The BIODESERT survey: assessing the impacts of grazing on the structure andfunctioning of global drylands

Grazing by domestic livestock is both the main land use across drylands worldwide and a major desertification and global change driver. The ecological consequences of this key human activity have been studied for decades, and there is a wealth of information on its impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem processes. However, most field assessments of the ecological impacts of grazing on drylands conducted to date have been carried out at local or regional scales and have focused on single ecosystem attributes (e.g., plant productivity) or particular taxa (mainly aboveground, e.g., plants). Here we introduce the BIODESERT survey, the first systematic field survey devoted to evaluating the joint impacts of grazing by domestic livestock and climate on the structure and functioning of dryland ecosystems worldwide. This collaborative global survey was carried out between 2016 and 2019 and has involved the collection of field data and plant, biocrust, and soil samples from a total of 326 45 m x 45 m plots from 98 sites located in 25 countries from 6 continents. Here we describe the major characteristics and the field protocols used in this survey. We also introduce the organizational aspects followed, as these can be helpful to everyone wishing to establish a global collaborative network of researchers. The BIODESERT survey provides baseline data to assess the current status of dryland rangelands worldwide and the impacts of grazing on these key ecosystems, and it constitutes a good example of the power of collaborative research networks to study the ecology of our planet using much-needed field data.

Automated summary

Domestic livestock grazing is a major land use in drylands worldwide and a driver of desertification and global change. The BIODESERT survey, conducted between 2016 and 2019, is the first systematic field survey to evaluate the joint impacts of grazing by domestic livestock and climate on dryland ecosystems. The survey collected data and samples from 326 plots in 98 sites across 25 countries on 6 continents. It provides valuable baseline data for assessing the current status of dryland rangelands and the impacts of grazing, demonstrating the power of collaborative research networks in studying global ecology.