Volume 68, Issue 1, January 2015, Pages 1–17
When Art and Science Meet: Integrating Knowledge of French Herders with Science of Foraging Behavior
- doi:10.1016/j.rama.2014.12.007
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Abstract
Landscapes
are complex creative systems that continually transform due to
ever-changing relationships among environments and organisms including
human beings. During the past half-century, those who study these
relationships and those who manage them have become increasingly
isolated from one another in their attempts to understand and manage
landscapes. As we have come to rely on experimental science to
understand principles, we have diminished the importance of experiential
knowledge in understanding and implementing practices. In this paper,
we discuss convergence of the knowledge of herders from Southeastern
France with the science of foraging behavior. We review insights of
researchers gained through interviews with herders, surveys, and in situ
recordings of the foraging behavior of closely herded sheep and goats.
Though years of hands-on experience, herders have come to understand
processes involved in food and habitat selection. Using a conceptual
model of four steps, which represent four intertwined processes for a
given herder-herd-fodder resource, we describe how herders 1) teach
their animals to use the full range of forages, 2) train the herd to
respect the boundaries of grazing areas, 3) modulate what they call the
“temporary palatability scoring” of forages, and 4) establish daily
grazing circuits to stimulate appetite and intake through meal
sequencing. This knowledge is also valuable when the objective is to
boost appetite for particular forages, such as coarse grasses, scrub,
and invasive species. The practices of herders are consistent with
scientific studies that show the importance of plant biodiversity for
enabling animals to select nutritious diets and the significance of
animal learning and culture on nutrition, production, and health. We
conclude by highlighting implications for furthering the exchange
between herders and scientists and by providing implications for
managing grazing on pastures and rangelands, with or without shepherds
and dogs, and targeting grazing on particular plants and habitats.
Keywords
- adaptive management;
- diet variety;
- grazing circuits;
- meal patterns;
- pastoralism;
- social learning
Copyright © 2015 Society for Range Management. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
