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Overgrazing by livestock can lead to land degradation. Land degradation is a process where land becomes less healthy and productive due to a combination of human activities or natural conditions. The causes for land degradation are numerous and complex. [1] Human activities are often the main cause, such as unsustainable land management practices.
Habitat destruction caused by humans includes land conversion from forests, etc. to arable land, urban sprawl, infrastructure development, and other anthropogenic changes to the characteristics of land. Habitat degradation, fragmentation, and pollution are aspects of habitat destruction caused by humans that do not necessarily involve over ...
It can also be caused by immobile, travel restricted populations of native or non-native wild animals. Overgrazing reduces the usefulness, productivity and biodiversity of the land and is one cause of desertification and erosion. Overgrazing is also seen as a cause of the spread of invasive species of non-native plants and of weeds.
Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological processes that slowly alter the layout of the physical environment [3] (suspected of being one of the major causes of speciation [3]), and human activity such as land conversion, which can alter the environment much faster and causes the extinction of many species.
Water and wind erosion are now the two primary causes of land degradation; combined, they are responsible for 84% of degraded acreage. [2] Each year, about 75 billion tons of soil is eroded from the land—a rate that is about 13–40 times as fast as the natural rate of erosion. [78]
The administered poison must have a low toxicity so that it does not cause further damage to other animals or plants; a popular toxin that has worked well is Botulin toxin C. [10] As for highly degraded plots of land, planting semi-artificial grassland is the umbrella term that is used to address this type of restoration. [2]
Animal agriculture worldwide encompasses 83% of farmland (but only accounts for 18% of the global calorie intake), and the direct consumption of animals as well as over-harvesting them is causing environmental degradation through habitat alteration, biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and trophic interactions. [174]
It is toxic to horses, prevents native plants from growing (decreasing biodiversity and degrading natural ecosystems), and is a physical barrier to the migration of indigenous animals. The increasing globalization of agriculture has resulted in the accidental transport of pests, weeds, and diseases to novel ranges.