Our research team was awarded a Thesiger-Oman International Fellowship by the Royal Geographical Society to study grazing pressure in the Dhofar Mountains of Oman. The team consists of  Lawrence Ball, Hadi Al Hikmani, Ian M. Hamilton, Andrew Spalton, and myself. Here is the abstract:

This research project aims to study grazing pressure in the Dhofar Mountains of Oman by tracking daily herd movements, documenting livestock distributions, and using remote sensing data on available forage resources. Using these data sets we will examine whether there is an ideal free distribution of grazing pressure over the available forage resources. The research will advance our theoretical understanding of how pastoralists distribute themselves in relation to forage resources in mountain rangelands. A better understanding of pastoralist management practices and livestock distributions is critical for developing sustainable and equitable rangeland management systems in the Dhofar Mountains.