Rangeland Ecology II (000027)

Overview

This course is designed to provide participants with an in-depth evaluation of contemporary and emerging issues in rangeland and ecology and management. The course will use rangeland theoretical framework and concepts to review, evaluate and issues that are tabled. A small panel of experts will use workshop format to set the agenda, and prioritize issues for discussion.

 For the current year, the cadre will address ecological foundations and applications of alternative procedures used to evaluate and manage rangeland vegetation. The cadre will compare conventional interpretation of continuous and reversible vegetation change with the alternative interpretation advocating discontinues and non-reversible vegetation change. The course will emphasize state-and-transition models, ecological thresholds and rangeland health procedures. Also, the course will explore ecological threshold concepts, by evaluating their ecological foundation, identifying specific threshold components, and assessing the parallel development of state-and-transition models.

Objectives

• Describe the ecological processes driving vegetation changes
• Evaluate the strength and weakness of Clementsian success theory
• Discuss the ecological foundation of NRCS framework for development of state and transition models
• Develop and interpret state and transition models for ecological site descriptions
• Interpret and apply ecological site descriptions
• Analyze and interpret and rangeland health procedures

Prerequisites

Duration

3 days

Target Audience

Natural Resources Conservation Service personnel who need to understand the state of science of range ecology and those working with rangeland, pastureland, grazeable woodland and native pasture.

NEDC Contact

Stanley Sackeyfio, Training Specialist

Technical Specialist

George Peacock, Grazing Lands Team Leader, CNTSC

Enrollment

Go to AgLearn to request enrollment in Rangeland Ecology II (000027).