Herder Observations of Rangeland Change in Mongolia: Indicators,Causes, and Application to Community-Based Management

Local observations of ecological change are important in developing tools for rangeland management and filling in gaps where quantitative data are lacking. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is a potential source of information that can complement scientific knowledge. It may also allow policy makers and scientists to suggest responses that will be locally relevant, and therefore effective on the ground. We conducted 40 surveys with the use of closed-ended questionnaires followed by open-ended qualitative questions with herders in two soum (administrative districts), located in the steppe and forest steppe of Mongolia. Respondents were asked about their observations of rangeland change and its causes in the last 20 yr. Across the study areas, a strong majority (75%) of all herders reported that rangeland condition was much worse than 20 yr ago. Herders in both soum reported increases in undesirable plant species, declines in species richness, and the disappearance or decreasing abundance of specific desirable plant species. Comparing the two soum, more herders in the forest-steppe site (90%) reported that rangeland condition was much worse than reported by herders in the steppe site (65%). In qualitative responses to open-ended questions, herders identified multiple indicators of and causes behind degradation, including very heavy grazing. In a large, sparsely populated country like Mongolia, herders' observations may serve as an early warning of rangeland change, provide insights into causes of change, and identify key uncertainties. Community-based rangeland management organizations (CBRMs) could help to translate herder observations into action by participating in formal monitoring based on herder-identified indicators and implementing changes in management in response to observed change. However, herders cannot address all issues that might be contributing to troubling ecological trends without higher-level policy coordinating rangeland monitoring and herder movements at regional and national scales.     

Knowledge in Practice: Documenting Rancher Local Knowledge in Northwest Colorado

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. We interviewed 26 ranchers from a single watershed to understand how ranchers acquire their knowledge, document what they know about rangeland ecosystems, and explore how this knowledge varies within the ranching community. This exploratory study offers insight into the types of knowledge ranchers possess without attempting to survey all rancher knowledge or ascribe this set of knowledge to all ranchers. We identified three major knowledge categories in interviews: active knowledge applied to management decisions, embedded knowledge from living in place, and integrative knowledge that links ecological, economic, and social aspects of rangeland systems. We found rancher knowledge complemented scientific knowledge in its ability to provide site-specific information on management practices and ecological responses, and insight regarding potential indicators of rangeland health. Knowledge varies widely within the ranching community, and knowledgeable ranchers are readily identified through community referrals. Ranchers gained their knowledge primarily through experience and social interactions, and this knowledge is an untapped source of context-specific information. We did find that economic constraints, social norms, and proximity to the system might limit application of knowledge to practice. There is also a danger that this accumulated and dynamic knowledge base will be lost over the next generation, as many family ranches are sold to new ranchers or for nonranching uses. Based on our findings, we propose that more dialogue within ranching communities and between ranchers and scientists may lead to more sustainable land management practices and effective outreach efforts, and could expand and strengthen the informal social networks through which much rancher knowledge is shared and on which the social sustainability of ranching communities depends.     

Land Manager Perceptions of Opportunities and Constraints of Using Livestock to Manage Invasive Plants

The ecological impacts of rangeland invasive plants have been widely documented, but the social aspects of how managers perceive their impacts and options for control have been relatively understudied, and successful, long-term invasive plant management programs are limited. In particular, though a growing body of research has identified livestock grazing as the most practical and economical tool for controlling invasive rangeland plants, to date there has not been a systematic assessment of the challenges and opportunities producers and other land managers see as most important when considering using livestock to manage invasive plants. In-depth, semistructured interviews with California annual grass and hardwood rangeland ranchers, public agency personnel, and nongovernmental organization land managers were used to address this need. Although interviewees broadly agreed that grazing could be an effective management tool, differences emerged among the three groups in how they prioritized invasive plant control, the amount of resources devoted to control, and the grazing strategies employed. Interviewees identified key challenges that hinder broad-scale adoption of control efforts, including the potential incompatibility of invasive plant management and livestock production; a lack of secure, long-term access to land for many ranchers; incomplete or insufficient information, such as the location or extent of infestations or the economic impacts to operations of invasive plants; and the temporal and spatial variability of the ecosystem. By identifying key socioecological drivers that influence the degree to which livestock are used to manage invasive plants, this study was able to identify potential pathways to move our growing understanding of the science of targeted grazing into practice. Research, extension, and grazing programs that address these barriers should help increase the extent to which we can effectively use livestock to slow and perhaps reverse the spread of some of our most serious rangeland weeds.     

