Rehabilitation of Semiarid Landscapes in Australia. II. Restoring Vegetation Patches

摘要: This paper describes a practical technique, tested experimentally, for rehabilitating degraded semiarid landscapes in Australia. rehabilitation technique is based on the ecological principle that are spatially organized as patchy, source-sink systems; this patchy organization functions to conserve limited water and nutrients within system. The aim was rebuild vegetation patchiness, lost through decades of utilization these rangelands. Patches were reconstructed from large tree branches shrubs obtained locally placed elongated piles along contours. These very effective recreating productive soil patches landscape, described part I study. new habitats promoted establishment growth perennial grasses. Although foliage cover grasses declined into drought, which started before end experiment, plant survivorship remained high. suggests also function refugia organisms during droughts. robust functional, even under grazing impacts, although survival significantly higher an ungrazed paddock than grazed paddock.