Rangeland Ecology & Management最新文献

{"title":"Spread of Forage Kochia in Invasive Annual Grass-Dominated Sagebrush Steppe","authors":"Kirk W. Davies ,&nbsp;Lauren N. Svejcar ,&nbsp;Danielle R. Clenet","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.04.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.04.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Forage kochia (<em>Kochia prostrata</em> (L.) Schrad.) is a nonnative, semi-shrub that has been seeded in the western US to improve forage and habitat value of nonnative grasslands, compete with invasive plants, and as green-strips to reduce wildfire spread. As with other introduced plants, there are concerns that it may spread from areas it has been seeded. Current information on the potential for forage kochia to spread are inconclusive and reported results contradict each other. Thus, empirical studies investigating its spread over long-term (10 yr) periods of time are needed to guide land management decision. We investigated the spread of “Snowstorm” forage kochia at 11 invasive annual grass-dominated plant communities in southeastern Oregon a decade after they had been seeded. The seeding boundary was permanently marked at the time of seeding to ensure accurate measurements of forage kochia spread. Forage kochia established beyond the seeding boundary at two of the 11 seeded sites. The maximum distance that forage kochia spread from the seeding boundary was 65 cm. These results suggest that forage kochia does not readily spread in annual grass-dominated sagebrush steppe and what little spread it exhibited was over a relatively short distance. The risk of forage kochia spreading and dominating annual grass-invaded rangelands, at least in this region, appears minimal. Additional investigations of forage kochia spread in different environments and across various plant communities is warranted to inform land managers of any potential risks. Multiple decades evaluations of its potential to spread would also be important. Even though additional research would be valuable, our results that forage kochia does not readily spread suggest it may be a relatively safe option to seed to diversify nonnative grasslands.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"101 ","pages":"Pages 89-92"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144169800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modeling Future Lehmann Lovegrass (Eragrostis lehmanniana) Distribution in Texas and Adjacent Areas","authors":"Juan G. García-Cancel ,&nbsp;Robert D. Cox","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.04.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.04.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lehmann lovegrass is non-native in North America and has recently been expanding its distribution with potentially detrimental effects for native plants and compounding ecological ramifications in the southwest United States. This grass has a low palatability for livestock and can create connecting fuel corridors in historically discontinuous landscapes, creating potential for novel fires. We collected publicly available geographic locations for this species in the eastern portion of its Texas range and developed maximum entropy models to determine potential range expansion through several climate change scenarios. We found that Lehmann lovegrass is likely to expand significantly in all projected models, suggesting concerns for species conservation and livestock production in the more arid areas of the study, which are expected to suffer more intense and prolonged drought episodes in the rest of the 21st century.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"101 ","pages":"Pages 80-88"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144116450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Managing for Flexibility on U.S. Forest Service Grazing Allotments","authors":"Susan Charnley ,&nbsp;Paige L. Stanley ,&nbsp;Abigail R. Kaminski","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.03.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.03.011","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Many ranchers in the western U.S. operate in a rangeland environment characterized by seasonal and annual fluctuations in water and forage, recurring drought, spreading invasive plants, increased wildfire, warming temperatures, shifting grazing seasons, and predators. Climate change is predicted to exacerbate these characteristics. Flexible grazing management can facilitate adaptation to western rangelands while meeting desired resource conditions, including on federal lands, where thousands of western ranchers graze livestock for at least part of the year. To investigate current strategies and opportunities for promoting flexibility on federal grazing allotments managed by the U.S. Forest Service, we employed a survey of agency rangeland management specialists in the western U.S. (Forest Service Regions 1-6). We received responses from 129 individuals across 53 national forest and grassland units. We found that numerous practices supporting flexible grazing management were already in use on at least some units, and that laws and policies governing grazing on Forest Service lands were perceived as a minor constraint to flexibility. The