Rangeland Ecology & Management最新文献

{"title":"Awareness and Social Interactions Influence Natural Resource Professionals’ Recommendations for Prescribed Fire Use","authors":"Urs P. Kreuter ,&nbsp;Carissa L. Wonkka ,&nbsp;Dirac Twidwell ,&nbsp;Morgan L. Treadwell ,&nbsp;N. Lee May","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Restoring fire in fire-adapted ecosystems is necessary to curtail woody plant expansion, enhance biodiversity, and reduce wildfire risks, yet prescribed fire is promoted less by federal agencies than other grassland conservation practices. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is the primary federal agency responsible for the delivery of rangeland conservation incentives to private landowners in the Great Plains. The degree to which NRCS employees choose to offer technical guidance on prescribed fire and whether they encourage landowners to consider financial support is not well-understood and varies among states. Our study explored the extent to which <em>prescribed fire awareness</em> and <em>social interaction</em> factors influence NRCS employees' knowledge and comfort level regarding prescribed fire and the frequency with which they recommend this conservation practice. The results show that while <em>prescribed fire awareness</em> influences knowledge, it was not significantly associated with frequency of prescribed fire recommendations. Rather, <em>social interaction</em> factors were significantly related to recommendation frequency; these included priority of prescribed fire education in their jobs, positive interactions with landowners regarding prescribed fire, and how often they were asked to deal with brush management. An important implication is that while better knowledge about prescribed fire is necessary, it is not sufficient for more frequent prescribed fire recommendation by natural resource professionals. Instead of focusing primarily on technical proficiency, federal agencies tasked with expanding the application of prescribed fire as an ecosystem restoration and wildfire mitigation tool should focus more on building stronger social networks through, for example, providing greater support of existing and new prescribed burning associations. Our findings also have implications for a national unified policy that supports the application of prescribed fire on privately-owned rangelands because negative fire culture at the federal level has an erosive effect on agencies’ willingness to assist landowners with prescribed fire applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Pages 89-98"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143761022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Water Quality for Livestock Across Oklahoma and Texas","authors":"Guilhermo F.S. Congio,&nbsp;Wyatt DeSpain,&nbsp;Eloá M. Araújo,&nbsp;Isabella C.F. Maciel","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ponds have been constructed by ranchers in Oklahoma and Texas to offer drinking water to livestock while helping to mitigate the consequences of extreme weather. In this study, the water composition of 72 ponds from ranches in Oklahoma and Texas was surveyed in October and November of 2023, with the objectives to: 1) assess pond water suitability for ruminant livestock consumption, and 2) examine bivariate and multivariate relationships among water quality parameters. Most of the parameters were well below the maximum acceptable upper levels. Even with average values within safe limits, pH, potassium, and manganese concentrations exceeded maximum upper levels in 6.9%, 18.1%, and 15.3% of ponds, respectively. A single pond had an unexpectedly high concentration of cadmium, which placed the average value above the maximum upper limit. Total coliform bacteria (TCB) and <em>Escherichia coli</em> were detected in 95.8% and 55.6% of the samples, respectively, and 39% of the samples exceeded the maximum upper level for TCB. Two major groups of intercorrelated variables identified by the Spearman correlation matrix were confirmed by principal component analysis. Most of the macroconstituents formed one positively intercorrelated group associated with electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids. The second group included several microconstituents that were positively correlated among themselves but negatively correlated with pH. Ensuring animals can access alternative safe water sources within pastures as well as rotating them among pastures throughout the ranch could potentially mitigate health issues when ponds present low-quality water.