Austral Ecology (2011) 36, 367–377 Abiotic effects predominate under prolonged livestock-induced disturbanceaec_2159 367..377 DAVID J. ELDRIDGE,1* JAMES VAL2 AND ALEX I. JAMES1 1Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, c/- Ecology and Evolution Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. (Email:
[email protected]), and 2Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, Buronga, New South Wales, Australia Abstract Despite the widespread recognition that disturbance by livestock affects multiple indices of landscape health, few studies have examined their effects on both biotic and abiotic processes. We examined the effects of livestock disturbance on soil, vascular plants and reptiles across a disturbance gradient in a semi-arid Australian woodland. Our gradient ranged from long-ungrazed water remote sites, through intermediately grazed recovering sites, to currently grazed sites close to water. Our aim was to examine the nature of the effects of grazing-induced disturbance on biotic and abiotic processes along the gradient. We detected small biotic effects, but no abiotic effects, at low levels of disturbance (intermediate sites). We could not detect a consistent biotic effect on plants or reptiles along the gradient, except between the extreme disturbances. In contrast, we recorded substantial reduc- tions in abiotic structure and function at the most disturbed sites. Structural changes included reductions in the cover of shrub hummocks and increases in bare soil, and reductions in cryptogamic soil crusts. Structural changes were associated with declines in function (soil stability and nutrient indices). Our data are consistent with the notion that abiotic effects predominate at high levels of disturbance in rangelands.