Climate Change, Rangelands, and Sustainability of Ranching in the Western United States

Holechek, Jerry L.; Geli, Hatim M. E.; Cibils, Andrés F.; Sawalhah, Mohammed N.

doi:10.3390/su12124942

Cited by 49 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 102 publications

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“…Across USA ecosystems, climate change will have varying effects, such as increased variability in precipitation, increased temperatures and shifts in composition of native plant species upon which sheep forage (Holechek et al . 2020 ). Snowder et al .…”

Section: Persistent and Emerging Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of the sheep industry and genetic research in the United States: opportunities for convergence in the twenty‐first century

et al. 2021

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Summary The continuous development and application of technology for genetic improvement is a key element for advancing sheep production in the United States. The US sheep industry has contracted over time but appears to be at a juncture where a greater utilization of technology can facilitate industry expansion to new markets and address inefficiencies in traditional production practices. Significant transformations include the increased value of lamb in relation to wool, and a downtrend in large‐scale operations but a simultaneous rise in small flocks. Additionally, popularity of hair breeds not requiring shearing has surged, particularly in semi‐arid and subtropical US environments. A variety of domestically developed composite breeds and newly established technological approaches are now widely available for the sheep industry to use as it navigates these ongoing transformations. These genetic resources can also address long‐targeted areas of improvement such as growth, reproduction and parasite resistance. Moderate progress in production efficiency has been achieved by producers who have employed estimated breeding values, but widespread adoption of this technology has been limited. Genomic marker panels have recently shown promise for reducing disease susceptibility, identifying parentage and providing a foundation for marker‐assisted selection. As the ovine genome is further explored and genomic assemblies are improved, the sheep research community in the USA can capitalize on new‐found information to develop and apply genetic technologies to improve the production efficiency and profitability of the sheep industry.

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Section: Persistent and Emerging Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of the sheep industry and genetic research in the United States: opportunities for convergence in the twenty‐first century

et al. 2021

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“…Due to increased variability in precipitation, the amount of water is not sufficient for the optimum growth of forage on rangeland. Thus, this limited and variable rangeland productivity has resulted in reduced feed for livestock, and some ranchers adopt risk-averse strategies of selling their cattle to reduce the cost of buying additional feed supplements (e.g., hay) (Holechek et al, 2020;Gedefaw et al, 2021). At the same time, ranchers significantly reduce cattle herd sizes, allowing grasslands to recover from drought conditions (Uyttebrouck, 2013).…”

Section: Temperature and Precipitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Integrated Food, Energy, and Water Nexus, Human Well-Being, and Resilience (FEW-WISE) Framework: New Mexico

Yadav

Geli

Cibils

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Interconnected food, energy, and water (FEW) nexus systems face many challenges to support human well-being (HWB) and maintain resilience, especially in arid and semiarid regions like New Mexico (NM), United States (US). Insufficient FEW resources, unstable economic growth due to fluctuations in prices of crude oil and natural gas, inequitable education and employment, and climate change are some of these challenges. Enhancing the resilience of such coupled socio-environmental systems depends on the efficient use of resources, improved understanding of the interlinkages across FEW system components, and adopting adaptable alternative management strategies. The goal of this study was to develop a framework that can be used to enhance the resilience of these systems. An integrated food, energy, water, well-being, and resilience (FEW-WISE) framework was developed and introduced in this study. This framework consists mainly of five steps to qualitatively and quantitatively assess FEW system relationships, identify important external drivers, integrate FEW systems using system dynamics models, develop FEW and HWB performance indices, and develop a resilience monitoring criterion using a threshold-based approach that integrates these indices. The FEW-WISE framework can be used to evaluate and predict the dynamic behavior of FEW systems in response to environmental and socioeconomic changes using resilience indicators. In conclusion, the derived resilience index can be used to inform the decision-making processes to guide the development of alternative scenario-based management strategies to enhance the resilience of ecological and socioeconomic well-being of vulnerable regions like NM.

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“…The largest portion of these drylands is rangelands-comprising 31% of the USA land [34]which are mostly situated in the Western USA [35]. Rangelands support livestock production particularly beef cattle and major local economies in the Great Plains, the Intermountain West, and the Southwest rely heavily on this industry [36]. Since the pre-settlement era, about 34% of the USA rangelands have been permanently modified by human activities [37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Rangeland Degradation in New Mexico Using Time Series Segmentation and Residual Trend Analysis (TSS-RESTREND)

2021

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Rangelands provide significant socioeconomic and environmental benefits to humans. However, climate variability and anthropogenic drivers can negatively impact rangeland productivity. The main goal of this study was to investigate structural and productivity changes in rangeland ecosystems in New Mexico (NM), in the southwestern United States of America during the 1984–2015 period. This goal was achieved by applying the time series segmented residual trend analysis (TSS-RESTREND) method, using datasets of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies and precipitation from Parameter elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM), and developing an assessment framework. The results indicated that about 17.6% and 12.8% of NM experienced a decrease and an increase in productivity, respectively. More than half of the state (55.6%) had insignificant change productivity, 10.8% was classified as indeterminant, and 3.2% was considered as agriculture. A decrease in productivity was observed in 2.2%, 4.5%, and 1.7% of NM’s grassland, shrubland, and ever green forest land cover classes, respectively. Significant decrease in productivity was observed in the northeastern and southeastern quadrants of NM while significant increase was observed in northwestern, southwestern, and a small portion of the southeastern quadrants. The timing of detected breakpoints coincided with some of NM’s drought events as indicated by the self-calibrated Palmar Drought Severity Index as their number increased since 2000s following a similar increase in drought severity. Some breakpoints were concurrent with some fire events. The combination of these two types of disturbances can partly explain the emergence of breakpoints with degradation in productivity. Using the breakpoint assessment framework developed in this study, the observed degradation based on the TSS-RESTREND showed only 55% agreement with the Rangeland Productivity Monitoring Service (RPMS) data. There was an agreement between the TSS-RESTREND and RPMS on the occurrence of significant degradation in productivity over the grasslands and shrublands within the Arizona/NM Tablelands and in the Chihuahua Desert ecoregions, respectively. This assessment of NM’s vegetation productivity is critical to support the decision-making process for rangeland management; address challenges related to the sustainability of forage supply and livestock production; conserve the biodiversity of rangelands ecosystems; and increase their resilience. Future analysis should consider the effects of rising temperatures and drought on rangeland degradation and productivity.

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Climate Change, Rangelands, and Sustainability of Ranching in the Western United States

Cited by 49 publications

References 102 publications

Evolution of the sheep industry and genetic research in the United States: opportunities for convergence in the twenty‐first century

Evolution of the sheep industry and genetic research in the United States: opportunities for convergence in the twenty‐first century

An Integrated Food, Energy, and Water Nexus, Human Well-Being, and Resilience (FEW-WISE) Framework: New Mexico

Assessment of Rangeland Degradation in New Mexico Using Time Series Segmentation and Residual Trend Analysis (TSS-RESTREND)

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