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Pages 83-88"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143724916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corrigendum to ‘Integrating Erosion Models Into Land Health Assessments to Better Understand Landscape Condition’ [Rangeland Ecology & Management, Volume 96, September 2024, Pages 32-46]","authors":"Brandi Wheeler ,&nbsp;Nicholas Webb ,&nbsp;Jason Williams ,&nbsp;Akasha Faist ,&nbsp;Brandon E. Edwards ,&nbsp;Jeffrey Herrick ,&nbsp;Nika Lepak ,&nbsp;Emily Kachergis ,&nbsp;Sarah McCord ,&nbsp;Beth Newingham ,&nbsp;Nicole Pietrasiak ,&nbsp;David Toledo","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.004","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Pages 76-77"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143697817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Simple Bioassay for Phytotoxic Concentrations of the Herbicide Indaziflam in Soil","authors":"Matthew J. Rinella,&nbsp;Elise M. Anderson,&nbsp;Kirsten A. Cook,&nbsp;Susan E. Bellows","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Indaziflam is a relatively new herbicide that kills newly germinated plants. There is interest in using indaziflam to improve rangeland restoration but applying it around the time of seeding risks damaging seeded plants. A better strategy may be using indaziflam long before seeding to deplete weed seedbanks and then seeding after it dissipates. Dissipation rates vary and are difficult to predict, so testing is needed to determine whether indaziflam remains present. The manufacturer-recommended test involves seeding small indaziflam-treated areas and then monitoring for herbicide damage. A disadvantage here is that rangeland seeding is failure-prone, so seeded species can fail to emerge whether indaziflam is present or not. Another disadvantage is that test areas cannot be reliably evaluated until many months to a year after seeding, by which time evaluations are obsolete. We sought a more reliable, rapid bioassay. We gathered soil samples from nontreated and indaziflam-treated plots in two experiments treated 565 d and 204 d earlier. In these samples in a greenhouse, we planted seeds of native grasses (<em>Elymus lanceolatus</em> [Scribn. &amp; J.G. Sm.] Gould and <em>Pascopyrum smithii</em> [Rydb.] Á. Löve) and an exotic invasive grass (<em>Bromus japonicus</em> Thunb.) and then measured plant responses. Plant densities and heights were similar across experiments. Indaziflam reduced native grass density 50% ± 8%, native grass height 74% ± 6% (mean ±SE), and exotic grass density and height nearly 100% (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05). The grasses that emerged from treated soil were discolored. Plant data were gathered 18 d after seeding, which illustrates that restoration managers can rapidly test for indaziflam in advance of seeding. To prevent being misled by natural variability among samples, we recommend testing ≥ five nontreated and treated soil samples. In addition to greenhouses, other well-illuminated areas held at 16–24°C are sufficient for testing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Pages 78-82"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143697622","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":"Breeding Season Survival and Habitat Use of Scaled Quail in Southeastern New Mexico","authors":"Kiera L. Kauffman ,&nbsp;David W. Londe ,&nbsp;Craig A. Davis ,&nbsp;Samuel D. Fuhlendorf ,&nbsp;Laura E. Goodman ,&nbsp;Christian A. Hagen ,&nbsp;R. Dwayne Elmore","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.02.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recent decades, woody plant cover has increased across many North American grasslands, with important implications for wildlife habitat availability. Scaled quail (<em>Callipepla squamata</em>), a declining ground-dwelling bird species, is known to use woody vegetation in arid and semiarid rangelands. However, it is unclear how vegetation changes due to woody encroachment affect scaled quail space use or if scaled quail perceive various species of woody cover differently. We examined breeding season habitat use and survival of scaled quail in 2018 and 2019 in southeastern New Mexico, USA, in a landscape with various species of shrubs, including mesquite (<em>Prosopis</em> L. spp.), which is thought to have increased over time. We used generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to compare vegetation characteristics between used quail locations and random (available) locations. We used resource selection functions (RSF) to examine selection for dominant vegetation cover types and anthropogenic features at the third order (within home ranges). We also investigated the influence of third-order selection and weather on quail survival (adult and brood). We found that both brooding and nonbrooding quail preferentially used locations with greater visual obstruction and high densities of tall (≥1.5 m) shrubs relative to availability. Within home ranges, scaled quail selected for proximity to mixed shrub cover, mesquite cover, and bare ground but demonstrated weak avoidance of herbaceous-dominated patches. However, third-order space use did not affect daily survival probability for either adult quail or broods. The only variable related to quail survival was daily average wind speed, which was positively associated with brood survival. Our findings highlight the importance of shrubs as a source of visual, thermal, and olfactory cover for scaled quail. In increasingly shrub-dominated communities, we recommend that scaled quail management plans prioritize practices that create spatially and compositionally diverse vegetation, including patches of tall, dense shrubs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Pages 63-75"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143571475","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":"The Social Fit of Conservation Policy on Working Landscapes","authors":"Jeremy Pittman ,&nbsp;Raphael Ayambire ,&nbsp;Kwaku Owusu Twum","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.01.