Concepts and Factors Applicable to the Measurement of Range Condition

Abstract

The concept of range condition is reanalysed in terms of the nature of changes in land and vegetation and the purpose of measurement. A new framework is outlined which presents range condition as an overall concept based on change in the value of land attributes, relative to their potential value. These attributes include factors such as the composition and quantity of the vegetation, the stability of the soil and the productivity of the land in terms of animals, water yield, or amenity value. On this basis, indices of change in each attribute may be constructed from vegetation measurements. This will include separate indices of soil stability, animal productivity, and vegetation change (flora conservation), which may or may not be correlated with one another. Range condition cannot be defined by one of these attributes alone, so that the separation of ecological and productivity-based methods is artificial. Overall the importance of soil stability is considered to be greater than productivity, which in turn is greater than vegetation change, but this will depend on the type of land and the dominant land use.