Economic Impacts of Increasing Seasonal Precipitation Variation on Southeast Wyoming Cow-Calf Enterprises

Hamilton, Tucker W.; Ritten, John P.; Bastian, Christopher T.; Derner, Justin D.; Tanaka, John

doi:10.1016/j.rama.2016.06.008

Cited by 31 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…, Hamilton et al. ), with the recognition that such fluctuations could increase in magnitude (Swain and Hayhoe ). Depending on how grazing pressure is managed in space and time, increased grazing pressure could also help offset declines in forage quality, and offset declines in per‐animal mass gains.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the uncertainties inherent in predicting climate change and plant responses, we urge caution in how livestock producers adjust stocking rates. Stocking rates should emphasize flexibility within and across grazing seasons for adaptation to weather fluctuations (Ritten et al 2010, Hamilton et al 2016, with the recognition that such fluctuations could increase in magnitude (Swain and Hayhoe 2015). Depending on how grazing pressure is managed in space and time, increased grazing pressure could also help offset declines in forage quality, and offset declines in per-animal mass gains.…”

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Elevated CO₂ induces substantial and persistent declines in forage quality irrespective of warming in mixedgrass prairie

Augustine

Blumenthal

Springer

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

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Increasing atmospheric [CO ] and temperature are expected to affect the productivity, species composition, biogeochemistry, and therefore the quantity and quality of forage available to herbivores in rangeland ecosystems. Both elevated CO (eCO ) and warming affect plant tissue chemistry through multiple direct and indirect pathways, such that the cumulative outcomes of these effects are difficult to predict. Here, we report on a 7-yr study examining effects of CO enrichment (to 600 ppm) and infrared warming (+1.5°C day/3°C night) under realistic field conditions on forage quality and quantity in a semiarid, mixedgrass prairie. For the three dominant forage grasses, warming effects on in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and tissue [N] were detected only in certain years, varied from negative to positive, and were relatively minor. In contrast, eCO substantially reduced IVDMD (two most abundant grasses) and [N] (all three dominant grass species) in most years, except the two wettest years. Furthermore, eCO reduced IVDMD and [N] independent of warming effects. Reduced IVDMD with eCO was related both to reduced [N] and increased acid detergent fiber (ADF) content of grass tissues. For the six most abundant forage species (representing 96% of total forage production), combined warming and eCO increased forage production by 38% and reduced forage [N] by 13% relative to ambient climate. Although the absolute magnitude of the decline in IVDMD and [N] due to combined warming and eCO may seem small (e.g., from 63.3 to 61.1% IVDMD and 1.25 to 1.04% [N] for Pascopyrum smithii), such shifts could have substantial consequences for the rate at which ruminants gain weight during the primary growing season in the largest remaining rangeland ecosystem in North America. With forage production increases, declining forage quality could potentially be mitigated by adaptively increasing stocking rates, and through management such as prescribed burning, fertilization at low rates, and legume interseeding to enhance forage quality.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated CO₂ induces substantial and persistent declines in forage quality irrespective of warming in mixedgrass prairie

Augustine

Blumenthal

Springer

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

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“…As we identified and reflected on these complexities as a research team, our interpretation of the complexities evolved from viewing them as barriers to decision making to understanding them as complexities that ultimately facilitated learning precisely because they challenged stakeholders' (and research team members') existing mental models/conceptions of specific biophysical relationships and the CAM process overall. To test this emergent theory, we traced decisions associated with each identified complexity to observe instances of single-and multiple-loop learning and indicators of growing trust and collaborative capacity in transcripts of the group discussion and stakeholder interviews (George and Bennett 2005). We synthesized the outcomes from these complexities to evaluate how well a best case CAM scenario of intensive monitoring and agency commitment fulfilled the theoretical criteria for effective CAM (Question 3).…”

Section: Linking Social and Ecological Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexity fosters learning in collaborative adaptive management

