Given the success of Volume I of this Research Topic, and the rapidly evolving nature of the subject, we are pleased to announce the launch of Volume II.
The first volume is available here:
Volume I.
Approximately 3.5 billion hectares, 70% of the land available for food production worldwide, will support livestock, but not crops. While interest in plant-based diets appears to be increasing in industrialized countries, the demand for meat is growing rapidly in developing countries. Furthermore, nomadic and semi-nomadic cultures in Africa, Asia and Europe depend on herding as a way of life.
Livestock production, however, brings with it problems, including significant greenhouse gas emissions, and contamination and depletion of water supplies. Additionally, the conversion of forage to animal biomass in regions where forage quality is poor is inefficient, and overgrazing can degrade plant communities, even to the point of desertification.
Now, a growing body of literature suggests that livestock, managed on pasture or rangeland using so-called regenerative techniques that seek to mimic natural-systems, may help restore soil fertility, increase the diversity and productivity of soil microbial and plant communities, increase water retention, reduce nutrient leaching and erosion, and remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere.
This Research Topic explores the ecological, economic, and social implications of livestock management in forage-based pasture and rangeland ecosystems. The objective is to document the potential of livestock to continue producing animal-based protein for human consumption while at the same time maintaining or even improving ecosystem functionality. Volume II will emphasize the health of the livestock production ecosystem, including the health of soils, forages, livestock, and human consumers.
Plants turn dirt into soil and diverse mixtures of plants and their phytochemicals turn soil into homes, grocery stores, and pharmacies for myriad species of herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores below and above the ground. While the elements of this system may seem sequentially linear, they are in reality, all parts of cycles and, in fact, all of their elements are interconnected. Volume II will explore these connections, with an emphasis on the fundamental contribution of plant biodiversity to the health of soil, plants themselves, livestock, humans, and climate.
We will accept papers that report the results of novel research, review a body of knowledge addressing any of the concepts mentioned above or develop testable hypotheses dealing with an issue associated with some aspect of the topic. We will limit this volume to between 9 and 12 papers that encompass the scope and breadth of the emphasis stated above.
