Mountain Meadow Function and Ecosystem Services
Ken Tate, UC Davis http://rangelandwatersheds.ucdavis.edu Mountain Meadow Function and Ecosystem Services
Mountain meadows in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade represent a small portion of the landscape, but provide a large number of critical services to the region. • Filter pollutants in runoff • Habitat for unique plants and animals • Grow forage • Sequester carbon and other nutrients • Flood plain
Meadow Functions Functioning Meadows Provide Ecosystem Services
• Clean, reliable water supply • Biodiversity • Agricultural productivity • Climate regulation • Flood attenuation Plant Diversity
Meadow Aspen (74.7)
2.5 a a (1.54) (1.63)
2.0 Conifer b Meadow 1.5 (0.64) (94.8)
1.0
Diversity
Shannon-Weiner 0.5
p < 0.0001 0.0 Aspen Conifer Meadow Community Type Meadow forage quality can be very high – particularly in moist meadows.
15% 10%
5%
Crude Protein
Dry Meadow Wet Meadow Meadow plant diversity, productivity, forage quality, and consumption by livestock are positively correlated.
Diversity
Forage Livestock Quality Utilization
Productivity These functions and services are dependent upon the overall hydrologic function of the meadow and associated stream.
• Erosion, sediment generation, reduced filtration
• Lowered water table, drier conditions, reduced diversity and production
• Loss of carbon and other nutrients
• Channelized flow, reduced floodplain access Attenuation of pollutants in runoff is reduced by channelization of flow through wetlands.
100 Functioning wetland Channelized wetland 80
60
40
20
0
Percent reduction -20
-40
Total P PO4-P -60 E. coli Sediment NO3-N Total N (TSS) How meadow function and services are lost, and recovered
Meadow location along the degradation pathway
Services Provided
Degradation Many watershed and meadow scale scale and meadow Many watershed
Services Provided degradation. can drive stressors Shifts in plant species plant in Shifts deposition Sediment erosion Excessive banks Unstable Degradation Services Provided Management effortanreverse degradation at this stage. atthis degradation Degradation Grazing Management Example: Time spent managing livestock utilization of riparian areas improves stream health
30 StreamTotal Taxa Insect Richness 25
20 Cobble Gravel
Number of Taxa Fines 15 0 10 20 30 40 Livestock Distribution Effort (days/yr) reaches a threshol d, or tipping point. d,ortipping reaches athreshol
Services Provided themeadow enoughstress, With Degradation as many services. as many support cannot which state, new a to can transition meadow the intervention, immediate Without is required to return the meadow to a more to meadow the to return is required Once crossed, significant effort and cost and effort Once crossed,significant Services Provided Degradation functional state. move forward to meet these shared goals. shared these meet to forward move and activities, these with goals multiple meet to how Today Services Provided – Discuss restoration of degraded meadows, meadows, degraded of restoration Discuss Degradation ? California Rangeland Watershed Laboratory http://rangelandwatersheds.ucdavis.edu