Discuss how grazing practices can affect soil quality

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The grazing of livestock can be a sustainable practice that is beneficial for the environment when populations do not exceed their rangelands' carrying capacity. Grassland ecosystems are adapted for grazing, and so long as plants are not consumed faster than they can regrow, the grazing animals can enhance soil quality by fertilizing the soil with their wastes. Grazing animals can also create low levels of disturbance that enhance plant biodiversity. However, grazing too many animals in an area for too long can result in soil compaction, proliferation of noxious weeds that the livestock avoid eating, and the complete removal of vegetation. Soil compaction makes it more difficult for water to infiltrate, for soil to be aerated, for plants' roots to expand, and for roots to conduct cellular respiration, ultimately stressing and killing plants that managed to survive being ripped out by the hungry livestock. The loss of vegetation that is ripped out, trampled, or killed by soil compaction results in exposed topsoil that will readily erode via wind or rain. As topsoil erodes away, so go the nutrients and loose particles that plants need for growth. Overgrazing is a major cause of desertification in places like China and India.