Temporal variability drives soil chemical and biological dynamics more than grazing in a northern mixed-grass prairie

Abstract

Livestock grazing is one of the most common agricultural practices globally. Rangelands provide the land base for a large proportion of these livestock enterprises, and most rangelands are only agriculturally suited to livestock grazing due to limited primary productivity, soil depth, and other climate and topographical constraints (Derner et al. 2017). With the consistent increase in human population, there has been an intensification of land use in order to optimise the provision of ecosystem goods and services, including livestock production and rangeland enhancement (Derner et al. 2018). Such grazing intensification has revealed a wide range of soil, vegetation, and livestock responses (Briske et al. 2008, Teague et al. 2013. Relevant to this variation in responses is the influence of environmental context, particularly climate and soils (Derner et al. 1997, Derner and Shuman 2007).Central to understanding how rangelands respond to grazing intensification is the need to understand soil health responses (Dormaar et al. 1989). Soil health refers to the synergistic relationship between the