Grazing Intensity Data

These data were collected as part of the [NSW Grazing Study](https://datasets.seed.nsw.gov.au/dataset/nsw-grazing-studyd114). The study sampled a range of grazing intensities based on both recent (last 2-3 years) and historic (up to 20 years) grazing. To assess recent grazing intensity we identified and counted the dung or pellets of all herbivores (cattle, sheep/goat, kangaroo) within the large (5m x 5m) and small (0.5m x 0.5m) (kangaroo, rabbit, sheep/goat) quadrats. For cattle, we counted dung events rather than individual fragments, i.e. we considered a number of small fragments to have originated from one dung event, if the fragments were within an area of a few metres. At ten sites we counted, collected, dried and weighed the dung from 10 large quadrats to obtain a relationship between dung counts and dry mass for each herbivore. This relationship was then used to calculate the total oven-dried mass of dung per hectare per herbivore as our measure of recent grazing intensity. Where dung from the same herbivore was assessed in both the large and small quadrats, we derived an average mass per hectare based on both quadrats for that herbivore type. We were unable to discriminate between sheep, goat and in very few cases deer (_Cervus spp._) dung, or between European rabbit and European hare (_Lepus europaeus_) dung. Other indicator of recent grazing were also collected (rabbit burrows, latrines and kangaroo hip holes). The abundance of these were collected in a 200m x 10m belt transect. To assess historic grazing intensity we measured the width and depth of all livestock tracks crossing the 200 m transect to derive a total cross-sectional area of livestock tracks for each site (Pringle and Landsberg 2004).本数据集采集自新南威尔士州放牧研究（NSW Grazing Study），数据集链接：https://datasets.seed.nsw.gov.au/dataset/nsw-grazing-studyd114。该研究基于近期（过去2-3年）与历史（最长20年）两个时间尺度的放牧情况，对多种放牧强度开展采样调查。 为评估近期放牧强度，研究人员分别在大型样方（5m×5m，覆盖所有植食动物：牛、绵羊/山羊、袋鼠）与小型样方（0.5m×0.5m，仅针对袋鼠、兔、绵羊/山羊）内，对所有植食动物的粪便或粪粒进行识别与计数。针对牛的粪便，研究人员统计的是单次排便事件而非单独的粪块碎片：若多块小型粪片处于数米范围内，则将其归为同一次排便事件产生的产物。 在10个采样点中，研究人员对10个大型样方（quadrat）内的粪便进行计数、收集、烘干与称重，以此建立每种植食动物的粪便计数与干重之间的对应关系。随后利用该对应关系，计算得到每种植食动物每公顷的烘干粪便总质量，以此作为近期放牧强度的衡量指标。若某种植食动物的粪便同时在大型与小型样方中被统计，则基于两类样方的结果计算该物种每公顷的平均粪便干重。 研究无法区分绵羊、山羊的粪便，极少数情况下还无法区分鹿属（Cervus spp.）的粪便；同时无法区分欧洲兔与欧洲野兔（Lepus europaeus）的粪便。 研究同时收集了其他反映近期放牧情况的指示物，包括兔洞、兔粪堆以及袋鼠髋部挖痕。上述指示物的丰度通过200m×10m的带状样带进行调查统计。 为评估历史放牧强度，研究人员测量了横穿200m样带的所有牲畜足迹的宽度与深度，以此计算每个采样点的牲畜足迹总横截面积（Pringle与Landsberg，2004）。