Showing papers in "Rangeland Ecology & Management in 2009"

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarized what we know (and don't know) about three fundamentally different kinds of pinon-juniper vegetation, and provided a source of information for managers and policy makers, and stimulate researchers to address the most important unanswered questions.

TL;DR: Concepts and a practical approach to potential-based land classification and STM development are outlined and a simple example of how data assembled via this sequence are used to refine ecological site classes and STMs is offered.

TL;DR: In this paper, the utility of domestic livestock as ecosystem engineers in semi-arid rangelands has been discussed and the potential benefits and consequences associated with heterogeneity-based management practices for conservation grazing in the semi-rangelands of the western North American Great Plains.

TL;DR: It is suggested that as a profession the authors need to have a discussion about the nature of the problems they are addressing and how researchers and managers can jointly address these problems, and it is important to distinguish between simple and complex problems.

TL;DR: For more than 150 years, ranchers in the West have gained insight about natural systems through daily interaction and management of landscapes, but this knowledge has never been systematically documented and analyzed as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: In this article, cattle grazing impacts over four growing seasons after prescribed fire on Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) steppe in eastern Oregon were evaluated by quantifying herbaceous canopy cover, density, annual yield, and perennial grass seed yield.

TL;DR: By combining the concepts of animal learning and food diversity, it will be possible to create sustainable grazing systems with less dependence on fossil fuels and with enhanced benefits for soils, plants, herbivores, and people.

TL;DR: In this article, the scaling effects of spatially and temporally distributed ecological interactions such as diet selection, defoliation, and plant growth have been considered in the context of grass-clover pastures.

TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of varying amounts and temporal distribution of precipitation on PUE were examined at the Montana site, using a rainout shelter and irrigation, and the results showed that PUE was responsive to plant function type (PFT) composition relative to amount and seasonal distribution of rainfall.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors applied a methodological adaptation of the Framework for the Evaluation of Management Systems incorporating Sustainability Index (MESMIS) to evaluate the sustainability of dehesa farms.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors characterize influences of increasing juniper on vegetation structure and hydrologic processes in mountain big sagebrush and western juniper (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. subsp. vaseyana [Rydb.] Beetle-Juniperus occidentalis Hook.) communities and identify and predict states and thresholds.

TL;DR: Small ruminant grazing, especially with goats, is proposed as an efficient tool to reduce shrub encroachment and woody phytomass accumulation in heathlands, thus reducing fire hazard, although these grazing effects depend on heathland composition.

TL;DR: In this paper, private amenity values are estimated using a contingent valuation technique in surveys of private woodland owners as part of five case studies, using a design developed to separate landowner amenity income and capital values.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the effects of grazing on BSCs in Inner Mongolia grasslands and found that very light grazing had no significant effect on the role of BSC in soil stabilization, but resulted in a 13.3% reduction in BSC N input potential.

TL;DR: In this paper, the role of historical livestock grazing relative to past climate in regulating pinyon recruitment and growth over the last century in a persistent pine-juniper woodlands was examined.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assessed the effectiveness of different sampling strategies in linking fine fuel load and crown scorch of ashe (Juniperus ashei) and redberry juniper (J. pinchotii) for prescribed fires conducted in wet and dry periods of the growing season on the Edwards Plateau, Texas, USA.

TL;DR: The current state of knowledge and research methodologies related to diet selection of grazing domestic ruminants with particular reference to improved temperate grazing environments are reviewed, including how well the authors understand each part of the complex decision-making process a grazing ruminant faces, the links with primary and secondary productivity, and developments in methodologies.

TL;DR: Semistructured and field interviews demonstrated that rancher knowledge is valuable for providing detailed management histories and identifying management-defined states for state-and-transition models, and incorporated local knowledge into STM development may also increase communication between researchers and ranchers.

TL;DR: It was concluded that cultivars had little impact on chemical composition and ruminal degradability of spineless cactus and can be considered an excellent source of fermentable carbohydrates for grazing and nongrazing ruminants.

TL;DR: Although the multispecies biomass–size relationship was robust across the cespitose life-form, users should be cautious about applying the authors' equations to different locations, plant sizes, and population size-structures.

TL;DR: Nitrogen limitations on water-use efficiency of Opuntia have been overcome for the 120 million ha of semiarid northeastern Brazil with added nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization and full sibling crosses indicate spine heritability is probably single-gene controlled.

TL;DR: Findings suggest that, except following severe drought, prescribed burns conducted during late winter in grazed shortgrass steppe for objectives unrelated to livestock production can also have neutral or positive consequences for livestock.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated the effect of two grazing systems, "Continuous" and "Two-Paddocks Rest-Rotation" (TPRR), on vegetation cover from 1996 to 2006 in a semi-arid ecosystem of Argentina.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used surveys and interviews to document the weed control efforts of 202 ranchers and to identify practical limitations to their efficacy, such as incomplete information regarding control methods, complexity of weed control in heterogeneous landscapes, inconsistent application of methods, and lack of long-term planning for weed control.

TL;DR: Kang et al. as discussed by the authors showed that from east to west, meadow steppe, typical steppe and desert steppe zones occur in response to the decreasing moisture gradient.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined changes in grazing land use and rangeland biomass associated with the transition from the socialist collective to the current management systems in the Tsahiriin tal area of northern Mongolia.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assess the occurrence of livestock distribution-oriented grazing management in the spending and applied practices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the federal agency charged with assisting private landowners with implementation of US Department of Agriculture conservation programs.

TL;DR: In order to recover extraradical arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphal length in restored northern tallgrass prairies, at least three factors need to be given priority: achieving high levels of species and functional form richness, making sure that late successional C4 grasses are present, and making sure the seed mixture includes species that are characterized by high root to shoot ratio, high root density, and high nitrogen-use efficiency.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed current (1998-2000) cover and spatial integrity of the pajonal community, and compared it with a vegetation map made 50 yr ago (1956-1960).