primary policy change desired is the ability to increase use of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) categorical exclusions for rangeland improvement projects. Survey respondents perceived the main barriers to increasing flexibility in grazing management as being internal to the Forest Service. Prominent among them are budget and staffing limitations, the NEPA process, lack of capacity to conduct ecological monitoring, and fear of litigation. Managers offered multiple ideas for overcoming these barriers while emphasizing the need for increased budgets and staffing to implement flexible management approaches. We found that greater investment in and prioritization of the Rangeland Management Program within the Forest Service could help address lack of program capacity and alleviate some constraints to flexible grazing management on allotments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"101 ","pages":"Pages 64-79"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144068163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Response of Cheatgrass and Other Vegetation to Proactive Management Using Two Consecutive Fall Herbicide Applications in High-Elevation Sagebrush Steppe","authors":"Colter Mumford ,&nbsp;Jane Mangold ,&nbsp;John Winnie Jr. ,&nbsp;Kyle A. Cutting ,&nbsp;Catherine Zabinski ,&nbsp;Lisa J. Rew","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nonnative plants are one of the foremost concerns to public and private land managers. To help guide managers, conservation and nonnative plant management methodologies have been blended to help prioritize management under the “defend the core” management framework. This approach emphasizes the need to control low-abundance infestations of nonnative plants before they become costly to manage and result in irreversible ecosystem alterations. However, few studies have explored the impacts and efficacy of nonnative plant management when target species occur in low abundance. Our study focused on one of the most prolific invaders in the western United States, cheatgrass (<em>Bromus tectorum</em>). We found that at the northern edge of cheatgrass's historical range, two consecutive fall applications of the herbicide imazapic (Plateau; BASF Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC) controlled low-abundance populations of cheatgrass for three or more years. However, cheatgrass reductions did not result in an increase in native plant richness, native plant abundance, or native perennial grass productivity, and ultimately, cheatgrass returned to pretreatment abundances in one of two areas. As a result, we conclude that imazapic can be an effective tool to control cheatgrass when it occurs at low abundance in high-diversity plant communities, i.e., “core” sagebrush areas, within the Middle Rockies ecoregion. To defend the core, we recommend herbicide as a tool within a broader adaptive and integrated management plan that includes alterations to factors that managers can control, e.g., stocking rates, timing, placement of grazing infrastructure, and off-road travel. Lastly, we suggest that monitoring should be conducted throughout the management process so managers can adapt to the real-time responses of plant communities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"101 ","pages":"Pages 43-53"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143922224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of Wildlife Grazing During Drought on Herbaceous Vegetation in a Semiarid Rangeland and Postdrought Recovery","authors":"Zacharias Martinus Smit ,&nbsp;Paulus Johannes Malan ,&nbsp;Gert Nicolaas Smit ,&nbsp;Francois Deacon","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.03.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.03.009","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rainfall is regarded as the primary determinant of vegetation dynamics in non-equilibrium semi-arid rangelands and mitigates the potential impacts of heavy grazing. In reality, the impact of grazing and rainfall on vegetation dynamics in these systems are far more complex. It is well documented that the combined effect of heavy grazing and drought conditions in semi-arid rangelands can be particularly impactful on herbaceous vegetation. In Witsand Nature Reserve, located in the southern Kalahari, vegetation was subjected to heavy grazing by wild herbivores (game species) for prolonged periods. The region also experienced the most severe drought recorded in the region in the last 60 years. A study was conducted to determine the extent that heavy grazing impacted the response of vegetation to rainfall variability. Furthermore, the applicability of non-equilibrium based models in this semi-arid rangeland was tested. The study also investigated the effects of heavy grazing by wildlife and compared it to the reported detrimental effects of overgrazing caused by livestock. The results found that rainfall was the main determinant of cover abundance and biomass changes, but did not affect species composition. Heavy grazing resulted in areas of low species diversity and the dominance of undesired annuals. Heavily grazed areas were also far more susceptible to drought conditions compared to lightly grazed areas. In lightly grazed areas, vegetation responses post-drought conformed to the description of non-equilibrium systems while heavily grazed sites did not. This was indicative of vegetation responses being closely coupled to the inherent resilience of the vegetation. Heavy grazing by wildlife resulted in the degraded state of the rangelands, as has also been found with livestock farming. The key difference of overgrazing caused by livestock and wildlife was concluded to be in the spatial extend of the impact. This is due to the management and behavioural differences between livestock and wildlife.