Invited Review: Ecosystem services provided by grasslands in the Southeast United Stataes

Authors: DUBEUX, JOSE - University Of Florida; Jaramillo, David; SANTOS, ERICK - University Of Alberta; GARCIA, LIZA - University Of Florida; QUEIROZ, LUANNA - University Of Florida

Submitted to: Applied Animal Science
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/6/2022
Publication Date: 12/9/2022
Citation: Dubeux, J., Jaramillo, D.M., Santos, E., Garcia, L., Queiroz, L.D. 2022. Invited Review: Ecosystem services provided by grasslands in the Southeast United Stataes. Applied Animal Science. 38(6):648-659. https://doi.org/10.15232/aas.2022-02296.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15232/aas.2022-02296

Interpretive Summary: Ecosystem services are key components of grasslands, and they help to support life on earth. Because grasslands are among the largest agroecosystems in the world, they are important contributors of ecosystem services including climate regulation, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, and habitat for wildlife and pollinators. Grasslands within the southeastern US range from wet prairies in Florida, to transitional grasslands emerging from tallgrass prairie and longleaf pine ecosystems and provide numerous benefits to society. Although ecosystem services are already recognized as an important aspect of grasslands, their importance will continue to grow into the future. Determining major ecosystem services across natural and agroecosystems is key, and remote sensing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence will play an important role monitoring ecosystem services at the landscape level.

Technical Abstract: Purpose: This review describes ecosystem services (ES) obtained from grasslands within the southeastern US region. In addition, future direction, and the importance of these ES to sustain productive agroecosystems are also described. Sources: Selected results from published studies investigating various ES provided by grasslands within the southeastern US region are summarized in this manuscript. Synthesis: Ecosystem services can be classified into five categories: provisioning, regulating, supporting, aesthetic, and cultural. Grasslands in the southeastern US range from wet prairies in Florida, to transitional grasslands emerging from tallgrass prairie and longleaf pine ecosystems into coastal marshes in Texas. Provisioning ES from grasslands include animal products (e.g., meat, milk, wool), timber, fruits, pods, and medicinal products. Supporting and regulating ES include nutrient cycling, biological nitrogen fixation, water catchment and purification, recharge of aquifers, climate regulation, primary productivity, habitat for wildlife and pollinators, and biodiversity. Grasslands are also important for aesthetic and cultural ES, including hunting leases and recreational parks. Conclusions and Applications: Grasslands in the southeastern US have decreased due to urbanization, rising livestock production costs, and decreases in seed resources. Providing ES assessments will be important to assign value to grassland ecosystems, especially to increase adoption of novel management practices that may enhance delivery of ES. Remote sensing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are promising tools to scale up the measurement of ES at landscape and watershed levels. In the future, ES will be a more prominent component of agroecosystems and payment mechanisms will become more common to compensate landowners for the benefit they provide for the entire society.