An Assessment of State-and-Transition Models: Perceptions Following Two Decades of Development and Implementation

State-and-transition models (STMs) are being developed for many areas in the United States and represent an important tool for assessing and managing public and private rangelands. Substantial resources have been invested in model development, yet minimal efforts have been made to evaluate the utility of STMs for rangeland assessment and management. We interviewed 47 rangeland professionals, equally divided between managers and researchers, in four ecoregions to determine their perceptions of the purpose, development, and strengths and weaknesses of STMs to assess the status of the STM framework. Our analysis identified three primary perspectives regarding the purpose of STMs: a decision-making tool for land managers, a means to represent the complex dynamics of rangeland ecosystems, and an effective communication tool. These diverse views of STM purposes were associated with differing perspectives concerning model development that identified five major issues in need of further development and refinement: 1) the relative importance of management practices and ecological processes in driving transitions, 2) the criteria used to define thresholds, 3) the appropriate level of model complexity, 4) the respective roles of expert knowledge and ecological data in model development, and 5) processes for model review and revision. We recommend greater dialogue among researchers and managers to further clarify STM terminology and develop standard protocols for model development and validation. Mechanisms are critically needed to assure peer review and revision of existing models so that STMs are continually updated to reflect current understanding of rangeland dynamics.     

Using Participatory Workshops to Integrate State-and-Transition Models Created With Local Knowledge and Ecological Data

State-and-transition models (STMs) depict current understanding of vegetation dynamics and are being created for most ecological sites in the United States. Model creation is challenging due to inadequate long-term data, and most STMs rely on expert knowledge. There has been little systematic documentation of how different types of knowledge have been integrated in STMs, or what these distinct knowledge sources offer. We report on a series of participatory workshops where stakeholders helped to integrate STMs developed for the same region using local knowledge and ecological field data. With this exploratory project, we seek to understand what kinds of information local knowledge and ecological field data can provide to STMs, assess workshops as a method of integrating knowledge and evaluate how different stakeholders perceive models created with different types of knowledge. Our analysis is based on meeting notes, comments on draft models, and workshop evaluation questionnaires. We conclude that local knowledge and ecological data can complement one another, providing different types of information at different spatial and temporal scales. Participants reported that the workshop increased their knowledge of STMs and vegetation dynamics, suggesting that engaging potential model users in developing STMs is an effective outreach and education approach. Agency representatives and ranchers expressed the value of both the local knowledge and data-driven models. Agency participants were likely to critique or add components based on monitoring data or prior research, and ranchers were more likely to add states and transitions based on personal experience. As STM development continues, it is critical that range professionals think systematically about what different forms of data might contribute to model development, how we can best integrate existing knowledge and data to create credible and useful models, and how to validate the resulting STMs.     

Greater Sage-Grouse and Severe Winter Conditions: Identifying Habitat for Conservation

Developing sustainable rangeland management strategies requires solution-driven research that addresses ecological issues within the context of regionally important socioeconomic concerns. A key sustainability issue in many regions of the world is conserving habitat that buffers animal populations from climatic variability, including seasonal deviation from long-term precipitation or temperature averages, and that can establish an ecological bottleneck by which the landscape-level availability of critical resources becomes limited. We integrated methods to collect landscape-level animal occurrence data during severe winter conditions with estimation and validation of a resource selection function, with the larger goal of developing spatially explicit guidance for rangeland habitat conservation. The investigation involved greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) that occupy a landscape that is undergoing human modification for development of energy resources. We refined spatial predictions by exploring how reductions in the availability of sagebrush (as a consequence of increasing snow depth) may affect patterns of predicted occurrence. Occurrence of sage-grouse reflected landscape-level selection for big sagebrush, taller shrubs, and favorable thermal conditions and avoidance of bare ground and anthropogenic features. Refinement of spatial predictions showed that important severe winter habitat was distributed patchily and was constrained in spatial extent (7–18% of the landscape). The mapping tools we developed offer spatially explicit guidance for planning human activity in ways that are compatible with sustaining habitat that functions disproportionately in population persistence relative to its spatial extent or frequency of use. Increasingly, place-based, quantitative investigations that aim to develop solutions to landscape sustainability issues will be needed to keep pace with human-modification of rangeland and uncertainty associated with global climate change and its effects on animal populations.     