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"101 ","pages":"Pages 54-63"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143929101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Monitoring of Fire-Affected Buildings and Air-Quality Assessment: A Remote-Sensing Study Using Ground-Based interferometric Radar and Google-Earth-Engine","authors":"Hao Zhang ,&nbsp;Xiangtian Zheng ,&nbsp;Bushra Ghaffar ,&nbsp;Abdul Quddoos ,&nbsp;Iram Naz ,&nbsp;Rana Waqar Aslam ,&nbsp;Zoia Fatima ,&nbsp;M. Abdullah-Al-Wadud ,&nbsp;Rana Muhammad Zulqarnain","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.03.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.03.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the environmental and structural impacts of crop and rangeland residue burning in Punjab during April and May 2023, utilizing ground-based interferometric radar alongside atmospheric and land use datasets. The radar system was employed to monitor structural deformations in buildings affected by fire, providing critical insights into the broader impacts of the fires on infrastructure. Multiple ground-based interferometric radars for distributed monitoring can effectively obtain the three-dimensional deformation components of structural targets in real fire scenes. The monitoring results conform to the displacement variation law of existing portal steel frame structures during fire deformation, and can provide effective data support for building structure collapse warning under fire. This approach offers a novel method for assessing the structural integrity of buildings during and after fire events, complementing traditional environmental monitoring. Environmental data show a marked increase in atmospheric pollutants such as NO₂, CH₄, and CO in May 2023, directly linked to the residue burning. Active fire data from FIRMS and MODIS revealed a 98% increase in fire events compared to April, while land surface temperature analysis showed a rise of 1.54%, with affected areas reaching up to 45.9°C. LULC analysis indicated a 23.3% decrease in cropland and rangeland areas, reflecting extensive land clearing. These findings highlight the urgent need for sustainable agricultural management and policies to mitigate the environmental and infrastructural damage caused by residue burning in Punjab.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"101 ","pages":"Pages 28-42"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143899546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial Board/Journal Info","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S1550-7424(25)00053-3","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1550-7424(25)00053-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Page IFC"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143906272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating High-Frequency, Moderate-Resolution Satellite Imagery for Assessment and Monitoring of Invasive Annual Grasses","authors":"Chloe M. Mattilio ,&nbsp;Octave Lepinard ,&nbsp;Jaycie N. Arndt ,&nbsp;Andrea De Stefano ,&nbsp;Walker Billings ,&nbsp;Brian A. Mealor","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2024.10.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2024.10.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Invasive annual grasses (IAGs) represent an unprecedented threat to native plant communities in rangeland ecosystems, displacing native vegetation, altering fire regimes, affecting wildlife species that depend on native perennials for food and shelter, and causing immense economic costs. Remote sensing allows the monitoring of IAGs through multispectral imagery, using phenological differences to separate invasive species from native vegetation. Our research goal was to evaluate the use of high-frequency, moderate-resolution multispectral Planet imagery and machine learning in detecting IAG species – specifically ventenata (<em>Ventenata dubia</em> [Leers] Coss.), medusahead (<em>Taeniatherum caput-medusae</em> [L.] Nevski), cheatgrass (<em>Bromus tectorum</em> L.), and Japanese brome (<em>Bromus japonicus</em> Thunb.). Our research questions were: 1) do IAG species groupings influence remote detection rates? and 2) can high spatio-temporal resolution imagery accurately identify IAG response to large-scale herbicide applications? Ventenata was best represented in our invasive grass training data and by classification models and accuracy indices. Models detected differences in IAG presence likelihood in pastures treated aerially with indaziflam at 73 g · ai · ha⁻¹ and untreated pastures, even in treated locations where no ground mapping took place. This suggests the possibility of extending these invasive grass prediction models beyond ground-mapped training areas in similar mixed-grass prairie environments to increase the efficiency of IAG monitoring.