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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Reno, Nevada » Great Basin Rangelands Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #342270
Title: Agricultural, Runoff, Erosion and Salinity (ARES) Database to Better Evaluate Rangeland State and Sustainability

Author
item Nesbit, Jason
item Weltz, Mark
item NOUWAKPO, SAYJRO - University Of Nevada
item MCGWIRE, KENNETH - Desert Research Institute
item Li, Sandra

Submitted to: World Conference Soil and Water Conservation Under Global Change (CONSOWA)
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/25/2017
Publication Date: 6/12/2017
Citation: Nesbit, J.E., Weltz, M.A., Nouwakpo, S.K., Mcgwire, K.E., Li, S.Y. 2017. Agricultural, Runoff, Erosion and Salinity (ARES) Database to Better Evaluate Rangeland State and Sustainability. World Conference Soil and Water Conservation Under Global Change (CONSOWA). 143.

Interpretive Summary: Rangelands comprise approximately 40% of the earth’s surface and are the largest land cover type in the world. Degradation from mismanagement, desertification, and drought impact more than 50% of rangelands across the globe. The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has been evaluating means of reversing degradations and increasing rangelands sustainability for decades. The ARS has recently develop a relational database, the Agricultural Runoff Erosion, and Salinity – ARES, to store information from rainfall/runoff/soil experiments across the United States. The ARES database contains more than 100 rangeland plant communities and over 2,000 experiments designed to quantify the interactions between vegetation, soils, and slope on runoff, soil erosion processes, and salt transport processes. This database is being used to understand impacts of land management practices on hydrologic processes and rangeland sustainability. The ARES database is the foundation for developing a quantitative means of estimating the risk of sustainability of the site. The database can be used to identify ecological sites in areas that have limited information and then use the information contained within the database to estimate sustainability. If this site is at risk of degradation the database and tools such as the Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model can be used to evaluate alternative management practices and the likelihood of reversing the degradation.

Technical Abstract: Rangelands comprise approximately 40% of the earth’s surface and are the largest land cover type in the world. Degradation from mismanagement, desertification, and drought impact more than 50% of rangelands across the globe. The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has been evaluating means of reversing degradations and increasing rangelands sustainability for decades. The ARS has recently develop a relational database, the Agricultural Runoff Erosion, and Salinity – ARES, to store information from rainfall/runoff/soil experiments across the United States. The ARES database contains more than 100 rangeland plant communities and over 2,000 experiments designed to quantify the interactions between vegetation, soils, and slope on runoff and soil erosion processes. This database is being used to understand impacts of land management practices on hydrologic processes and rangeland sustainability. The ARES database is the foundation for developing a quantitative means of estimating the risk of sustainability of the site. The database can be used to identify ecological sites in areas that have limited information and then use the information contained within the database to estimate sustainability. If this site is at risk the database and tools such as the Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model can be used to evaluate alternative management practices and the likelihood of reversing the degradation.