Rangelands as dynamic systems — vegetation change in rangelands

Conventional management approaches in rangelands include regulation of grazing to apply selective pressures on the plant community, application of disturbance (e.g. fire), introduction of new forage species, and reductions of undesirable species. However, semi-arid rangelands around the globe are currently experiencing novel pressures and large-scale environmental changes — from increased nitrogen deposition to altered disturbance regimes and new suites of plant species (many weedy) in regional floras. We examine how these global changes constrain (or perhaps magnify) rangeland response to management interventions. Managers must understand the synergies between deliberate and background agents of change to predict system response accurately.