Range Education in the 21st Century: Striking the Balance to Maintain a Relevant Profession

Range science education programs strive to keep pace with the changing needs of the range profession and to ensure that range graduates are knowledgeable, skilled, and able to address contemporary, complex problems unique to rangelands. Today, range education programs face many challenges in our ability to meet the demands and needs of our profession and society. First, our capacity to meet the demands for range science graduates has been diminished by 1) elimination or restructuring of academic rangeland science programs, 2) reduced numbers of range-trained faculty teaching rangeland courses, and 3) limited public awareness of degrees and careers in rangeland science and management. Second, range education programs are challenged to strike a balance between retaining traditional basics and modernizing curriculum to include contemporary concepts and technologies. Third, range science graduates need to understand the current social, political, and economic context of resource management, including global change issues that are of paramount concern to society. We propose multiple approaches to meet these challenges: 1) perform needs assessments with diverse stakeholders to ensure that range education programs are relevant to society's needs and address the future of the profession; 2) find innovative approaches to strike the educational balance between fundamental concepts, practical field experiences, and mastery of technical and interpersonal skills; 3) collaborate across institutional boundaries to share educational resources and incorporate course formats that meet the diverse needs of today's students; 4) examine and align professional qualifications, educational standards, and curriculum by defining learning outcomes and core competencies needed by well-trained range professionals; and 5) communicate the unique features of the rangeland profession that solidify its position among the disciplinary pillars of natural resource science and management.     

The landscape of North American Rangeland Social Science: A Systematic Map

Rangeland scientists have made substantial progress in understanding ecological dynamics of rangelands, but the social factors have received less attention in North America. A body of North American rangeland social science has developed over the past 4 decades, with the number of studies increasing each decade. However, these works have not been systematically reviewed to assess the state of rangeland social science in North America or to identify research gaps. We developed a systematic map to characterize this literature by 1) the research objectives and questions; 2) who was studied; 3) where research was conducted; 4) which theories, methodologies, and methods were applied; and 5) how these research characteristics have changed from 1970 to 2017. We found that most (81%) North American rangeland social science has studied ranchers, farmers, and/or landowners, with limited consideration of other stakeholders (e.g., ranch workers, youth). Although age (43% of the studies) and education (40%) are often considered, other attributes/identities, such as gender (28%) and race or ethnicity (18%), are less frequently included. The most commonly used research method is surveys (52%), and much of rangeland social science does not make explicit connections to either specific methodological or theoretical frameworks. The limited application of theories, methodologies, and a lack of diverse methods has potentially constrained who and what have been studied in North America. The limited consideration of gender and race in rangeland social science is echoed in the limited number of studies that have accounted for the effects of social identities and power relationships on people’s connection to and management of rangelands. This review highlights the need for more North American research that 1) is informed by social theory, 2) applies a diversity of methods, 3) considers a broader diversity of stakeholders, and 4) draws from multiple social science disciplinary traditions.     

辽宁省草原资源管理系统的设计与应用

为提高辽宁省草原资源管理水平, 实现草原数字化与信息化管理, 以辽宁省1∶1 000 000、1∶250 000和1∶50 000比例尺的电子地图为基础本底数据, 结合实地调查的草原GPS数据和草原属性数据建立了辽宁省草原地理信息数据库。通过综合运用地理信息、数据库和网络信息技术, 采用B/S辅以C/S架构, 构建了包含辽宁省草原资源、属性、工程、灾害、监测、知识、文献和报表等信息的辽宁省草原资源管理系统, 为辽宁省草原管理提供了系统、高效、便捷和直观的网络信息交互平台。     

Spatially Explicit Representation of State-and-Transition Models

The broad-scale assessment of natural resource conditions (e.g., rangeland health, restoration needs) requires knowledge of their spatial distribution. We argue that creating a database that links state-and-transition models (STMs) to spatial units is a valuable management tool for structuring ground-based observations, management planning for landscapes, and for housing information on the responses of land areas to management actions. To address this need, we introduce a multifactor classification system based on ecological sites and STMs that is directly linked to recent concepts of vegetation dynamics in rangelands. We describe how this classification was used as a basis for creating a spatial database and maps of ecological states. We provide an example of how the classification and mapping has been applied in over 1.2 million ha of public rangelands in southern New Mexico using aerial photo interpretation supplemented with existing inventory data and rapid field assessments. The resulting state map has been used by the Bureau of Land Management: 1) to design landscape-level shrub control efforts, 2) to structure and report district-wide rangeland health assessments, and 3) to evaluate locations for energy development. We conclude by discussing options for the development of state maps and their current limitations, including the use of satellite imagery and concepts for defining states. We argue that cataloging ecological states in a spatial context has clear benefits for rangeland managers because it connects STM concepts to specific land areas. State mapping provides a means to generate and store spatially explicit data resulting from tests of the propositions in STMs and conservation practices.     

