Biodiversity of rangelands
- Utah State Univ., Logan (United States)
Biodiversity is a multifaceted phenomenon involving the variety of organisms present, the genetic differences among them, and the communities, ecosystems, and landscape patterns in which they occur. Society will increasingly value biodiversity and influence the passage of laws and writing of regulations involving biodiversity which rangeland managers will have to abide by over the coming decades. Even private and developing world rangelands will be affected. While taxonomic knowledge of vertebrates and vascular plants and their abundance, rarity, and distribution, in the developed nations is generally adequate, the same cannot be said of the developing world. Furthermore, adequate knowledge of invertebrates, nonvascular plants, and microbes is deficient everywhere. Although the basis of variation at all higher levels, genetic variation within rangeland species, even the major ones, has barely been assessed. Obtaining statistically adequate data on populations of rare species that are small and secretive is well nigh impossible. There are many means of measuring community diversity, but all of them are value laden. That is, choice of variables to measure and how they are indexed betrays what one considers are important. One should be more forthright in stating to the users the biases of these methods. There are many other, more useful ways to describe community-level diversity besides the traditional focus on species. Ungulate grazing is an important process in many ecosystems. Thus, removal of grazing destabilizes some systems. Livestock grazing will actually increase the chances of survival of some species. Sustainable development will depend on finding balance between use and protection, from range sites to landscapes, and even on a global basis. 120 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.
- OSTI ID:
- 6528447
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Range Management; (United States), Vol. 46:1; ISSN 0022-409X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ANIMALS
ABUNDANCE
PLANTS
RANGELANDS
BASELINE ECOLOGY
SPECIES DIVERSITY
BIOLOGICAL EXTINCTION
COMMUNITIES
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ECOSYSTEMS
ENDANGERED SPECIES
GRAZING
HABITAT
LAWS
REGULATIONS
ECOLOGY
FEEDING
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
550000* - Biomedical Sciences
Basic Studies