Comparing the impacts of livestock and wildlife grazing on some soil nutrients in a semi-arid rangeland

Rangeland sustainability is altered by animal grazing. As one of the main ecological disturbances, grazing alters the cycle of soil nutrition contents in the soil of rangeland ecosystems. This research was carried out to compare the impact of wildlife and livestock grazing on the soil nutrient content of Lashgar Dar, which is a semi-arid rangeland (Malayer City, Hamadan Province). Based on the ANOVA results, the Cu, K, Fe contents in the two studied areas differed significantly (P<0.01). The Cu content significantly increased to 0.15 and 0.36 mgkg-1, for wildlife and livestock grazing, respectively. The Fe concentrations in the soil were significantly higher in the livestock grazing area (2.58 mgkg-1) than the wildlife grazing area (1.48 mgkg-1 ). The K concentrations significantly increased in the livestock grazing area (17.51 mgkg-1). The lowest concentration of K (9.48 mgkg-1) was obtained in the wildlife grazed area. The results of comparing Zn, Mg, Mn contentsdemonstrated that there were significant (P<0.01) differences between the two regions in terms of Mg and Mn two studied areas in the Lashgar Dar Rangeland. The amount of Zn in the livestock-grazed area (1.24 mgkg-1) was in general more than that of the wildlife grazed area (0.77 mgkg-1). It can be concluded that in the studied region, which is semi-arid, due to the lack of palatable plants and the presence of a large number of non-palatable plants, the livestock and wildlife were the same in selecting the plants. Grazing by wildlife animals naturally differs from grazing by livestock. The soil temperature could increase due to vegetation removal because of grazing intensity and warmer soils commonly have lower organic matter because of faster mineralization rates.