Rangeland vegetation responses to traditional enclosure management in eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Enclosures are widely used by pastoralists in East Africa. However, the response of herbaceous and woody vegetation to enclosures seasonally grazed by livestock remains poorly understood. This study investigated the effectiveness of traditional enclosures in improving herbaceous and woody vegetation in the Somali Regional State of eastern Ethiopia. Vegetation composition (species composition, diversity and richness) and structure (herbage mass, density and canopy cover) were measured inside and outside a set of enclosures. The enclosures contained higher numbers of desirable species than the adjacent open-access grazing areas. Woody species richness was higher in the open-access grazing areas than in the enclosures, which is attributed to the manual removal of most of the undesirable shrubs and trees in the enclosures by pastoralists. Herbage mass was 2642 and 843 kg of dry matter ha–1 in the enclosures and open-access communal grazing areas, respectively. Herbaceous species diversity was higher in the enclosures than in the open-access communal grazing areas (Shannon–Wiener index: 1.8 v. 1.4, respectively). The enclosures were richer in herb species than the open-access grazing areas (13.5 v. 6.8, respectively), but values for woody species were not significantly different. Overall, we found that establishment of enclosures and the short-term protection from grazing they allow is an option for realising positive vegetation changes that support the local pastoral economy in the semiarid rangelands of eastern Ethiopia.