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.01.009","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The working landscapes approach is valuable for extending conservation beyond the boundaries of strict protected areas. Conservation on working landscapes relies heavily on social acceptance and the alignment of conservation programs with local livelihoods. This paper examines farmers and ranchers’ preferences for different policy instruments and incentives that form programs for endangered species conservation in Canada's temperate grassland ecosystem—one of the most imperiled ecosystems on earth. Generally, farmers and ranchers are more concerned about the restrictions that programs impose than they are about the amount of funding the programs provide. Although, trust in the program delivery agent is also a key consideration. Overall, farmers and ranchers prefer instruments that maintain their property rights and provide continuous financial incentives. Additionally, they prefer shorter-term contracts to longer-term contracts or agreements in perpetuity. Many of their preferences extend beyond status quo conservation in Canada, which relies heavily on restrictions, non-continuous financial incentives (i.e., one-time payments), and long-term agreements. We need to augment the existing suite of programs to include flexible and adaptive options to maintain, improve and protect grasslands and the species that depend on them.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Pages 56-62"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143551854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecosystem Dynamics in Wet Heathlands: Spatial and Temporal Effects of Environmental Drivers on the Vegetation","authors":"Christian Damgaard","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.01.010","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.01.010","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To understand and estimate the effects of environmental drivers on temperate wet heathland vegetation, pin-point cover data from 42 Danish sites sampled during a 15-year period was regressed onto selected environmental variables. The effects of nitrogen deposition, soil pH, soil C–N ratio, soil type, precipitation, and grazing on the heathland vegetation was modeled in a spatiotemporal structural equation model using a Bayesian hierarchical model structure. The results suggest that the modeled environmental variables have various regulating effects on the large-scale spatial variation as well as plant community dynamics in wet heathlands. Most noticeably, nitrogen deposition and yearly precipitation had relatively large and opposite temporal effects on the characteristic species <em>Erica tetralix</em> and <em>Molinia caerulea</em>, where nitrogen deposition had negative effects on <em>E. tetralix</em> and positive effects on <em>M. caerulea</em>. The results of this study differed in important qualitative aspects from the findings of an earlier study where comparable data from a shorter time series (7 years instead of 15 years) were analyzed with a similar model, which suggests that relatively long time series are needed for studying ecosystem dynamics. Furthermore, it was concluded that the effect of nitrogen deposition on plant community dynamics mainly was through direct effects, whereas the effect of soil type on plant community dynamics was both direct and indirect mediated by the effect of soil type on soil pH. It was concluded that the modeled environmental variables are sufficient for predicting the <em>average</em> plant community dynamics of wet heathlands. However, caution is required if the fitted model is used for generating local ecological predictions as input to a process of generating adaptive management plans for specific wet heathland sites. Moreover, the results suggest that the ratio between the two species <em>E. tetralix</em> and <em>M. caerulea</em> may be used as an indicator for the conservation status of wet heathlands.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Pages 47-55"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143551853","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":"Seed-Yield Components, Reproductive Health, and Ecological Fitness of Six Snake River Wheatgrass Populations","authors":"T.A. Jones,&nbsp;T.A. Monaco,&nbsp;C.W. Rigby","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.01.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.01.