Effective Management Practices for Increasing Native Plant Diversity on Mesquite Savanna-Texas Wintergrass-Dominated Rangelands

Habitat Integrity in Protected Areas Threatened by LULC Changes and Fragmentation: A Case Study in Tehran Province, Iran

“…Their results indicated that vegetation diversity has decreased due to overgrazing and the development of tourism activities. Accordingly, the results of many studies have suggested that the diversity and density of vegetation have declined because of the development of human activities [55,56,[77][78][79][80][81].…”

Pyric‐based restoration of C4 grasses in woody (Prosopis glandulosa) encroached grassland is best with an alternating seasonal fire regime

“…The inability of any of the fire treatments to reduce Texas wintergrass cover over the long term was likely due to the rapid recovery of top‐killed mesquite that returned growing conditions favorable to Texas wintergrass (Whisenant et al 1984; Ansley et al 2019; Murray et al 2021). A recent study found that growing buds in Texas wintergrass are lower than those of C 4 short‐grass curly mesquite ( Hilaria belangeri ) and this may explain this species resistance to even the most intense fires (Hiers et al 2021).…”

“…The expansion of the native woody legume, honey mesquite ( Prosopis glandulosa ) in the mixed grass semi‐arid grassland of the Southern Great Plains, U.S.A., has reduced production and diversity of C 4 mid‐grasses, important for cattle forage and wildlife habitat (Tomecek et al 2017). Mesquite encroachment has facilitated increased cover of the less‐productive native C 3 grass, Texas wintergrass ( Nassella leucotricha ), described as the Prosopis / Nassella association (Ansley et al 2019), and is the result of mesquite plants attaining a canopy size and density sufficient to generate a microenvironment more favorable to C 3 grasses (Eldridge et al 2011; Murray et al 2021). Fire has been absent for so long that mesquite has escaped the “fire trap” identified in African savannas where frequent fires maintain woody plants in a suppressed condition (Bond & Keeley 2005; Devine et al 2017; Freeman et al 2017).…”

“…Consequently, there has long been interest in identifying cost‐effective and ecologically sustainable management practices that can either reduce existing woody cover and/or limit the potential for woody encroachment (Archer & Predick 2014; Ding et al 2020). The planned re‐introduction of fire (prescribed fire) is a low‐cost management practice (Teague et al 2001) that can reduce woody plant cover and restore grass production and herbaceous diversity in many fire‐dependent grasslands and savannas (Prober et al 2007; Murray et al 2021). However, because woody encroachment has advanced to a high density of mature trees in many grasslands, a better understanding of the utility of prescribed fire in these situations is needed (Ansley et al 2010 b ; Capozzelli et al 2020; Bielski et al 2021).…”

Can prescribed fires restore C4grasslands invaded by a C3woody species and a co‐dominant C3grass species?

“…For these reasons, a landscape dominated by the Prosopis/Nassella association is undesirable for ranches interested in livestock production or for conservationists interested in grassland biodiversity. Currently, there are no economically viable landscape-scale solutions to transition this association back to original C 4 grassland (Murray et al 2021).…”