TABLE of CONTENTS: Vol

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Vol. 42, No. 4, July 1989 ARTICLES Plant Ecology 266 Opportunistic management for rangelands not at equilibrium by Mark Westoby, Brian Walker, and Imanuel Noy-Meir 275 Soil climate and plant community relationsbips on some rangelands of northeastern Nevada by Mark E. Jensen 281 Tree canopy effects on herbaceous production of annual rangeland during drought by William E. Frost and Neil K. McDougald 284 Response of a semidesert grassland to 16 years of rest from grazing by W.W. Brady, M.R. Stromberg, E.F. Aldon, C.D. Bonham, and S.H. Henry 289 Establishment of seven high yielding grasses on the Texas High Plains by K.L. Marietta and C.M. Britton 295 Succession of secondary shrubs on Ashe juniper communities after dozing and prescribed burning by G. Allen Rasmussen and Henry A. Wright Plant Phvsioloav 299 Characterization of seed germination and seedling survival during the initial wet-dry periods following planting by Gary W. Frasier 304 Seed viability of alpine species: variability within and among years by Jeanne C. Chambers 309 Rooting characteristics of four intermountain meadow community types by Mary E. Manning, Sherman R. Swanson, Tony Svejcar, and James Trent 312 Survival and agronomic performance of 25 alfalfa cultivars and strains interseeded into rangeland by J.D. Berdahl, A.C. Wilton, and A.B. Frank 316 Variability for Ca, Mg, K, Cu, Zn, and K/Ca + Mg) ratio among 3 wheatgrasses and sainfoin on the southern high plains by S.P. Kidambi, A.G. Matches, and T.C. Griggs 323 Nutrient composition of selected emergent macrophytes in Northern Prairie wetlands by Donald R. Kirby, Douglas M. Green, and Thomas S. Mings Improvements 327 Response of established forages on reclaimed mined land to fertilizer N and P by J.D. Reeder and W.J. McGinnies 332 Vegetational response to herbicide treatment for brush control In Tanza- nia by Dioniz N. Msafiri and Rex D. Pieper Published bimonthly-January, March, Grazing Management May, July, September, November 337 Some effects of a rotational grazing treatment on cattle grazing behavior Copyright 1989 by the Society for Range by John W. Walker and Rodney K. Heitschmidt Management 343 A cow-calf vs yearling substitution ratio for shortgrass steppe by L. lNDlVlDUALSUBSCRlPTlONisbymembershipin the Society for Range Management. Forero, L.R. Rittenhouse, and J.E. Mitchell LIBRARY or other INSTITUTIONAL SUBSCRIP- 346 Bio-economic evaluation of stocking rate and supplementary feeding of a TIONS on a calendar year basis are $58.00 for the beef herd by N.G. Seligman, I. Noy-Meir, and M. Gutman United States postpaid and $88.99 for other coun- tries, postpaid. Payment from outside the United States should be remitted in US dollars by interna- BOOK REVIEWS tional money order or draft on a New York bank. by BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE, concerning sub- 349 Aspen Ecology and Management edited Norbert V. DeByle and Robert scriptions. advertising, reprints, back issues, and P. Winokur; Ecology: Individuals, Populations and Communities by related matters, should be addressed to the Manag- Michael Begon, John L. Harper, and Colin R. Townsend; A Handbook of ing Editor, 1839 York Street, Denver, Colorado Mexican Roahide Fiora by Charles T. Mason Jr. and Patricia B. Mason 80298. EDITORIALCORRESPONDENCE, concerningmanu- scriptsorothereditorial matters,should be addressed to the Editor, 1839 York Street, Denver, Colorado 80206. INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS appear on the inside back cover of most issues. A Style Manual is also available from the Society for Range Manage- ment at theaboveaddress@$298forsinglecopies; $1.25 each for 2 or more. THE JOURNAL OF RANGE MANAGEMENT (ISSN 0022499X) is published six times yearly for $58.00 per year by the Society for Range Management, 1839 York Street, Denver, Colorado 80208. SECOND CLASS POSTAGE paidat Denver,Colorado. POSTMASTBA: Rotum mth journal wlth lddrou change-RETURN POSTAGE GUARANTEED-to Society for Range Management, 1839 York Street, Denver, Colorado 80206. ManagIng Editor ASSOCIATE EDITORS PETER V. JACKSON Ill DON C. ADAMS RICHARD H. HART BRUCE ROUNDY 1839 York Street USDA ARS USDA-ARS 325 Biological Sciences Denver, Colorado 80298 Livestock 8 Range Research 8408 Hildreth Rd. East Building, Univ. Arizona Rt 1. Box3 Cheyenne, Wyoming 82989 Tucson, Arizona 85721 Edttor Miles City, Montana 59301 PATRICIA G. SMITH RODNEY HEITSCHMIDT DAVID M. SWIFT Society for Range Management WILL BLACKBURN Box 1858 Natural Resources Ecology 1839 York Street N.W. Watershed Res. Center Vernon, Texas 78384 Colorado State University Denver, Colorado 80298 270 South Orchard Ft. Collins, Colorado 89523 PETE W. JACOBY, JR. (303) 355-7070 Boise, Idaho 83705 P.O. Box 1858 PAUL TUELLER Book Rwlew Edltor CARLTON BRITTON Vernon, Texas 78384 Range Wildlife & Forestry GRANT A. HARRIS Range&Wildlife Mgmt UNR loo0 Valley Road Forestry and Range Management Texas Tech University HOWARD MORTON Rena, Nevada 89512 2998 E. Allen Road Washington State University Lubbock, Texas 79499 STEVE WHISENANT Pullman, Washington 991848410 Tucson, Arizona 85719 TIMOTHY E. FULBRIGHT