Saving imperiled grassland biomes by recoupling fire and grazing: a case study from the Great Plains

Wilcox, Bradford P.; Fuhlendorf, Samuel D.; Walker, John W.; Wu, X. Ben; Goodman, Laura E.; Treadwell, Morgan L.; Birt, Andrew

doi:10.1002/fee.2448

Cited by 35 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 57 publications

(107 reference statements)

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“…For example, many grassland and shrubland obligate bird species are lost from rangelands when tree cover exceeds more than a few percent (Baruch-Mordo et al, 2013; Herse et al, 2018; Lautenbach et al, 2017). These results further reinforce scientific conclusions that woody encroachment is a primary change agent across broad regions of U.S. rangelands (Engle et al 2008; Wilcox et al 2022).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Herbaceous production lost to tree encroachment in United States rangelands

Morford

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Rangelands of the United States provide ecosystem services that sustain biodiversity and rural economies. Native tree encroachment is a recognized and long-standing conservation challenge to these landscapes, but its impact is often overlooked due to the slow pace of tree invasions and the positive public perception of trees. Here we show that tree encroachment is a dominant change agent in U.S. rangelands; tree cover has increased by more than 77,000 km2 over 30 years, and more than 25% of U.S. rangelands are now experiencing sustained tree cover expansion. Further, we use machine learning methods to estimate the potential herbaceous production (forage) lost to tree encroachment. Since 1990 roughly 300 Tg of herbaceous biomass has been lost, totaling some $5 billion in foregone revenue to agricultural producers. These results suggest that tree encroachment is similar in scale and magnitude to row-crop conversion, another primary cause of rangeland loss in the U.S. Prioritizing conservation efforts to prevent tree encroachment in rangelands can bolster ecosystem and economic sustainability of these landscapes, particularly among privately-owned lands threatened by land-use conversion.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Herbaceous production lost to tree encroachment in United States rangelands

Morford

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…The influence of grazing on vegetation community depends on the grazing intensity, grazing livestock species as well as other factors ( Concostrina-Zubiri et al, 2014 ; Li et al, 2019 ). Compared to previous studies ( Li et al, 2019 ; Freitag et al, 2021 ; Wilcox et al, 2022 ), our study is the first to analyze the difference in vegetation communities between winter pastures that were grazed during and before the grassland greenup period. Our results provide valuable information that may be used in plant diversity conservation at the scale of family pastures in alpine meadows on the QTP.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grazing during the grassland greenup period promotes plant species richness in alpine grassland in winter pastures

et al. 2022

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Although grazing is the most common use of grassland, the ecological function of grassland far exceeds its productivity. Therefore, the protection of plant diversity is of the utmost importance and cannot be ignored. Existing research on the effect of grazing on grassland mainly focuses on grazing intensity and the type of livestock, but the consequences of the timing of the grazing on the vegetation community remains unclear. We investigated plant community characteristics of winter pastures in alpine meadow with different grazing termination times (grazing before and during the grassland greenup periods) in Maqu County, eastern QTP. The results showed that vegetation height, coverage, aboveground biomass and Graminoid biomass were lower in grassland when grazing happened during the greenup period compared to grassland where grazing was terminated before the greenup period. However, the total plant species richness and forbs richness were higher in grassland with grazing during the greenup period compared to grassland without grazing during the greenup period. Our structural equation modeling reveals a potential indirect implication for the total plant species richness and forbs richness of winter pastures mainly through a decrease in the vegetation coverage and grass biomass abundance. Our findings imply that grazing during the grassland greenup period may facilitate the maintenance of plant diversity in winter pastures. These findings have important implications for grassland ecosystem functioning and for the conservation of plant diversity.

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“…These case studies, drawn from the Southern Great Plains and Southwest regions of the United States, span the climate spectrum of drylands from subhumid to arid (Figures 2, 3). These landscapes have been dramatically altered by WPE, beginning in the late 1800s-largely in response to a combination of overgrazing, droughts, and altered fire regimes (Bestelmeyer et al, 2018;Wilcox et al, 2018;Wilcox et al, 2022). Each of the six sites has been the focus of intensive studies addressing the ecohydrological ramifications of WPE.…”

Section: Case Studies Along a Climate Gradientmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prior to the advent of mechanized agriculture, grasslands and savannas accounted for close to 40% of the Earth's surface. Today, these landscapes cover only a little over 20% (Mishra and Young, 2020) and are considered an imperiled biome, threatened by agricultural conversion, overgrazing, altered fire regimes, and invasive plants (Wilcox et al, 2022). A prominent example of these proximate threats is woody plant encroachment (WPE)-the process by which grasslands and savannas are converted to woodlands or more densely wooded savannas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecohydrological connectivity: A unifying framework for understanding how woody plant encroachment alters the water cycle in drylands

Wilcox

Basant

Olariu

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Grasslands and savannas in drylands have been and continue to be converted to woodlands through a phenomenon often described as woody plant encroachment. This conversion has profound implications for the ecosystem services that these landscapes provide, including water. In this paper, using examples from six case studies across drylands in the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert regions of the United States, we explore the ecohydrological changes that occurred following woody plant encroachment (WPE). In all cases, the increase in woody plant cover brought about modifications in connectivity, which led to profound ecohydrological changes at both the patch and landscape scales. At the wet end of the dryland spectrum (subhumid climates), increases in evapotranspiration following WPE led to reduced streamflows and groundwater recharge. In drier regions, woody plant encroachment did not alter evapotranspiration appreciably but did significantly alter hydrological connectivity because of changes to soil infiltrability. In semiarid climates where rainfall is sufficient to maintain cover in intercanopy areas concurrent with woody plant encroachment (thicketization), overall soil infiltrability was increased—translating to either decreased streamflows or increased streamflows, depending on soils and geology. In the driest landscapes, woody plant encroachment led to xerification, whereby intercanopy areas became bare and highly interconnected, resulting in higher surface runoff and, ultimately, higher groundwater recharge because of transmission losses in stream channels. On the basis of our review of the studies’ findings, we argue that the concept of ecohydrological connectivity provides a unifying framework for understanding these different outcomes.

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Saving imperiled grassland biomes by recoupling fire and grazing: a case study from the Great Plains

Cited by 35 publications

References 57 publications

Herbaceous production lost to tree encroachment in United States rangelands

Herbaceous production lost to tree encroachment in United States rangelands

Grazing during the grassland greenup period promotes plant species richness in alpine grassland in winter pastures

Ecohydrological connectivity: A unifying framework for understanding how woody plant encroachment alters the water cycle in drylands

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