景观生态界面综合研究及展望

本文通过景观生态界面概念及研究方法的介绍,对不同生态系统和尺度下的生态界面结构和功能研究进行阐述,内容主要涉及:生态界面理论框架、界面类型分类、界面潜在生态功能研究以及不同生态系统、生态过程和尺度中统计学和模拟方法的应用,旨在为提高景观生态界面综合研究水平提供参考,并对未来生态界面研究进行展望。     

Contrasting Preference for Grassland Landscapes Among Population Groups in the Central and Southern Great Plains

Recent opposition to the rangeland management paradigm of achieving uniform, moderate grazing across entire landscapes has emerged because heterogeneity is recognized as the foundation of biodiversity, ecosystem resilience, and multifunctionality of agricultural landscapes. Agriculture production goals appear to drive the traditional rangeland management focus on homogeneity and uniformity. To determine if preference for homogeneity is a broadly applicable social construct or one limited to agricultural producers, we determined preferences for heterogeneous grassland landscapes expressed by three study populations—managers of working lands (ranchers), natural resource professionals (grassland/rangeland specialists), and the general population living in rangeland regions within the US Great Plains. We distributed surveys that included photographs of landscapes and patterned images to assess preference. Preference for heterogeneous landscapes among ranchers, natural resource professionals, and the general population in our study area were generally consistent with the central paradigm of managing rangeland for homogeneity. However, we discovered that people, across geographic location and population group, clearly prefer heterogeneous patterned images to homogeneous patterned images. This suggests that preference for homogeneity is acquired.     

Fire,Plant Invasions,and Erosion Events on Western Rangelands

Millions of hectares of rangeland in the western United States have been invaded by annual and woody plants that have increased the role of wildland fire. Altered fire regimes pose significant implications for runoff and erosion. In this paper we synthesize what is known about fire impacts on rangeland hydrology and erosion, and how that knowledge advances understanding of hydrologic risks associated with landscape scale plant community transitions and altered fire regimes. The increased role of wildland fire on western rangeland exposes landscapes to amplified runoff and erosion over short- and long-term windows of time and increases the risk of damage to soil and water resources, property, and human lives during extreme events. Amplified runoff and erosion postfire are a function of storm characteristics and fire-induced changes in site conditions (i.e., ground cover, soil water repellency, aggregate stability, and surface roughness) that define site susceptibility. We suggest that overall postfire hydrologic vulnerability be considered in a probabilistic framework that predicts hydrologic response for a range of potential storms and site susceptibilities and that identifies the hydrologic response magnitudes at which damage to values-at-risk are likely to occur. We identify key knowledge gaps that limit advancement of predictive technologies to address the increased role of wildland fire across rangeland landscapes. Our review of literature suggests quantifying interactions of varying rainfall intensity and key measures of site susceptibility, temporal variability in strength/influence of soil water repellency, and spatial scaling of postfire runoff and erosion remain paramount areas for future research to address hydrologic effects associated with the increased role of wildland fire on western rangelands.     

社会资本对牧户参与草原生态治理意愿的影响——以甘南州黄河水源补给区为例

甘南黄河水源补给区是典型的生态系统脆弱区,其生态安全对黄河流域乃至全国生态安全具有重要的战略意义.牧户的主动参与和有力监督是草原生态保护的基础,基于188户牧户调研数据,运用双栏模型分析了社会资本对牧户参与草原生态治理意愿的影响,结果表明:1)牧户具有较高的草原生态治理参与意愿,但因"搭便车"心理,内在意愿转变为外在行...     

基于WebGIS的河南省草地资源信息化系统的设计与实现

本文通过对河南省草地资源清查工作成果的分析和处理,并基于WebGIS技术、数据库技术和ASP.NET技术构建B/S多层架构应用系统的思想,开发了集草地数据信息化管理、草地数据地图可视化、草地基础地理信息服务和应用、指标数据统计和分析、文档资料管理等功能于一体的草地资源信息管理系统,为河南省加强草地生态保护建设,促进草地合理开发利用,提高草地精细化管理水平提供信息基础和决策支持。     