Fernández‐Giménez¹,

Augustine²,

Porensky³

et al. 2019

E&S

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Learning is recognized as central to collaborative adaptive management (CAM), yet few longitudinal studies examine how learning occurs in CAM or apply the science of learning to interpret this process. We present an analysis of decision-making processes within the collaborative adaptive rangeland management (CARM) experiment, in which 11 stakeholders use a structured CAM process to make decisions about livestock grazing and vegetation management for beef, vegetation, and wildlife objectives. We analyzed four years of meeting transcripts, stakeholder communications, and biophysical monitoring data to ask what facilitated and challenged stakeholder decision making, how challenges affected stakeholder learning, and whether CARM met theorized criteria for effective CAM. Despite thorough monitoring and natural resource agency commitment to implementing collaborative decisions, CARM participants encountered multiple decision-making challenges born of ecological and social complexity. CARM was effective in achieving several of its management objectives, including reduced ecological uncertainty, knowledge coproduction, and multiple-loop social learning. CARM revealed limitations of the idealized CAM cycle and challenged conceptions of adaptive management that separate reduction of scientific uncertainty from participatory and management dimensions. We present a revised, empirically grounded CAM framework that depicts CAM as a spiral rather than a circle, where feedback loops between monitoring data and management decisions are never fully closed. Instead, complexities including time-lags, trade-offs, path-dependency, and tensions among stakeholders' differing types of knowledge and social worlds both constrain decision making and foster learning by creating disorienting dilemmas that challenge participants' pre-existing mental models and relationships. Based on these findings, we share recommendations for accelerating learning in CAM processes.

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“…Scholarship from across disciplines has contributed to a large body of ranch management research. Agricultural economics has contributed greatly to our understanding of managing risk in complex ranching operations under uncertain conditions, including increasingly variable climate on rangelands (Ruff et al 2016;Ritten et al 2010;Torell 2010;Hamilton et al 2016). There is also a large body of work exploring the distribution of innovation (or conservation practice) adoption behavior and risk perceptions across ranching populations (Bennett 1969;Brunson and Burritt 2009;Didier and Brunson 2004;Roche 2016;Lubell et al 2013;Sun et al 2014;Sorice et al 2012).…”

Section: Rancher Decision-making Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing for the middle: rancher care ethics under uncertainty on Western Great Plains rangelands

et al. 2019

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Ranchers and pastoralists worldwide manage and depend upon resources from rangelands (which support indigenous vegetation with the potential for grazing) across Earth's terrestrial surface. In the Great Plains of North America rangeland ecology has increasingly recognized the importance of managing rangeland vegetation heterogeneity to address conservation and production goals. This paradigm, however, has limited application for ranchers as they manage extensive beef production operations under high levels of social-ecological complexity and uncertainty. We draw on the ethics of care theoretical framework to explore how ranchers choose management actions. We used modified grounded theory analysis of repeated interviews with ranchers to (1) compare rancher decision-making under relatively certain and uncertain conditions and (2) describe a typology of practices used to prioritize and choose management actions that maintain effective stewardship of these often multi-generational ranches. We contrast traditional decision-making frameworks with those described by interviewees when high levels of environmental and market uncertainty or ecological complexity led ranchers toward use of care-based, flexible and relational frameworks for decision-making. Ranchers facing complexity and uncertainty often sought "middle-ground" strategies to balance multiple, conflicting responsibilities in rangeland social-ecological systems. For example, ranchers' care-based decision-making leads to conservative stocking approaches to "manage for the middle," e.g. to limit risk under uncertain weather and forage availability conditions. Efforts to promote heterogeneity-based rangeland management for biodiversity conservation through the restoration of patch burn grazing and prairie dog conservation will require increased valuation of ranchers' care work.

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Economic Impacts of Increasing Seasonal Precipitation Variation on Southeast Wyoming Cow-Calf Enterprises

Cited by 31 publications

References 12 publications

Elevated CO₂ induces substantial and persistent declines in forage quality irrespective of warming in mixedgrass prairie

Elevated CO₂ induces substantial and persistent declines in forage quality irrespective of warming in mixedgrass prairie

Complexity fosters learning in collaborative adaptive management

Managing for the middle: rancher care ethics under uncertainty on Western Great Plains rangelands

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Economic Impacts of Increasing Seasonal Precipitation Variation on Southeast Wyoming Cow-Calf Enterprises

Cited by 31 publications

References 12 publications

Elevated CO2 induces substantial and persistent declines in forage quality irrespective of warming in mixedgrass prairie

Elevated CO2 induces substantial and persistent declines in forage quality irrespective of warming in mixedgrass prairie

Complexity fosters learning in collaborative adaptive management

Managing for the middle: rancher care ethics under uncertainty on Western Great Plains rangelands

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Product

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Elevated CO₂ induces substantial and persistent declines in forage quality irrespective of warming in mixedgrass prairie

Elevated CO₂ induces substantial and persistent declines in forage quality irrespective of warming in mixedgrass prairie