Biodiversity of Rangelands

J. Range Manage. 46:2-13, January 1993 Invited Synthesis Paper NEIL E. WEST has offered his Oregon Forest Research Lab in Corvallis, West decided to relocate overview of how the issues of biodi- to the drier terrain of Utah. West has been at Utah State Univer- versity may influence planning, re- sity, Logan, most of the time since 1964. L.A. Stoddart and C.W. search,and managementof rangelands. Cook were important early mentors. He has tried to overcome his Neil grew up on a cattle and sheep western biases by spending a semester or more at the University of ranch in southern Oregon. He went to Georgia; Yale University; Adelaide University, South Australia; Oregon State Universitywith the inten- and Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. tion of becoming a chemist. His career West has chosen the difficult and often unappreciated profes- was irrevocably changed, however, sional task of attempting to keep up with the output of theoretical when he learned, in an introductory synecologists and translating the applicable portions to the zoology class, about the outdoor orien- improvement of rangeland management. His current efforts focus tation of the then esoteric science of on the scientific underpinnings of sustainability, desertification, ecology. He attained a B.S. in general science and continued monitoring of trend and interpretation of rangeland condition. directly into a Ph.D. program in plant ecology at OSU. His doc- Unless his wife Alexa can dissuade him otherwise, Neil is usually to toral work focused on the effects of fire exclusion on ponderosa be found each weekend sampling the aquatic and upland ecosys- pine forests in central Oregon. After a short assignment at the tems of the Intermountain regions behind a gun or fishing rod. Biodiversity of rangelands NEIL E. WEST Author is professor, Range Science Department; Utah State University, Logan 84322-5230. Abstract Biodiversity is a multifaceted phenomenon involving the variety Ungulate grazing is an important process in many ecosystems. of organisms present, the genetic differences among them, and the Thus, removal of grazing destabilizes some systems. Livestock communities, ecosystems, and landscape patterns in which they grazing will actually increase the chances of survival of some occur. Society will increasingly value biodiversity and influence the species. Moderate livestock grazing can also enhance community passage of laws and writing of regulations involving biodiversity and landscape-level diversity in many instances. which rangeland managers will have to abide by over the coming Attention is now shifting from "charismatic"species to defen- decades. Even private and developing world rangelands will be sively managing larger tracts of land with habitat or ecosystems affected. holding suites of sensitive species. Since some accelerated extinc- While taxonomic knowledge of vertebrates and vascular plants tion of isolated populations and species is inevitable, we need to and their abundance, rarity, and distribution, in the developed know which species and ecotypes are most valuable. Understand- nations is generally adequate, the same cannot be said of the ing of modular, guild, and functional group structure would also developing world. Furthermore, adequate knowledge of inverte- help us identify keystone or critical link species and better focus brates, nonvascular plants, and microbes is deficient everywhere. our attention on truly important tracts of land where they live. Although the basis of variation at all higher levels, genetic It is probably more important to sustain soils and ecosystem variation within rangeland species, even the major ones, has barely processes than any randomly selected species, especially if func- been assessed. Obtaining statistically adequate data on popula- tionally redundant species can be identified. Similarly, not all tions of rare species that are small and secretive is well nigh introduced, alien, or exotic species are equal threats; it depends on impossible. how they fit into ecosystems. Sustainable development will depend We have many means of measuring community diversity, but all on finding balance between use and protection, from range sites to of them are value laden. That is, choice of variables to measure and landscapes, and even on a global basis. how they are indexed betrays what we consider are important. We Key Words: extinction, invasion, keystone species, functional should be more forthright in stating to the users the biases of these groups, guilds, critical link species, sustainability, fragmentation, methods. There are many other, more useful ways to describe National Forest Management Act, Surface Mining Control and community-level diversity besides the tradtional focus on species. Reclamation Act Manuscript accepted 5 Sept. 1992. 2 JOURNAL OF RANGE MANAGEMENT 46(1), January 1993 The threat of global environmental change, accelerated species sity is rather like an optical illusion, the more it is looked at, the less extinctions, and changing societal values has caused biodiversity to clearly defined it appears to be and viewing it from different angles become a topic that has captured the attention of the public as well can lead to different perceptions of what is involved. " Peters (1991) as the scientific community (Anon. 199la). Laws regulating biodi- further warns that biodiversity should not be viewed as a single versity have been passed and more legislation is being proposed. phenomenon, but as a "concept cluster". Stability and sustainabil- Even if no new laws are passed, it appears that further expansion of ity are also related concept clusters; thus if these notions are regulations and enforcement will have considerable effects on how combined with biodiversity, particularly complex issues arise. rangelands will be managed in coming decades. Although the Genetic Diversity alteration of management because of concerns for biodiversity will Each plant, animal, and microbial species occurring on range- occur first on federal lands in the western U.S., the management of lands has variation in its DNA-based genetic structure over space private rangelands will also probably be increasingly influenced by and time. Genetic diversity found within species is the ultimate regulations involving biodiversity. Indeed, even the style of assist- source of biodiversity at higher levels, determining how species ance in developing nations is being changed by concerns for biodi- interact with their environments and each other. Generally, the versity from the World Bank and the governments of donor or shorter the life span and the greater the role of sexual reproduction, assisting nations (McNeely et al. 1989). Thus, all those concerned the greater the genetic variation, although other features such as with rangeland management worldwide will eventually become mating systems (Pimm 1991) may influence these traits. While influenced by this issue. We can either wait for the influences to range scientists have long recognized the importance of empirically become evident and react after regulations are in place or we can identifying ecotypes of important plants used in planting efforts, become proactive. If rangeland management professionals are to the genetic reasons for these differences are only beginning to be have any input to the writing of laws and regulations or redirection investigated. Durant McArthur's work with sagebrushes (Artemi- of monitoring and research programs, they must understand what sia spp.) and Douglas Dewey's work with wheatgrasses and rye- biodiversity is, why it is valued, and how its monitoring and grasses (Triticeae tribe of grasses) are notable exceptions. Less regulation will influence future rangeland policies and manage- conspicuous and less economically important species have rarely ment practices. had their genetic structure considered. Fortunately, new tech- Biodiversity Defined niques are becoming available to accelerate this type of work in the future. The broadest concept of diversity is that of variety. Although environmental variety includes physical, chemical, topographic, Species Populations edaphic (soils), and meteorological (climatic) factors, mankind is As mankind has gained increasing power to change the bio- usually most interested in the variety of other organisms. In simpl- sphere, there is little doubt that rates of extinction have begun to est terms, biological diversity (hereafter shortened to biodiversity), greatly exceed rates of evolution of new species (Ehrlich and Wil- is the variety of life and its processes, including the variety of living son 1991). Because of the inertia of various human tendencies now organisms, the genetic differences among them, the communities, in place, loss of many more species is inevitable (Holdgate 1991). ecosystems, and landscapes in which they occur, plus the interac- The majority of the world's species are naturally rare (Williams tions of these components (Fig. 1). Some (Salwasser 1991, Gomez- 1964), many being relicts from former times with different envi- Pompa and Kaus 1992) would add the local peoples, their culture, ronments. About half of the world's species, mostly insects, occur and their "indigenous knowledge" to the list of what should be in the tropics. The reputation of the world's drylands as having low retained. The definition used here is considerably broader than biodiversity is, however, false (Cody 1989, Pimm and Gittleman that used historically by biogeographers, community, and evolu- 1992). tionary ecologists.

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