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We compared six Snake River wheatgrass (<em>Elymus wawawaiensis</em> J. Carlson &amp; Barkw.) populations, including Destination Germplasm (released 2023), ‘Discovery’ (2007), and ‘Secar’ (1980), for seed-yield components, a reproductive-health score, ecological fitness, and persistence of fitness. In two consecutive years, we measured fecundity in a transplanted trial at North Park Farm (Hyde Park, UT) and survivorship (stand percentage) in a seeded trial at Nephi, UT. Across the six populations, seed yield per spike exceeded spike number in importance as a seed-yield component, seeds per plant exceeded seed mass, seeds per spike exceeded both spike number and seed mass, and seed area exceeded seed-specific mass. Compared to Discovery, from which it was derived, in 2022 (2023) at North Park, Destination displayed 61.1% (113.0%) greater seed yield per plant, 45.3% (81.6%) greater seed number per plant, and 14.4% (18.1%) greater seed mass (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05). Destination's greater seed yield than Discovery in 2022 was accounted for by increases in seed mass, spike number, and seeds per spike in roughly a 1:2:1 ratio, though the latter was not significant (<em>P</em> &gt; 0.05). At Nephi in 2023 (2024), Destination displayed a 65.8% (32.1%) stand, while Discovery's stand was much lower at 34.0% (14.1%). Destination's reproductive-health score (15 of 16 possible points) exceeded Secar's (4) and Discovery's (1). Relative ecological fitness (and its persistence) was 1.000 (1.000) for Destination, 0.302 (0.662) for Discovery, and 0.147 (0.711) for Secar. By all measured parameters, Destination shows greater promise for rangeland revegetation and restoration efforts than Secar or Discovery.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Pages 38-46"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143551852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial Board/Journal Info","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S1550-7424(25)00024-7","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1550-7424(25)00024-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"99 ","pages":"Page IFC"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143548873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Browsing Promotes Drought Resistance of Wyoming Big Sagebrush in a Working Rangeland","authors":"Ashley Tribitt ,&nbsp;Lauren M. Porensky ,&nbsp;Sally E. Koerner ,&nbsp;Kimberly J. Komatsu ,&nbsp;Kurt Reinhart ,&nbsp;Kevin Wilcox","doi":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.01.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rama.2025.01.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Droughts are projected to become more extreme and more frequent throughout the remainder of the 21st century. Our ability to sustain rangeland functioning relies on understanding the interactive effects of extreme drought and herbivory on vegetation. Here, we report on an experiment in northeast Wyoming, USA that simulated five levels of drought intercepting 0 %, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 99% of ambient rainfall for two years. These treatments were crossed with two grazing intensity (50%, 70% utilization) and two browsing intensity (background, +50% leader removal) treatments. We measured canopy volume changes, leader growth, and leaf water potential on a dominant shrub, <em>Artemisia tridentata</em> ssp. <em>wyomingensis</em> (Beetle &amp; Young), to test three major predictions: (1) canopy volume and leader growth decline with greater drought magnitude, (2) heavy grazing reduces the effects of drought magnitude, and (3) heavy browsing amplifies effects of drought magnitude. Under ambient browsing intensity, extreme drought caused Wyoming big sagebrush (Beetle &amp; Young) canopies to shrink. Interestingly, this effect went away in our heavy browsing treatment, despite overall negative effects of heavy browsing on shrub canopies and leader survival. We show that this drought-buffering effect may be driven by reduced leaf-level water stress in droughted, heavily browsed shrubs compared with droughted, ambiently browsed shrubs; this may have resulted from lower early-season leaf area leading to lower transpiration-related water loss. This potential mechanism for drought resistance in sagebrush steppe highlights the importance of maintaining intact food webs, despite perceived deleterious effects of herbivores for plant abundance and growth. To promote sustainability of sagebrush and other shrub-dominated ecosystems in face of extreme precipitation change, it may be necessary for land managers and policy makers to prioritize conservation of native herbivores within ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49634,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Ecology & Management","volume":"100 ","pages":"Pages 27-37"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143478711","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}