Patterns of livestock activity on heterogeneous subalpine pastures reveal distinct responses to spatial autocorrelation, environment and management

Table 1 Characteristics of the six study areas

Area	A	B	C	D	E	F
Region	Obwalden	Obwalden	Obwalden	Lower Engadine	Lower Engadine	Lower Engadine
Longitude (°)	8.241	8.31	8.097	10.182	10.157	10.223
Latitude (°)	46.813	46.832	46.813	46.794	46.79	46.805
Elevation (m asl)	1862 ± 127	1440 ± 142	1585 ± 73	2206 ± 109	2163 ± 160	2101 ± 184
Slope (%)	53 ± 20	40 ± 15	38 ± 10	42 ± 11	41 ± 12	36 ± 13
Mean annual temperature (°C)	2.7	4.8	3.9	0.2	0.3	1.4
Mean annual precipitation (mm)	1949	1822	1801	1206	1206	1285
Size (ha)	56	40	25	91	135	158
Herd size (LU)	30	45	42	55	50	120
Simultaneously tracked animals	3	2	2	3	3	4
Number of records	245752	122746	157962	438677	485620	483175
Grazing period (d)	69	90	90	43	72	78
Number of paddocks	5	7	27	4	7	10
Average stocking period/paddock (d)	13.8	12.9	3.3	10.8	10.3	7.8
Stocking rate (LU ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹)	0.10 ± 0.06	0.16 ± 0.16	0.25 ± 0.23	0.04 ± 0.05	0.05 ± 0.06	0.09 ± 0.06

Values for elevation, slope and stocking rate are medians ± standard deviation. Mean annual precipitation was derived from grid data of MeteoSwiss, Zurich. Mean annual temperature was taken from Hiebl et al. [48]

ISSN: 2051-3933