It is increasingly recognized that ecosystems provide varied services that should be considered in land management decisions. One of the challenges in the valuation of landscapes is that they often provide multiple services that combine into one social–ecological system. In this article we show how overlaps of those services can be measured, visualized, and explained. The results from a case study conducted in a rural community in northern Namibia show that in some landscapes, services are intertwined.

To document trends in land use and herbaceous production, 71 field sites sampled among cropped fields, fallow fields and rangelands in the Fakara region (Niger) were monitored from 1994 to 2006. The overall trend in land use confirmed the historical increase of the cropped areas since mid 20th century, at an annual rate of 2% from 1994 to 2006. This trend is the result of changes in the relative extent of fields permanently cropped and fields under shifting cultivation, and for the latter, the relative proportion of short (3 years) and long (10 years) duration fallows.

Many land managers are faced with trying to optimize management of invasive plant species based on budget constraints and lack of knowledge of the true potential of the species. Generally, “early detection rapid response” (EDRR) is the assumed best management strategy and tends to drive management regardless of the invasion stage or possible variation in the invasion potential of the population. We created a simulation model to evaluate the optimal management strategy to reduce the rate of invasion of nonindigenous plant species.

The volcano rabbit Romerolagus diazi is an Endangered species endemic to Mexico, with a range of

Horqin Sandy Land is a seriously desertified and an ecologically fragile region of China. Soil degradation and desertification in this region are the result of several decades of overgrazing, non-manure cropping with short fallow, and arbitrary land use and management. We investigated whether the afforestation of active sand dunes with Mongolian pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica Litv.) enhances the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) storages and the overall soil quality.

Willows (Salix) are important riparian plants and often used to indicate riparian condition. Many herbivores feed on willows, but there is limited information about willow browsing by wildlife except in national parks. This study was conducted to estimate wild ungulate herbivory of willow on two US Forest Service allotments in northern Wyoming and to compare these values to published estimates for national parks. We also compared total annual and seasonal willow utilization by wildlife between sites dominated by willows of different heights.

Adaptive management is a way for managers to do their jobs in the face of uncertainty and learn by doing. Managers gain greater knowledge of their systems by testing different strategies during the management process. The term “adaptive management” is used often, but there is confusion about exactly what adaptive management is, and managers are hard-pressed to find any clear guidelines for implementing it.

Seven introduced deer taxa are present in New Zealand and there is interest in the dynamics of these populations. Estimating the abundance of deer is problematic, but faecal pellet counts (an index of abundance) have been conducted on New Zealand's public conservation land since the 1950s.

En este artículo se aborda la caracterización ecológica del paisaje de dos Parques Naturales fronterizos: Arribes del Duero (Salamanca, España) y Douro Internacional (Portugal). El trabajo se basa en el método de análisis desarrollado en SISPARES (Sistema de Monitorización de los Paisajes Rurales Españoles) tratándose de una aplicación específica al estudio de espacios fronterizos. Mediante tecnología SIG se fotointerpretaron los tipos de uso y cubierta de unas cuadrículas territoriales previamente seleccionadas.

Grazing is known to affect the spatial patterning of soil resources through biologically-mediated processes such as the removal of plant biomass and deposition of dung. In dense shrublands, grazing is thought to reinforce the concentration of resources around shrubs (fertile island effect) by enhancing the movement of resources from the interspace to the shrub hummocks. Shrub removal practices such as ploughing, which is commonly used to manage dense shrub patches, has unknown impacts on the distribution of soil properties.

Water treatment residuals (WTRs) and biosolids are byproducts from municipal water treatment processes. Both byproducts have been studied separately for land application benefits. There are possible environmental benefits of WTRs and biosolids co-application but these studies are limited. Our objectives were to determine relative long-term (13–15 yr) effects of a single and short-term (2–4 yr) effects of repeated WTR-biosolids co-applications on soil chemistry, microbiology, and plant community structure in a Colorado semiarid grassland.

Conversion of native prairie land for agricultural production has resulted in significant loss and redistribution of soil organic matter (SOM) in the soil profile ultimately leading to declining soil fertility in a low-productivity semiarid agroecosystem. Improved understanding of such losses can lead to development of sustainable land management practices that maintain soil fertility and enhance soil quality. This study was conducted to determine whether conservation practices impact soil profile carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) accumulation in central High Plains.