This spring, we are accompanying the Bacak family of Sarıkeçili nomadic pastoralists in Turkey during their hundreds of kilometres of spring migration from their wintering site on the shores of the Mediterranean to their summering sites in Central Anatolia, beyond the Taurus Mountains. Their journey highlights various dimensions of mobile pastoralism as a biodiversity and climate-friendly cultural practice. We are excited to share our in-situ observations day by day, each focusing on a particular aspect of mobile pastoralism.  

The migration routes maintained by livestock mobility serve as ecological corridors that facilitate seed dispersal and connect valuable habitats, helping to prevent isolation and fragmentation—two of the most serious threats to areas of high biodiversity. The mobility of domesticated herbivores in mobile pastoralist systems ensures long-distance seed dispersal for plants. 

Seeds are transported either attached to animal coats or hooves or through ingestion and subsequent defecation.  Seeds attached to the fleece of livestock can be transported over distances of several hundred kilometres in substantial numbers. For example, a herd of 1,000 sheep can transport up to 200 million ingested seeds along migration routes between seasonal ranges during their 1,500 km migration. This figure does not even include seeds attached to the fleece or those dispersed through seed spitting.

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