Journal of Rangeland

Plants form different patches in arid ecosystems. The plant patches are dynamic and affected by environmental disturbances and nutrients status. Livestock grazing has been identified as one of the most important disturbance factor in arid and semi arid rangelands. This study aimed to investigate the effects of livestock grazing on plant patch attributes. Plant patch's attributes (including length, width, height, area and distance between patches) were compared in range sites with various grazing histories (none grazed, slightly grazed and severely grazed). Three transects with 50 meters length at 3 different slope aspecst were established using a systematic random approach in each site.  Duncan test was used to compare the mean values of patch attributes. According to the results, grazing intensity had significant effect on plant patches height (P<0.05). The highest plant patch height was observed in none grazed site and the height of plant patch types were decreased in severely grazed site. The patch area sizes were different between severely grazed and non-grazed sites significantly (P<0.05). All other measured patch attributes did not have significant difference in various sites (P>0.05) except at southern transects.