Overgrazing is a land-use topic concerning the excessive consumption of vegetation by herbivores, typically livestock, beyond the capacity of plant communities and soils to recover, leading to degradation of terrestrial ecosystems. Scientifically, it involves sustained grazing pressure that reduces plant biomass, alters species composition toward less palatable or invasive species, exposes soil surfaces, and disrupts nutrient and water cycles. Overgrazed systems exhibit increased soil erosion, compaction, reduced infiltration, and diminished primary productivity, often crossing ecological thresholds into desertification or long-term loss of ecosystem function. It is a central topic in rangeland management, grazing ecology, and land degradation modeling.
Restoring underwater kelp forests by culling overgrazing sea urchins would deliver significant financial benefits, a new study has found.
Ecology
Jul 1, 2025
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Forests without top predators (such as tigers) risk being overgrazed by large herbivore prey, depleting vegetation carbon stocks and their capacity to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, an essential ecosystem function ...
Environment
May 7, 2025
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Over a year after a devastating winter wiped out virtually his entire sheep flock, herder Zandan Lkhamsuren is still reckoning with the damage wrought by Mongolia's increasingly erratic extreme weather.
Environment
Mar 13, 2025
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