Table 3 The basic criteria followed to classify the field observations of rangeland conditions to 5 degradation levels
From: A scalable big data approach for remotely tracking rangeland conditions
Degradation levels | Criteria |
Healthy | All native dominants are in place. |
Slightly degraded | Key dominants are still dominating, some grazing-sensitive forbs are in decline and grazing-resistant species are in increase. |
Moderately degraded | Dominants are in decline and replaced by other subdominants, number of species drops down. |
Heavily degraded | Remnants of key species are thinning, and the abundance of degradation indicator species increases. |
Fully degraded | Total vegetation cover is reduced or dominated by very few degradation indicator species. |
