A soil safari: on a quest to restore and manage grassland soils

Kenyan grasslands are under increasing pressure from extreme weather (drought and/or flooding), invasive species, and poor management such as overgrazing. This can cause degradation of the soils beneath, depleting them of nutrients, carbon and life; damaging their structure (e.g. through compaction)...

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Main Author: Tam, Kristen
Format: Blog Post
Language:Inglés
Published: International Livestock Research Institute 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/159791
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author Tam, Kristen
author_browse Tam, Kristen
author_facet Tam, Kristen
author_sort Tam, Kristen
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description Kenyan grasslands are under increasing pressure from extreme weather (drought and/or flooding), invasive species, and poor management such as overgrazing. This can cause degradation of the soils beneath, depleting them of nutrients, carbon and life; damaging their structure (e.g. through compaction), and in severe cases causing topsoil to be lost completely through soil erosion. Soil degradation can have long term effects on grassland productivity and resilience. There has been a lot of research on intensively managed grasslands in Europe and the USA, but less on tropical grasslands in semi-arid areas of east Africa. Research has also tended to focus on aboveground communities (plants) and neglect the important role of healthy soils in supporting healthy grassland ecosystems. We still don’t have a good understanding of how the soils underlying Kenyan grasslands, which are different to soils in temperate regions, might respond to different management or restoration interventions.
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spelling CGSpace1597912024-11-14T21:52:25Z A soil safari: on a quest to restore and manage grassland soils Tam, Kristen soil analysis soil biology Kenyan grasslands are under increasing pressure from extreme weather (drought and/or flooding), invasive species, and poor management such as overgrazing. This can cause degradation of the soils beneath, depleting them of nutrients, carbon and life; damaging their structure (e.g. through compaction), and in severe cases causing topsoil to be lost completely through soil erosion. Soil degradation can have long term effects on grassland productivity and resilience. There has been a lot of research on intensively managed grasslands in Europe and the USA, but less on tropical grasslands in semi-arid areas of east Africa. Research has also tended to focus on aboveground communities (plants) and neglect the important role of healthy soils in supporting healthy grassland ecosystems. We still don’t have a good understanding of how the soils underlying Kenyan grasslands, which are different to soils in temperate regions, might respond to different management or restoration interventions. 2024-04-30 2024-11-14T21:52:24Z 2024-11-14T21:52:24Z Blog Post https://hdl.handle.net/10568/159791 en Open Access International Livestock Research Institute Tam, Kristen. 2024. A soil safari: on a quest to restore and manage grassland soils. Blogpost. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI
spellingShingle soil analysis
soil biology
Tam, Kristen
A soil safari: on a quest to restore and manage grassland soils
title A soil safari: on a quest to restore and manage grassland soils
title_full A soil safari: on a quest to restore and manage grassland soils
title_fullStr A soil safari: on a quest to restore and manage grassland soils
title_full_unstemmed A soil safari: on a quest to restore and manage grassland soils
title_short A soil safari: on a quest to restore and manage grassland soils
title_sort soil safari on a quest to restore and manage grassland soils
topic soil analysis
soil biology
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/159791
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AT tamkristen soilsafarionaquesttorestoreandmanagegrasslandsoils