PLANT FORAGE RESOURCES AND THEIR DIVISION BY HERBIVOROUS MAMMALS DURING JOINT GRAZING ON A STEPPE PASTRY
Abaturov B.D., Dzhapova V.V., Ayusheva E.Ch., Dzhapova R.R., Bembeeva O.G., Kazmin V.D., Medyannikov I.I. Plant Forage Resources and Their Division by Herbivorous Mammals during Joint Grazing on a Steppe Pastry // Ecosystems: ecology and dynamics. No 1. 2026. P. 117-133. | Abstract | PDF | Reference
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- Types of pasture vegetation in the dry steppe of the Northern Caspian Region (Volgograd and West Kazakhstan Regions of Russia and Kazakhstan, September 2022): on the left – a pasture-digressive plant community under a long-term livestock grazing, on the right – a grass-type community in the same area without grazing, in the fenced-off area (Photo by B.D. Abaturov)
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- Grazing camels and Przewalski’s horses on a common pasture on the “Living Nature of the Steppe” association, Rostov Region (protected zone of the Rostov Biosphere Reserve), April 2017 (Photo by B.D. Abaturov)
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- Grazing camels on a former arable land with fallow weeds in the “Living Nature of the Steppe” association, Rostov Region (protected zone of the Rostov Biosphere Reserve), June 2017 (Photo by B.D. Abaturov)
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- Mass death of saiga antelopes in Northern Kazakhstan on a sod grass (feather grass) steppe, May 2015 (Photo by “Kazakhstanskaya Pravda” newspaper)
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- Experimental saiga antelopes’ grazing in a steppe with their preferred mixed grass and cereals and sustainable nutrition (Photo by B.D. Abaturov)
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- Przewalski’s horses on a grass pasture of the “Living Nature of the Steppe” association, Rostov Region (protected zone of the Rostov Biosphere Reserve), August 2017 (Photo by B.D. Abaturov)
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- American bison on a grass pasture of the “Living Nature of the Steppe” association, Rostov Region (protected zone of the Rostov Biosphere Reserve), June 2018 (Photo by B.D. Abaturov)
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- Camels resting after grazing on a steppe fallow land overgrown with weeds in the “Living Nature of the Steppe” association, Rostov Region (protected zone of the Rostov Biosphere Reserve), August 2017 (Photo by B.D. Abaturov)
We investigated 4 species of herbivorous mammals with different digestive systems exhibiting dietary selectivity toward forbs and true grasses, which differ in their nutritional value, primarily, their digestibility. Saiga antelopes, just like other animals with high dietary selectivity that consume easily digestible foods, prefer forbs of high digestibility and avoid less digestible true grasses. If true grasses make up most of the pastures and saiga have no other choice but to feed on them, the saiga population turns unviable. Horses and bison, like other equines and large ruminants that are highly specialized in feeding off true grasses, successfully utilize them despite their poor digestibility, but avoid forbs. It is clear that they exclude forbs from their diet due to the increased toxicity of the latter. Camels do not discriminate between true grasses and forbs with different nutrition values. Currently, they actively graze in fallow lands (former arable land), overgrown with weeds, which other herbivores avoid. Differences in forage plant selection of different animal species grazing together ensure that they share the same pasture successfully, eliminate competition, and help to preserve the species diversity of pasture vegetation.
Keywords: herbivorous mammals, pasture plants, grasses and forbs, forage digestibility, feeding selectivity.
DOI: 10.24412/2542-2006-2026-1-117-133
EDN: VVFAFI