The GRAZE project aims at developing long-term criteria and modelling tools for the management of free-ranging livestock in Mediterranean protected areas with high climatic variability, taking the Doñana Protected Area (Espacio Natural Doñana, END) as a case study.
For this purpose, we will develop an interdisciplinary research program focused on:
(1) Obtaining historical and current estimates of the population size, space use and feeding requirements of the five ungulates feeding in Doñana (wild: red deer, fallow deer, wild boar; domestic: cattle, horse).
(2) Estimating the effects of rainfall levels and grazing pressure on the productivity and standing crop of the Doñana vegetation, based on a combination of field surveys, experiments and remote-sensing data.
(3) Develop spatially-explicit models of the relationship between rainfall, grazing pressure and plant standing crop at Doñana, and use them to evaluate different management scenarios under current and forecasted climate conditions.
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See blog entry about GRAZE's rainfallxherbivory experiment here
