A test of critical thresholds and their indicators in a desertification‐prone ecosystem: more resilience than we thought

Bestelmeyer, Brandon T.; Duniway, Michael C.; James, Darren; Burkett, Laura M.; Havstad, Kris M.

doi:10.1111/ele.12045

Cited by 125 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…This conceptual partitioning of abiotic and biotic constraints can also inform the restoration of these degraded systems (King and Hobbs 2006). In less severely damaged systems, where neither abiotic nor biotic thresholds have been crossed, recovery may be initiated by removing drivers of degradation (Bestelmeyer et al 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant–soil feedbacks and the partial recovery of soil spatial patterns on abandoned well pads in a sagebrush shrubland

Minnick

2015

Ecological Applications

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Abstract. Shrub-dominated arid and semiarid ecosystems are characterized by spatial patterns in vegetation and bare ground (e.g., resource islands). Modern oil and gas well pad construction entails complete removal of vegetation and upper soil layers, followed by replacement of soils and attempts at revegetation; historically, many pads were merely abandoned. Feedbacks between soil and vegetation are required for the recovery of ecosystem functions in these catastrophically disturbed systems. We measured soil organic carbon (SOC), employing a spatially explicit sampling protocol, on two sites in undisturbed big sagebrush communities and a chronosequence of eight recovering well pads. Sites in undisturbed communities exhibited significant spatial autocorrelation of SOC at the plot level that was absent from all of the well pad sites. Incorporating shrub presence as a covariate revealed three additional cases of SOC spatial autocorrelation on well pads. These results, along with SOC patterns between and under plants, suggest resource island development. These findings support the hypothesis that species identity as well as functional group need to be taken into account in restoration. Restoration of ecosystem functions, including those associated with resistance and resilience to disturbance, may be enhanced when characteristic soil heterogeneity and vegetation spatial patterns recover.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant–soil feedbacks and the partial recovery of soil spatial patterns on abandoned well pads in a sagebrush shrubland

Minnick

2015

Ecological Applications

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“…Estimating such indicators in empirical data from drylands prone to desertification did not yield expected patterns [30]. In marine ecosystems, despite some indirectly derived positive results [31 -33], indicators of CSD largely failed to detect known regime shifts [34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Resilience indicators: prospects and limitations for early warnings of regime shifts

Dakos

Carpenter

Nes

et al. 2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

417

515

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In the vicinity of tipping points—or more precisely bifurcation points—ecosystems recover slowly from small perturbations. Such slowness may be interpreted as a sign of low resilience in the sense that the ecosystem could easily be tipped through a critical transition into a contrasting state. Indicators of this phenomenon of ‘critical slowing down (CSD)’ include a rise in temporal correlation and variance. Such indicators of CSD can provide an early warning signal of a nearby tipping point. Or, they may offer a possibility to rank reefs, lakes or other ecosystems according to their resilience. The fact that CSD may happen across a wide range of complex ecosystems close to tipping points implies a powerful generality. However, indicators of CSD are not manifested in all cases where regime shifts occur. This is because not all regime shifts are associated with tipping points. Here, we review the exploding literature about this issue to provide guidance on what to expect and what not to expect when it comes to the CSD-based early warning signals for critical transitions.

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“…Decades of scientific research suggest grazing management does little to prevent the conversion of grass-dominated ecosystems to woody-dominated ecosystems upon the onset of woody plant encroachment (see overview by Archer et al 2011). Grazing management has the potential to prevent undesirable transitions in herbaceous vegetation (Bestelmeyer et al 2013), and consumption of grasses and dispersal of seeds by grazers have accelerated rates of encroachment of some woody species (Van Auken and Bush 1997; but see Brown and Archer 1989). However, unless managers switch to browsing ungulates, conversion from grass-dominated to woody-dominated ecosystems still typically occurs even if managers are using ''proper'' grazing systems, reducing stocking rates, or removing grazers entirely (Walker et al 1981, West et al 1984, Smeins and Merrill 1988, Brown and Archer 1989, McClaran 2003, Browning and Archer 2011, Allred et al 2012.…”

Section: Objective 3: Identify Limitations and Logical Holes In Esd Omentioning

confidence: 99%

National‐scale assessment of ecological content in the world's largest land management framework

2013

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Abstract. Meeting the diverse sustainability targets of modern society has led to the development of national-level management frameworks meant to guide resource management actions and conservation funding decisions. In U.S. rangelands, state-and-transition models have been developed within the Ecological Site Description (ESD) Database as an application of alternative state theory and to move the discipline toward a more dynamic platform for resource management. After 15 years of development, and with government-mandated collaboration among federal agencies, these models are set to become one of the world's largest guiding frameworks for terrestrial ecosystem management. Yet, ESD state-andtransition models are being marketed for broad-scale application without a national-level critique evaluating their strengths and limitations. In this article, we conduct a national assessment of ESDs with a central focus on evaluating the specific details of ESD state-and-transition models. Importantly, we are not evaluating the conceptual underpinnings of the state-and-transition management framework, but rather its application. Specifically, we (1) quantify and summarize the information presented in ESD state-andtransition models; (2) determine whether ESDs fully meet U.S. Congress's goal of a nationally consistent system for defining, mapping, and interpreting ecological sites; (3) identify limitations and logical holes in ESD predictions; and (4) evaluate whether conservation funding priorities are consistent with output from ESDs. Our evaluation reveals multiple shortcomings in the application of the state-and-transition model concept within ESDs, primarily that they are highly subjective, inconsistent in design and application, focus on a single historical climax community, and overuse grazing as a driver of both ecological degradation and restoration. Considering that many of these limitations have been a consistent criticism of rangeland assessment procedures throughout the history of the discipline, state-and-transition models within ESDs will require major reconstruction beyond the current plans for revision if they are to meet society's demand for more effective management and utilization of rangeland resources. While ESDs were developed to link science and management in rangeland ecology, our assessment suggests well-intentioned management frameworks built upon expert opinion and qualitative inputs will not effectively shift ecosystem management from long-held practices rooted in community climax theory to modern scientific perspectives based on alternative state theory.

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A test of critical thresholds and their indicators in a desertification‐prone ecosystem: more resilience than we thought

Cited by 125 publications

References 44 publications

Plant–soil feedbacks and the partial recovery of soil spatial patterns on abandoned well pads in a sagebrush shrubland

Plant–soil feedbacks and the partial recovery of soil spatial patterns on abandoned well pads in a sagebrush shrubland

Resilience indicators: prospects and limitations for early warnings of regime shifts

National‐scale assessment of ecological content in the world's largest land management framework

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