Ecologies of Scale: Multifunctionality Connects Conservation and Agriculture across Fields, Farms, and Landscapes

McGranahan, Devan Allen

doi:10.3390/land3030739

Cited by 34 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 253 publications

(271 reference statements)

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“…An alternative paradigm is based on spatial and temporal heterogeneity in disturbance regimes to promote a breadth of ecosystem services in addition to forage and animal protein production (Fuhlendorf, Engle, Elmore, Limb, & Bidwell, 2012). Patch burn-grazing is the application of spatially discrete prescribed fire to establish a fire-grazing interaction with livestock, which creates an ecologically analogous pattern of disturbance in working landscapes (McGranahan, 2014). In practice, large grazing units of a ranch are conceived of as landscapes in which discrete patches are burned each year to create high-quality forage for grazing livestock (Toombs, Derner, Augustine, Krueger, & Gallagher, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moderate patchiness optimizes heterogeneity, stability, and beta diversity in mesic grassland

McGranahan

Hovick

Elmore

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Heterogeneous disturbance patterns are fundamental to rangeland conservation and management because heterogeneity creates patchy vegetation, broadens niche availability, increases compositional dissimilarity, and enhances temporal stability of aboveground biomass production. Pyrodiversity is a popular concept for how variability in fire as an ecological disturbance can enhance heterogeneity, but mechanistic understanding of factors that drive heterogeneity is lacking. Mesic grasslands are examples of ecosystems in which pyrodiversity is linked strongly to broad ecological processes such as trophic interactions because grazers are attracted to recently burned areas, creating a unique ecological disturbance referred to as the fire–grazing interaction, or pyric herbivory. But several questions about the application of pyric herbivory remain: What proportion of a grazed landscape must burn, or how many patches are required, to create sufficient spatial heterogeneity and reduce temporal variability? How frequently should patches burn? Does season of fire matter? To bring theory into applied practice, we studied a gradient of grazed tallgrass prairie landscapes created by different sizes, seasons, and frequencies of fire, and used analyses sensitive to nonlinear trends. The greatest spatial heterogeneity and lowest temporal variability in aboveground plant biomass, and greatest plant functional group beta diversity, occurred in landscapes with three to four patches (25%–33% of area burned) and three‐ to four‐year fire return intervals. Beta diversity had a positive association with spatial heterogeneity and negative relationship with temporal variability. Rather than prescribing that these results constitute best management practices, we emphasize the flexibility offered by interactions between patch number and fire frequency for matching rangeland productivity and offtake to specific management goals. As we observed no differences across season of fire, we recommend future research focus on fire frequency within a moderate proportion of the landscape burned, and consider a wider seasonal burn window.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moderate patchiness optimizes heterogeneity, stability, and beta diversity in mesic grassland

McGranahan

Hovick

Elmore

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Multifunctionality can be found at the farm-, landscape or regional level (McGranahan 2014). Based on the research question, the chosen grain size of analysis influences the detected type of multifunctionality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multifunctionality at what scale? A landscape multifunctionality assessment for the European Union under conditions of land use change

Stürck¹,

Verburg²

2016

Landscape Ecol

129

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Context The provision of multiple ecosystem services (ES) within a landscape is commonly referred to as landscape multifunctionality. Modifying landscapes to increase multifunctionality and reduce trade-offs with concurrent services bears the potential to enhance sustainability in human-dominated landscapes. Assessing landscape multifunctionality is thus crucial for land management and planning, but lack of a clear definition and operationalization of multifunctionality impedes comparisons of different study results. Objectives We want to address how elements of the study design affect results of multifunctionality assessments. Furthermore, we want to quantify future multifunctionality in the European Union (EU) and indicate the role of land use change and land use diversity on multifunctionality. Methods We analyzed diverging scenarios depicting land use change in the EU between 2000 and 2040 for their effects on landscape multifunctionality. We tested different multifunctionality indicators at various spatial scales based on the modelling of 12 ES and biodiversity indicators. Results Particularly the analysis scale determines the interpretation of landscape multifunctionality. Coldspots identified by different indicators are in higher agreement than hotspots. We could not confirm links between land use diversity and landscape multifunctionality. While, at EU scale, multifunctionality slightly increases in future scenarios, agricultural intensification and (peri-)urban growth pose large threats to multifunctional landscapes. Conclusions The choice of indicator and analysis scale strongly determine possible interpretations of the results. Rather than focusing on the impacts of land use change on multifunctionality, it is recommended to base land use policy on the impacts of locationspecific change on ES supply and demands.

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Section: Law 3: Everything Is Always Changingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Implying Commoner's third law of ecology that natural systems are subject to weed invasion and change, an alternative to counteract these forces instead of expensive inputs is to design agroecosystems that exploit ecosystem services offered by various biological organisms. [74][75][76] For example, improving the successional complexity of agricultural ecosystems through an introduction of perennial crops will have an impact on weed population dynamics. Further, efficient landscape designs can impact weed populations by reducing weed seed dispersal and pollen-mediated movement of resistance alleles across vast landscapes, and maximizing opportunities for biological control.…”

Section: Succession Of Species Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ecological perspective on managing weeds during the great selection for herbicide resistance

Bagavathiannan

Davis

2018

Pest Management Science

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More than 70 years after modern agriculture declared a 'war on weeds', they continue to thrive and suppress crop yields. Viewing weeds as an enemy that can be defeated if only a powerful enough technology can be deployed is a losing proposition. The latest evidence for the inadequacy of this approach, rampant evolution of multiple herbicide-resistant weed genotypes and dwindling options for chemical control in many production systems, should be seen as an urgent message to all those concerned with the science and practice of weed management: we need another way of thinking about the weed resistance issue. Fortunately, the theoretical and practical foundation of this alternative approach, ecological weed management, has been in development for decades. Here, we use Barry Commoner's laws of ecology as a conceptual frame for a review of some of the fundamental concepts of ecological weed management. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

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Ecologies of Scale: Multifunctionality Connects Conservation and Agriculture across Fields, Farms, and Landscapes

Cited by 34 publications

References 253 publications

Moderate patchiness optimizes heterogeneity, stability, and beta diversity in mesic grassland

Moderate patchiness optimizes heterogeneity, stability, and beta diversity in mesic grassland

Multifunctionality at what scale? A landscape multifunctionality assessment for the European Union under conditions of land use change

An ecological perspective on managing weeds during the great selection for herbicide resistance

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