Federal land management agencies provide stewardship over much of the rangelands in the arid and semi-arid western United States, but they often lack data of the proper spatiotemporal resolution and extent needed to assess range conditions and monitor trends. Recent advances in the blending of complementary, remotely sensed data could provide public lands managers with the needed information. W...

We examined changes in rangeland health in the semi-arid woodlands of eastern Australia at fixed sites between 1989 and 1999. Over the 11-year period there were significant declines in the quality of the vegetation, and changes in plant species were driven largely by seasonality, and to a lesser extent, amount of rainfall. Three indices of rangelands health (composition, function and stability)...

Strong sustainability, according to the common definition, requires that different natural and economic capital stocks have to be maintained as physical quantities separately. Yet, in a world of uncertainty this cannot be guaranteed. To therefore define strong sustainability under uncertainty in an operational manner, we propose to use the concept of viability. Viability means that the differen...

We develop a comprehensive multi-level approach to ecological economics (CML-approach) which integrates philosophical considerations on the foundations of ecological economics with an adequate operationalization. We argue that the subject matter and aims of ecological economics require a specific combination of interand transdisciplinary research, and discuss the epistemological position on whi...

We present an ecological framework for considering ecosystem degradation and restoration, particularly in rangelands and arid environments. The framework is a synthesis of three conceptual models previously developed by several rangeland and restoration ecologists. We focus first on distinctions and connections between structural and functional components of rangeland ecosystems and then on dis...

Natural rangelands occupy about 5.5 million hectares of Tunisia’s landmass, and 38% this area is in Tataouine governorate. Although efforts towards natural restoration are increasing rapidly as a result projects, the degraded has continued to expand severity desertification intensify. Any damage caused by disturbances, such grazing recurrent drought, may be masked return favorable rainfall cond...

Abstract Recently, pastoral ecosystem has been strongly studied by naturalists. However, phytoecological research must focus on species richness and enhance these ecosystems. The main objective of this is to prove that the Moroccan very rich in terms soil biodiversity plant formations. In such areas, some plants maintain physicochemical characteristics soil. field experiment was based Braun-Bla...

Abstract Watershed rangelands in Northern Afghanistan provide various ecosystem services that support the local people’s livelihoods, but they are now highly degraded essentially due to continuous high grazing pressure and recurrent droughts. Effects of shrub establishment method enhanced by water harvesting techniques rehabilitate have not been well addressed. The main goal this study was eval...