biological diversity and species richness have been declined throughout the world as a result of human activities. measuring species richness is important in rangeland conservation to evaluate the status and trends of native plant species, detecting non-native species invasion and monitoring rare species. however, heterogeneity in plant distribution makes inventories difficult. in this study tw...

Rain-index insurance is strongly advocated in many parts of the developing world to help farmers to cope with climatic risk that prevail in (semi-)arid rangelands due to low and highly uncertain rainfall. We present a modeling analysis of how the availability of rain-index insurance affects the sustainability of rangeland management. We show that a rain-index insurance with frequent payoffs, i....

Converting the native rangelands to simplified agronomic communities causessome changes in soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. Establishing of perennial plantcommunities on formerly cultivated rangelands is expected to stabilize soil properties andincrease the amount of C, N, P stored in rangeland soils, but there is little information on whatplant communities are the most effective for impro...

Adapting what we currently know about ecosystems to a future where rangelands are changing is a new frontier in rangeland management. Current tools for knowledge discovery and application are limited because they cannot adequately judge ecological relevance of knowledge to specific situations. We propose development of integrated knowledge systems (KSs)— collections of resources (e.g., data, an...

Medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae (L.) Nevski) is an exotic annual grass invading rangelands in the western United States. Medusahead is a serious management concern because it decreases biodiversity, reduces livestock forage production, and degrades the ecological function of rangelands. Despite the obvious importance of ranchers as partners in preventing and managing medusahead in rangel...