Animal preference and external plant attributes: application of principle component analysis

Journal Title: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) - Year 2015, Vol 6, Issue 1

Abstract

To evaluate the relationship between the external plant attributes (EPA) and animal preference (AP), plant composition in the study area and in the diet of sheep and goats, as well as the selection index of species were determined. Then, the most important EPA was selected and evaluated using literature review. Since there were a lot of EPA, plants were ranked based on these attributes using the principle component analysis (PCA). The eigenvalue and eigenvectors of the plant species and EPA were graphed, and the correlation between the species selection index by sheep and goats and the eigenvalue of the PCA axis for each plant species were calculated. Results indicated that while there was no significant difference between grazing time of sheep and rangeland plant composition, a significant relation was found between grazing time of goat and rangeland plant composition. Hence, it can be concluded that goat is not selective as they grazed plants in proportion to their forage yield and canopy cover in the field. Moreover, there is a significant relationship between the species' selection by sheep and goats and EPA. This study showed that the optimum grazing can be achieved by common grazing of goat and sheep as a result of different grazing time of plant life-forms and plant species.

Authors and Affiliations

Valiollah RaufiradA, Ataollah Ebrahimi, Hossein Azadi

Keywords

Related Articles

Natural regeneration potential of key livelihood tree species under different land use types within Omo Biosphere Reserve, Nigeria

Impact of land use change on the natural regeneration potential of key livelihood tree species in Omo biosphere reserve was examined by evaluating soil seed banks under the Strict Nature Reserve (SNR); three chronosequ...

Human-wildlife conflict assessment along the river Satluj, Pakistan

The present study was designed to assess a crop damage and status of HWC along two important wetland of river Sultuj; Islam Headworks and Panjnad Headworks. Selected sites along the river Satluj from Head Islam to Head P...

Evaluating respect of felling restrictions on harvestable diameters and logging methods at the forest management units (FMUs) in south western cameroon with decision support systems (DSS

The high biodiversity of tropical rainforests including numerous species in the IUCN Red list is being threatened by numerous anthropogenic activities carried out in the forest by various stakeholders. Logging in tropic...

Species Richness of Spiders in Sacred Mountain, Marawi City, Philippines

This study aims to determine the species richness and abundance of spiders in Sacred Mountain, Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, Philippines. Beat netting, vial tapping, and pitfall trapping methods were used to collect sample...

Agaricus bernardii and A. maleolens (section Duploannulatae, Agaricaceae) in the Bulgarian mycobiota: diversity, distribution, morphology and ecology

This paper summarizes the available data of Agaricus bernardii and A. maleolens in Bulgaria. Review of the available previous records is made and new findings are reported. The article brings closer taxonomic profile,...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP38114
  • DOI -
  • Views 183
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Valiollah RaufiradA, Ataollah Ebrahimi, Hossein Azadi (2015). Animal preference and external plant attributes: application of principle component analysis. Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES), 6(1), -. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-38114