Rangeland Systems: Processes, Management and Challenges

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. This book provides an unprecedented synthesis of the current status of scientific and management knowledge regarding global rangelands and the major challenges that confront them. It has been organized around three major themes. The first summarizes the conceptual advances that have occurred in the rangeland profession. The second addresses the implications of these conceptual advances to management and policy. The third assesses several major challenges confronting global rangelands in the 21st century. This book will compliment applied range management textbooks by describing the conceptual foundation on which the rangeland profession is based. It has been written to be accessible to a broad audience, including ecosystem managers, educators, students and policy makers. The content is founded on the collective experience, knowledge and commitment of 80 authors who have worked in rangelands throughout the world. Their collective contributions indicate that a more comprehensive framework is necessary to address the complex challenges confronting global rangelands. Rangelands represent adaptive social-ecological systems, in which societal values, organizations and capacities are of equal importance to, and interact with, those of ecological processes. A more comprehensive framework for rangeland systems may enable management agencies, and educational, research and policy making organizations to more effectively assess complex problems and develop appropriate solutions.

1. Conceptual development toward a rangeland systems framework -- Part: 1 Processes -- 2. Woody plant encroachment -- 3. Ecohydrology: processes and implications for rangelands -- 4. Soil and belowground processes -- 5. Structural heterogeneity as the basis for rangeland management -- 6. Non-equilibrium ecology and resilience theory -- 7. Ecological consequences of climate change on rangelands -- Part: 2 Management -- 8. Rangelands as social-ecological systems -- 9. State and transition models: theory, applications, and challenges -- 10. Livestock production systems -- 11. Adaptive management of rangeland systems -- 12. Managing the livestock-wildlife interface on rangelands -- Part: 3 Challenges -- 13. Invasive plant species and novel rangeland systems -- 14. Rangeland ecosystem services: nature´s supply and humans´ demand -- 15. Managing climate change risks in rangeland systems -- 16. Monitoring protocols: options, approaches, implementation, benefits -- 17. Rangeland systems in developing nations: conceptual advances and societal implications.