Spatial Distribution and Habitat Selection of Sarda Cattle in a Silvopastoral Mediterranean Area
The beef livestock system in Sardinia is based on suckler cows, often belonging to autochthonous breeds, such as the Sarda breed, and they often graze silvopastoral areas. Besides beef meat, silvopastoral systems (SPSs) provide several Ecosystem Services (ESs), such as timber provision, harvested as...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2022-05-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/9/1167 |
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| author | Marco Acciaro Andrea Bragaglio Marco Pittarello Gian Marco Marrosu Maria Sitzia Gabriele Sanna Mauro Decandia Simonetta Bagella Giampiero Lombardi |
| author_facet | Marco Acciaro Andrea Bragaglio Marco Pittarello Gian Marco Marrosu Maria Sitzia Gabriele Sanna Mauro Decandia Simonetta Bagella Giampiero Lombardi |
| author_sort | Marco Acciaro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The beef livestock system in Sardinia is based on suckler cows, often belonging to autochthonous breeds, such as the Sarda breed, and they often graze silvopastoral areas. Besides beef meat, silvopastoral systems (SPSs) provide several Ecosystem Services (ESs), such as timber provision, harvested as wood, and watershed protection. Livestock distribution is a critical factor for the sustainable use of SPSs (e.g., to avoid uneven grazing patterns) and information on patterns of spatial use are required. A study was conducted to determine: (i) the spatial distribution and (ii) the habitat selection of Sarda cattle grazing in a Mediterranean silvopastoral area. Over different seasons, 12 free-roaming adult Sarda cows were fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) Knight tracking collars to calculate an index mapping of the incidence of livestock in the landscape (LRI) and a preference index (PI) for different areas. Since the PI data were not normally distributed, the Aligned Rank Transform (ART) procedure was used for the analysis. LRI was able to represent the spatial variability in resource utilization by livestock as a LRI map. Overall, the areas where the animals drank and received supplementation were strongly preferred by the cows, reaching PI values in the summer of 19.3 ± 4.9 (median ± interquartile range), whereas areas with predominantly rocks were strongly avoided (the worst PI value in the spring was 0.2 ± 0.6). Grasslands were, in general, used in proportion to their presence in the area, with slightly increased use in the spring (PI 1.1 ± 0.5). Forest area was avoided by cows, except in the spring when it was used in proportion to their presence in the area. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:24:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ddbdf1ac11224089aba69433e2eac4cb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:24:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-ddbdf1ac11224089aba69433e2eac4cb2023-11-23T07:43:18ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152022-05-01129116710.3390/ani12091167Spatial Distribution and Habitat Selection of Sarda Cattle in a Silvopastoral Mediterranean AreaMarco Acciaro0Andrea Bragaglio1Marco Pittarello2Gian Marco Marrosu3Maria Sitzia4Gabriele Sanna5Mauro Decandia6Simonetta Bagella7Giampiero Lombardi8AGRIS Sardegna, S.S. Sassari-Fertilia 291, Km 18.6, 07100 Sassari, ItalyDipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, sp Casamassima, Km 3, 70010 Valenzano (BA), ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, 10095 Grugliasco, ItalyAGRIS Sardegna, S.S. Sassari-Fertilia 291, Km 18.6, 07100 Sassari, ItalyAGRIS Sardegna, S.S. Sassari-Fertilia 291, Km 18.6, 07100 Sassari, ItalyAGRIS Sardegna, S.S. Sassari-Fertilia 291, Km 18.6, 07100 Sassari, ItalyAGRIS Sardegna, S.S. Sassari-Fertilia 291, Km 18.6, 07100 Sassari, ItalyDipartimento Di Chimica E Farmacia, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, 10095 Grugliasco, ItalyThe beef livestock system in Sardinia is based on suckler cows, often belonging to autochthonous breeds, such as the Sarda breed, and they often graze silvopastoral areas. Besides beef meat, silvopastoral systems (SPSs) provide several Ecosystem Services (ESs), such as timber provision, harvested as wood, and watershed protection. Livestock distribution is a critical factor for the sustainable use of SPSs (e.g., to avoid uneven grazing patterns) and information on patterns of spatial use are required. A study was conducted to determine: (i) the spatial distribution and (ii) the habitat selection of Sarda cattle grazing in a Mediterranean silvopastoral area. Over different seasons, 12 free-roaming adult Sarda cows were fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) Knight tracking collars to calculate an index mapping of the incidence of livestock in the landscape (LRI) and a preference index (PI) for different areas. Since the PI data were not normally distributed, the Aligned Rank Transform (ART) procedure was used for the analysis. LRI was able to represent the spatial variability in resource utilization by livestock as a LRI map. Overall, the areas where the animals drank and received supplementation were strongly preferred by the cows, reaching PI values in the summer of 19.3 ± 4.9 (median ± interquartile range), whereas areas with predominantly rocks were strongly avoided (the worst PI value in the spring was 0.2 ± 0.6). Grasslands were, in general, used in proportion to their presence in the area, with slightly increased use in the spring (PI 1.1 ± 0.5). Forest area was avoided by cows, except in the spring when it was used in proportion to their presence in the area.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/9/1167Low-cost GPS collarlivestock residence indexpreference index |
| spellingShingle | Marco Acciaro Andrea Bragaglio Marco Pittarello Gian Marco Marrosu Maria Sitzia Gabriele Sanna Mauro Decandia Simonetta Bagella Giampiero Lombardi Spatial Distribution and Habitat Selection of Sarda Cattle in a Silvopastoral Mediterranean Area Animals Low-cost GPS collar livestock residence index preference index |
| title | Spatial Distribution and Habitat Selection of Sarda Cattle in a Silvopastoral Mediterranean Area |
| title_full | Spatial Distribution and Habitat Selection of Sarda Cattle in a Silvopastoral Mediterranean Area |
| title_fullStr | Spatial Distribution and Habitat Selection of Sarda Cattle in a Silvopastoral Mediterranean Area |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatial Distribution and Habitat Selection of Sarda Cattle in a Silvopastoral Mediterranean Area |
| title_short | Spatial Distribution and Habitat Selection of Sarda Cattle in a Silvopastoral Mediterranean Area |
| title_sort | spatial distribution and habitat selection of sarda cattle in a silvopastoral mediterranean area |
| topic | Low-cost GPS collar livestock residence index preference index |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/9/1167 |
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