高寒草场荒漠化及其控制技术

对高寒干旱区草场荒漠化特征和引发机理的总结，查明了荒漠化草场奶穹的主要原因是气候巨变、不合理农垦、过牧及鼠害等。通过建立牧业生态户，对严重退化草场围封，进行人工补植优良牧草，灭除不可食毒、杂草，消灭鼠害，暖棚养畜；并将木本植物引入草场，设置灌木、半灌木绿篱，探求时空立体型牧场等多项试验措施。经4年治理，提出一套以牧业生态户为单元，防止高寒草场荒漠化，解决青藏高原雪灾问题的畜牧业可持续发展的路子和模式。     

Behavioral and Ecological Implications of Bunched,Rotational Cattle Grazing in East African Savanna Ecosystem

Rangelands and the wildlife and livestock they support are critical to human livelihoods, but rangeland ecosystems increasingly suffer from overgrazing and degradation. Planned grazing, a strategy that commonly involves time-controlled rotations of high-density (bunched) groups of cattle across a pasture, is marketed as a method to enhance rangeland health and lessen livestock impacts. However, the behavioral mechanisms underlying any potential rangeland improvements resulting from rotational, high-density planned grazing have rarely been examined. To investigate these mechanisms, we compared planned grazing with conventional continuous grazing management in a savanna ecosystem in Kenya. We surveyed cattle grazing behavior, measured changes in vegetation characteristics through surveys conducted before and after cattle grazing, and measured native ungulate abundance following grazing using camera traps. Stocking rates were held constant across treatments, resulting in a commensurate decline in total foliar hits per pin (a proxy for vegetative biomass) across treatments. Planned grazing management altered cattle behavior and reduced grazing selectivity by restricting movements, causing cattle to walk more slowly while grazing and to take more bites per step. Vegetation survey results supported this finding: cattle in the planned grazing treatment ate significantly more Pennisetum grasses (typically avoided because of their unpalatability), creating the opportunity for regrowth of more palatable species after seasonal rains. We also documented significantly higher zebra presence in planned grazing plots after cattle grazing, likely due to increased relative abundance of more palatable grass species. This investigation of grazing behavior, and specifically decreased grazing selectivity as a mechanism underpinning the benefits of planned grazing, shows that when conducted at appropriate stocking densities, planned grazing has the potential to help mitigate rangeland degradation and improve rangeland sustainability for both livestock and wildlife in pastoral African savanna ecosystems.     

The Elusive Promise of Social-Ecological Approaches to Rangeland Management

Resilience-based frameworks for social-ecological systems (SES) are prominent in contemporary scientific literatures, but critics suggest these approaches may promise more than they deliver. A fundamental premise underlying the SES approach is that, because of the scope of human activities worldwide, we cannot separate ecological and human elements of nature when tackling our biggest challenges. Proponents argue that managers should not seek optimal solutions, but instead build capacity to adapt and transform systems to thrive within unpredicted or novel ecological states. If the range profession is to take advantage of resilience ideas, we need better tools and concepts for understanding interconnected systems. SES research and management strategies will pose practical difficulties, most notably finding ways to bridge differences between the methods of social and natural sciences. Also needed are institutions that involve scientists, managers, and stakeholders in analysis and informed governance, thereby addressing a key tenet of “resilience thinking” while accounting for the “wicked” nature of problems that, like many facing rangeland managers today, do not have a single best solution but only more or less feasible responses. In hopes of guiding managers toward more feasible options, I offer a model of rangeland social-ecological systems describing how management choices are influenced by, and may affect, human and natural systems at local and regional-to-global scales through both top-down and bottom-up processes.     

How Can Science Be General,Yet Specific? The Conundrum of Rangeland Science in the 21st Century

A critical challenge for range scientists is to provide input to management decisions for land units where little or no data exist. The disciplines of range science, basic ecology, and global ecology use different perspectives and approaches with different levels of detail to extrapolate information and understanding from well-studied locations to other land units. However, these traditional approaches are expected to be insufficient in the future as both human and climatic drivers change in magnitude and direction, spatial heterogeneity in land cover and its use increases, and rangelands become increasingly connected at local to global scales by flows of materials, people, and information. Here we argue that to overcome limitations of each individual discipline, and to address future rangeland problems effectively, scientists will need to integrate these disciplines successfully and in novel ways. The objectives of this article are 1) to describe the background, historical development, and limitations of current approaches employed by these disciplines; 2) to describe an integrated approach that takes advantage of the strengths and minimizes the weaknesses of these individual approaches; and 3) to discuss the challenges and implications of this integrated approach to the future of range science when climate and human drivers are nonstationary. This integration will be critical for applying range science to the management of specific land units; will contribute to and benefit from the development of general ecological principles; and will assist in addressing problems facing society at regional, continental, and global scales.