Tag: grassland

Grasslands, Invasive species, Perspectives, Practitioners, Research summaries, Restoration, Themed collections

Restorative recreation: One landowner’s restoration experience in Iowa’s Loess Hills

In his latest From Practice article, author and landowner Patrick Swanson describes his experience restoring a native prairie remnant in Iowa’s Loess Hills and introduces a new paradigm that maximizes benefits to personal wellbeing while improving the landscape for other species. This article is part of the cross-journal, cross-society Special Feature on the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Ecosystems worldwide are under mounting stress from … Continue reading Restorative recreation: One landowner’s restoration experience in Iowa’s Loess Hills

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Forests, Grasslands, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Tropical riparian forests in danger from large savanna wildfires

In their latest research, Flores and colleagues combine satellite image analysis with detailed field assessments, to quantify the impact caused by large wildfires on riparian forests in the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park (CVNP). Large savanna wildfires are increasing across the tropics because of a synergism between climate change and unsustainable management practices. In Brazil, for instance, savannas of the Cerrado and Pantanal have recently … Continue reading Tropical riparian forests in danger from large savanna wildfires

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Research summaries

Hedging against biodiversity loss

Research recently published in Journal of Applied Ecology shows how hedgerows and road verges can host more plant species than corresponding woodland and grassland. Lead author, Thomas Vanneste and Associate Editor, Pieter De Frenne highlight what this means for managers and policymakers. Hedgerows and road verges are important habitats across the globe. Road verges cover an estimated 270,000 km² (0.2 %) of the earth’s land … Continue reading Hedging against biodiversity loss

Journal of Applied Ecology5 Comments
Grasslands, Pollinators, Research summaries

Are flowers enough for preserving pollinators?

Research from Buckles and Harmon-Threatt explores how prairie management strategies can affect pollinator communities both directly and indirectly, highlighting why we shouldn’t ignore what’s happening below ground. Associate Editor, Guadalupe Peralta elaborates. A Spanish version of this post is available here. Most efforts to preserve pollinators are focused on maintaining or increasing the range of flowering plants available. The reason behind this is clear: flowers … Continue reading Are flowers enough for preserving pollinators?

Journal of Applied Ecology2 Comments
Grasslands, Research summaries, Restoration

The context dependencies of how spillover from remnant grasslands enhances plant diversity in restorations

New research from Sperry et al. provides insights into prairie restoration practice. Associate Editor, Lars Brudvig explains more. Grasslands, including North American prairies, are widely restored through seed sowing onto abandoned agricultural lands. This approach to restoration holds great promise for promoting grassland biodiversity, yet restored prairies typically harbor fewer plant species than remnants without a history of agriculture, and plant diversity tends to decline … Continue reading The context dependencies of how spillover from remnant grasslands enhances plant diversity in restorations

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Grasslands, Journal covers, Restoration

Cover stories: recovering beauty

Our August cover image by Guiyao Zhou (East China Normal University) shows how livestock grazing activities potentially alter many ecosystem functions such as carbon sequestration. But these effects can be markedly regulated by the associated global change factors (e.g., warming, nitrogen addition and drought). Here Guiyao shares the story behind the cover image and the grassland ecosystem work it represents.  These photos were taken in Wayan mountain, a very beautiful alpine meadow … Continue reading Cover stories: recovering beauty

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Editor's Choice, Grasslands, Journal covers

Cover stories: red deer for grassland conservation

Our latest cover photo, taken by Marcus Meißner shows a red deer stag amidst an area of common broom the Grafenwöhr military training area (GTA), Germany. Besides disturbances caused by military training activities and mechanical land management, grazing by wild red deer contributes to maintaining open habitats on GTA. Friederike Riesch, lead author of the corresponding article, Grazing by wild red deer: Management options for … Continue reading Cover stories: red deer for grassland conservation

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Editor's Choice, Grasslands

Editor’s Choice 56:6 -Wild and free: red deer grazing for conservation

Issue 56:6’s Editor’s Choice article demonstrates how a ‘hands-off’ approach and grazing by wild ungulates can be just as effective as livestock when it comes to managing grassland biomass – given the specific contexts are considered. Annabel Smith and Jana Eccard share highlights from the research by Friederike Riesch and colleagues, Grazing by wild red deer: Management options for the conservation of semi‐natural open habitats. … Continue reading Editor’s Choice 56:6 -Wild and free: red deer grazing for conservation

Journal of Applied Ecology2 Comments
Grasslands, Research summaries

Traditional management systems maintain phylogenetically distinct rare species in semi-natural grasslands

Based on their research in Japan, Kei Uchida and colleagues, highlight why traditional land-use practices need to be upheld if we are to support biodiversity and rare species in semi-natural grasslands. We live in an era of rapidly changing land use. Semi-natural grasslands on the margins of agricultural lands were previously maintained by traditional extensive management practices. But, more recently, a decline in traditional land-use … Continue reading Traditional management systems maintain phylogenetically distinct rare species in semi-natural grasslands

Journal of Applied Ecology1 Comment
Agriculture, Research summaries, Video

U.S. policy-based management improves grassland bird nest survival – although finer-scale habitat has superior predictive ability

In a recent study, Justin Shew and colleagues found nest survival improved with policy-based management and establishing native grasses but conclude finer-scale details often have superior predictive ability from a multi-scale perspective. Read more about their findings here. A video summary of their work is also available. Grassland and farmland bird populations have been declining around the world and these declines are primarily attributed to … Continue reading U.S. policy-based management improves grassland bird nest survival – although finer-scale habitat has superior predictive ability

Journal of Applied Ecology2 Comments