Texas A&M Univesity College of Agriculture Dept. of Range Science Texas A&l College Station, Texas 77843-2128 POB 158. Sta. 1 Kingsville. Texas 78383 Opportunistic management for rangelands not at equilibrium MARK WESTOBY, BRIAN WALKER, AND IMANUEL NOY-MEIR We diiuss what concepts or models should be used to organixe ory, but rather to develop alternative ways of formulating existing research and management on rangelands. The traditional range knowledge for purposes of management. The state-and-transition succession model is associated with the management objective of model is the alternative we consider. We discuss how research and achieving an quilfbrlum condition under an quilibrium graxing management would be affected if the state-and-transition model policy. In contrast, the state-and-transition model would describe were to be widely used instead of the range succession model. rangelands by means of catalogues of alternative states and cata- The Range Succession Model logues of possible transitions between states. Transitions often rquire a combination of clbnatlc clrcumstmces and management The successional approach to range management derives from action (e.g., fire, graxing, or removal of graxing) to bring them Clementsian ideas of plant ecology (Clements 1916, Weaver and about. The cntalogue of transitions would describe these combina- Clements 1938, Tobey 198 I). It was suggested very early (Sampson tions as fully as possible. Circumstances which allow favorable 1917,1919). US government agencies developed it into a practical transitions represent opportunities. Circumstances which threaten system of range classification. In the 1940’s and 1950’s it became unfnvorable transitions represent haxards. Under the state-and- fiily established as the consensus of the range management pro- transition model, range management would not see itself as estal~ fession, expressed in the first 2 editions of Stoddart and Smith llshlng a permanent quilibrium. Rather, it would see itself as (1943, l955), in the masterly review by Ellison (1960), and in a engaged in a continuing game, the object of which ls to seize series of conceptual papers in the journals of the profession opportunities and to evade huards, so far as possible. The empha- (Humphrey 1945; Dyksterhuis 1949, 1958; Parker 1954; Hanson sls would be on timing and flexibility rather than on establishing a 1957). fixed policy. Research under the state-and-transition model would The model supposes a given rangeland has a single persistent aim to improve the catrlogues. Frquencfes of relevant clhnatlc state (the climax) in the absence of grazing. Succession towards circumstances would be estimated. Hypotheses about transitions this climax is a steady process. Grazing pressure produces changes would be tested experimentally. Often such experiments would which are also progressive and are in the opposite direction to the need to be planned so that they could be implemented at short successional tendency. Therefore the grazing pressure can be made notice, at an unknown futuretime when the relevant circumstances equal and opposite to the successional tendency, producing an ulse. equilibrium in the vegetation at a set stocking rate. A sustainable yield of livestock products can be harvested from such an equili- Key Words: equilibrium, climax, succession, models brium. All possible states of the vegetation can be arrayed on a Applied ecology disciplines such as range management necessar- single continuum (Fig. la) from heavily-grazed, early-successional, ily are organized around a model as to how their ecosystem func- poor condition, to ungrazed, climax, excellent condition. Condi- tions. By a model we mean a system of concepts, generalizations, or tion is the technical term for the vegetation’s position on this assumptions. The model guides what data are collected, and how continuum. Trend is the term for the vegetation’s travel along the that information is assembled so as to arrive at management deci- continuum, Much research effort has been devoted, and still is, to sions. This paper discusses the choice of models for managing developing methods for assessing and monitoring condition and rangelands. The discussion will contrast 2 clearly distinct models trend on particular rangelands. Under the range succession model which we will call the “range succession model”and the “state-and- the object of management is to choose a stocking rate which transition model”. However it should be understood that these establishes a long-term balance between the pressure of grazing represent 2 ends of a spectrum of possibilities. By contrasting the and the successional tendency. extremes, we hope to bring out the issues clearly. The model recognizes that vegetation is affected when rainfall Up to the present most range managers have been taught con- varies from year to year. A balance between the pressure of grazing cepts much closer to the range succession model than to the state- and the successional tendency of the vegetation can not produce a and-transition model (Lewis l%9, Tueller 1973, Heady 1975, completely unvarying equilibrium.

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