant analysis was used to determine which land cover classes discriminate between sheep and goats herds. Discriminant functions analysis was used to classify the sheep and goats positions and paths in order to distinguish the grazing landscapes of sheep and goats. it was assessed and compared the land cover types used by sheep and goats herds.
- Management of range resources in mountain areas of Middle Atlas ‐ Morocco and in North PortugalPublication . El Aich, Ahmed; Castro, MarinaRangelands cover 69% of the word's agricultural land (FAO Stats 2009) and around 40% of all global land surface. They occupy 32% of the land surface in Portugal (ICNF 2013) and 42% in Morocco. Most of these rangelands are managed by nomads and transhumant pastoralists in Morocco, and by semi‐ sedentary in the North of Portugal. Pastoral systems have undergone profound changes. Among the trends and perturbations faced by pastoralists across the world, we can enumerate demography changes and breakdown of the traditional local institutions and systems for managing natural resources. Recently, since ecological integrity of pastoral systems that sustained natural resources for a long time depended on the mobility of people and herds, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) considered transhumant feeding systems for livestock as one of the most sustainable. As consequence, productivity of rangelands became highly variable and hardly sustain livestock requirements, especially, in mountain regions where the winter cold is an additional limiting factor for vegetal production. Therefore, livestock producers developed specific strategies to cope with the changes. The aim of this study is to document the changes livestock farming systems are going through and compare the strategies developed by livestock owners in mountainous regions in Morocco and Portugal. Our results show that in the Middle Atlas, farmers opt for diversification of agricultural activities with an intensification of livestock systems. The cost of production for livestock is increasing as consequences of rangeland degradation due to overstocking. In Portugal, pastoralism based on daily grazing routes, has constantly decreased over the years. As a result, rangelands are often under‐grazed and wildfires have and are continuously increasing.