Contribution of Rangelands to Animal Production in the Tropics

The tropical zone is covered extensively by grazing land ecosystems, where grasses and legume species play a predominant role in livestock production. They cover nearly twenty to thirty percent of the earth’s surface ^1-4 with trees being the dominant biological form in savannas and grasses in steppes. Savannas are most extensive in Africa, where they make up about 40% of the land area; equivalent less extensive communities are found along the equatorial belt in Australia, Ibero-America, the Pacific islands, and monsoonal and equatorial areas of Asia. ^5-8