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Pages 140-149"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143906270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Atlantic Forest Gross Primary Productivity Dynamics: Remote Sensing and Micrometeorological Perspective","authors":"Romário O. de Santana ,&nbsp;Rafael C. Delgado ,&nbsp;Henderson S. Wanderley ,&nbsp;Renato S. de Souza ,&nbsp;Marcos G. Pereira ,&nbsp;Lúcia Helena C. dos Anjos","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.03.012","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.03.012","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Atlantic Forest, a biodiversity hotspot and critical carbon sink, is under threat from deforestation and fragmentation. This study evaluates gross primary productivity (GPP) in the Itatiaia National Park (PNI), one of Brazil's oldest conservation units, using 19 years of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer remote sensing data (2001–2020) and 3 years of micrometeorological tower data (2018–2020). GPP was estimated through models integrating vegetation indices (Enhanced Vegetation Index [EVI] and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and validated against FLUXNET data. Seasonal analysis revealed higher GPP values during the rainy season, peaking at 8.07 g C m⁻² day⁻¹ in September, while agricultural areas exhibited the highest GPP, with annual averages above 9.00 g C m⁻² day⁻¹. Temporal trends indicated a decline in GPP across all land use classes, with the most pronounced reduction in vegetative refuges (<em>Z_mk</em> = −1.65, <em>P</em> &lt; 0.10). Among the models tested, the GPP equation using EVI and PAR yielded the highest accuracy (<em>R</em>² = 0.49, <em>d</em> = 0.89, standard error of estimate = 1.91). The study highlights the effectiveness of remote sensing and micrometeorological data in monitoring ecosystem health and underscores the role of conservation units in carbon sequestration. These findings support integrating protected areas into carbon market initiatives, emphasizing their value for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"101 ","pages":"Pages 1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143879375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"15-Yr Biomass Production in Semiarid Nebraska Sandhills Grassland: Part 2-Response to Seasonal Precipitation and Temperature","authors":"Biquan Zhao ,&nbsp;Mitchell B. Stephenson ,&nbsp;Tala Awada ,&nbsp;Jerry D. Volesky ,&nbsp;Brian Wardlow ,&nbsp;Yuzhen Zhou ,&nbsp;Yeyin Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.03.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.03.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Aboveground plant biomass production can exhibit varied responses to within- and across-season weather variability. Using a long-term data set (2007–2021) collected annually from grazing exclosures in a Sandhills grassland in Nebraska, USA, our part-1 paper reported 15 yr of changes in grassland plant production. In this paper, we modeled seasonal weather impacts on total plant biomass and biomass of three plant functional groups using stepwise (forward) linear regression. Biomass data were measured for the following three periods each year: early season (April to midJune), late season (midJune to midAugust), and full season (April to midAugust). Weather variables, derived from precipitation and temperature, were categorized into amount, index, and pattern variables. The temporal variability of each weather variable was quantified across four time periods: three within-season conditions (early season, late-season, and full-season periods of the current year) and an across-season condition (the full-season period of the previous year). The results indicated that plant production responses varied among functional groups and across time periods. Late-season C₄-grass production significantly increased under wetter summer conditions (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05). A dry growing season in the previous year tended to decrease subsequent-year early season C₃-grass production (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05), and a warmer growing season in the previous year was likely to enhance subsequent-year forb production (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.001). Total plant production exhibited more complex seasonal patterns, primarily driven by the differences in individual plant functional groups during specific growing periods. This complexity reflects the collective responses of mixed plant functional groups to weather variability. Understanding these complex relationships is fundamental to predicting grassland plant production as well as developing and implementing appropriate grazing strategies that adapt to changing climate variability. This study will ultimately support the enhancement of ecological sustainability and resilience of the Sandhills semiarid grassland ecosystem.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"101 ","pages":"Pages 13-27"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143879377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}