Location: Range Management Research
Title: Rangelands in equilibrium or disequilibrium: Why it still mattersAuthor
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Submitted to: Society for Range Management
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2023 Publication Date: 2/29/2024 Citation: Bestelmeyer, B.T. 2024. Rangelands in equilibrium or disequilibrium: Why it still matters. Society for Range Management. Abstract. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: The “debate” over the equilibrium vs non-equilibrium nature of rangelands is over 30 years old. Why does it matter to rangeland managers today? Scientific paradigms, even when not explicitly referenced or even understood, underpin mental models of researchers, managers, and even policymakers to create the space within which decisions are made. The equilibrium paradigm reflects a belief in the “balance of nature” and underpins foundational concepts in rangeland ecology such as carrying capacity, reference conditions and degradation, succession, and how pastoralists manage rangeland resources across space and time. The equilibrium paradigm gave way to a “dis-” or “non-” equilibrium paradigm that recognized how disturbance and variable weather could obscure (or obviate) the balance of nature. Whether we think of a rangeland system as being “equilibrial” or “non-equilibrial” (or both) thus influences all aspects of rangeland management, in often unrecognized ways. That the nature of variability is itself changing due to climate change—called “non-stationarity”— introduces an additional complication not considered in earlier thinking. In this symposium, speakers will uncover the effects that non-equilibrial thinking has (or has not) had on rangeland management, new tools to detect and manage non-equilibrium, and then we will explore where our paradigms are taking us from here. |
