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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #223395
Title: Variation in ecological resilience: a fundamental concept for rangeland ecology

Author
item Bestelmeyer, Brandon
item BRISKE, DAVID - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item BROWN, JOEL - NRCS
item Havstad, Kris
item SKAGGS, RHONDA - NEW MEXICO STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/30/2007
Publication Date: 1/26/2008
Citation: Bestelmeyer, B.T., Briske, D.D., Brown, J., Havstad, K.M., Skaggs, R.K. 2008. Variation in ecological resilience: A fundamental concept for rangeland ecology [abstract]. Society for Range Management Meeting, Building Bridges: Grasslands to Rangelands, January 26-31, 2008, Louisville, Kentucky. p. 1480, 2008 CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The concepts and terminology associated with ecological resilience are fast becoming a common language for the study of global change. We review the application of the broad concept of resilience to rangeland ecology, connecting it to several well-established rangeland concepts including equilibrial/nonequilibrial rangeland systems, ecological sites, succession, and state-and-transition models. We argue that resilience concepts have the potential to provide a holistic framework for rangeland ecology that links advances across disciplines including pedology, plant ecology, landscape ecology, rural sociology, and economics, and we illustrate this linkage. In order to realize this potential, however, we will need to move beyond vague metaphors to produce real-world examples and then general strategies that practitioners and scientists find worthwhile to emulate.