TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantifying multi-scale pastoral mobility
T2 - Developing a metrics system and using GPS-Tracking data for evaluation
AU - Liao, Chuan
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell University , Australian Aid, Toward Sustainability Foundation , and the United States Agency for International Development . Patrick Clark led the effort of GPS-tracking of cows. I appreciate the pastoralists in Borana, Ethiopia who participated in this research. I am also thankful to Christopher Barrett, Stephen DeGloria, Wako Gobu, Karim-Aly Kassam, Stephen Morreale, Andrew Mude, Mohamed Shibia, Galma Shiki, Patrick Sullivan, and Birhanu Tadeesse for their advice and support. I acknowledge the valuable comments from two anonymous reviewers. Appendix A
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - Mobility appears to be in decline in modern pastoralism, but measurement of mobility has been ambiguous. This paper develops a metrics system to evaluate multi-scale pastoral mobility, and uses continuous, frequent, cross-season GPS-tracking data to investigate movement patterns in five pastoral communities in southern Ethiopia. The metrics system includes both broad-scale indicators such as home range and number of camps, and fine-scale indicators such as herding loop length, daily maximum distance from camp, and angular distribution of observed cow locations. The findings suggest pastoral mobility patterns are highly heterogeneous, and there are clear trade-offs among different mobility indicators in pastoralists’ herding strategies. In contrast to conventional understanding that mobility declines when pastoralists settle down, I find evidence of sedentarized pastoralists engaging in more rigorous fine-scale movement than those who keep practicing camp relocation. Thus, pastoral mobility cannot be generalized according to any single indicator, and comprehensive evaluation is necessary to advance our understanding of pastoral mobility as a complex strategy to manage herds in the arid and semi-arid environments.
AB - Mobility appears to be in decline in modern pastoralism, but measurement of mobility has been ambiguous. This paper develops a metrics system to evaluate multi-scale pastoral mobility, and uses continuous, frequent, cross-season GPS-tracking data to investigate movement patterns in five pastoral communities in southern Ethiopia. The metrics system includes both broad-scale indicators such as home range and number of camps, and fine-scale indicators such as herding loop length, daily maximum distance from camp, and angular distribution of observed cow locations. The findings suggest pastoral mobility patterns are highly heterogeneous, and there are clear trade-offs among different mobility indicators in pastoralists’ herding strategies. In contrast to conventional understanding that mobility declines when pastoralists settle down, I find evidence of sedentarized pastoralists engaging in more rigorous fine-scale movement than those who keep practicing camp relocation. Thus, pastoral mobility cannot be generalized according to any single indicator, and comprehensive evaluation is necessary to advance our understanding of pastoral mobility as a complex strategy to manage herds in the arid and semi-arid environments.
KW - Ethiopia
KW - GPS-Tracking
KW - Metrics system
KW - Mobility
KW - Pastoralists
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.12.012
DO - 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.12.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85040023060
SN - 0140-1963
VL - 153
SP - 88
EP - 97
JO - Journal of Arid Environments
JF - Journal of Arid Environments
ER -