Tools for pastoral diagnosis and mountain pasture management

Abstract

For the management of the mountain pastures, a first tool consisted in regional agro-ecological typologies, elaborated on the basis of quantified relevés of vegetation, environment characteristics and practices. These typologies allow (i) a simplified recognition of the pastoral vegetation by the way of a key of determination, (ii) the evaluation at the station level of the pastoral resource: productivity, animal carrying capacity, (iii) recommendations for the maintenance or the improvement according to dynamic of the vegetations linked to the pastoral practices. A second tool is proposed at the level of the pastoral units (50 to 500 ha) and at the level of large biogeographical areas in mountain (tens to hundreds thousands of hectares): the physiognomic mapping of the vegetation, based on remotely sensed data, at the 1/25 000 scale. These tools are illustrated by results obtained in applications carried out on the pastoral domain in the French Northern Alps.