This book presents a critical review of methods used for measuring properties of grassland ecosystems in terms of plants, animals, soils and environment. It is a replacement for Measurement of Grassland Vegetation and Animal Production, edited by L. ’t Mannetje, first published in 1978 and reprinted in 1982 and 1987 by the Commonwealth Bureau of Pastures and Field Crops and its successors (now incorporated into CAB International).
This, in turn, replaced Dorothy Brown’s Methods of Surveying and Measuring Vegetation published in 1954. The 1978 publication has been out of print for several years and since then there have been many developments in grassland research and methodology. Aspects of grassland ecosystems other
than vegetation and animal production were not considered at all in the 1978 publication. Thus, we have included chapters on soils and nutrients, remote sensing and sociology. In addition there is a separate chapter on rangeland monitoring, because rangelands require a different approach
than more intensive grasslands. Some changes in methodology, such as in measuring botanical composition and yield of pastures, have been developments of existing methods rather than new ones.
Each chapter is essentially self-contained, hence there is some overlap in the sense that some topics are mentioned in more than one chapter.
However, to avoid unnecessary duplication, we have encouraged crossreferencing between chapters. For example, nitrogen fixation by legumes is mentioned in Chapters 12 and 13, but the description of the methodology for measuring it is in Chapter 13.
As in the 1978 publication, this is not a book of recipes but rather an introduction to grassland ecosystem and animal production research methodology and a guide to the available techniques. Contributors were asked to adopt a critical approach to the description of methods and their
application. In most cases it will be necessary for readers to refer to the original publication or some other references for details of the methods described. For this reason, considerable thought has been given to the provision of suitable references.
The book of 16 chapters is the joint effort of 34authors from ten countries, each author having wide experience in research methodology in her or his own field. In many chapters the joint authors come from different countries. This was encouraged as a way of ensuring that the topics were dealt with from a broad perspective.
The chapters fall into seven groups. There are those concerned with analysis and modelling (Chapters 2 and 3), measurements of grassland vegetation at the plant or quadrat level (Chapters 4to 8), measurements  on vegetation at a larger scale (Chapters 9 and 10), laboratory methods (Chapter 11 and part of Chapter 12), soils and nutrients in grasslands (part of Chapter 12 and Chapter 13), animal studies (Chapters 14and 15) and sociological research (Chapter 16). The predecessor of this book found many satisfied users and we trust that the present volume will fill a need for a critical presentation and appraisal of field and laboratory methods used in research in grasslands and animal production.