The year 2019 marked the 30th anniversary of the publication of the seminal paper by Mark Westoby, Brian Walker and (the late) Imanuel Noy-Meir that introduced the state-and-transition concept to rangeland ecology. To mark the anniversary this virtual issue has been compiled from papers published in The Rangeland Journal that have drawn on that concept. Brian Walker and Mark Westoby have generously provided the introduction.

Despite expansion of the global protected area network, biodiversity decline continues, and inappropriate grazing management is a key contributor. In this study, semi-arid rangeland where periods of planned rest were incorporated into the commercial grazing regime (rotational grazing) had similar plant richness and diversity to areas managed for conservation (ungrazed by commercial livestock) and exceeded that of continuously grazed areas. Our findings support the adoption of rotational grazing management to improve biodiversity conservation outside the reserve system without sacrificing socio-economic outcomes.

Rangelands can be found in multiple vegetation states, with transitions representing the paths between each state. A rangeland monitoring dataset from Western Australia was examined to identify contemporary transitions. The number of transitions was low and was more frequent in grassland than shrubland systems.

This paper describes a conceptual framework that is intended to allow the identification of biodiversity conservation priorities at a landscape scale. The framework has been developed to meet the needs of conservation planning in South Australia’s arid rangelands, and its application is illustrated in the context of Witjira National Park in the north of the State.

Shrub encroachment is a new threat to the unique pastoral grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau. Our model, which focuses on ecohydrological feedbacks, suggests that recent shrub encroachment may be an indirect response to climate warming via an extended growing season and the competitive escape of specific shrub species, as indicated by an advancing shrubline. Under high intensity of grazing, only herding by more browsers can prevent both shrub encroachment and the complete loss of herbaceous vegetation.

Recurrent socio-productive and environmental problems in rural regions are at the focus of demands from policy makers to develop more integrated and problem-oriented solutions. We suggest the application of the state-and-transition approach at a household level, by considering five types of capital that typically comprise social-ecological systems: natural, human, manufactured, social and financial. This framework can give rise to an operative tool for social-ecological vulnerability analysis and monitoring in arid and semi-arid agro-ecosystems.

Ten years after restoration via mechanical intervention and direct seeding, severely degraded (scalded) areas continue to support patchy recruitment of Maireana pyramidata over A. vesicaria low shrubland. This investigation detected improved cover and abundance of perennial direct seeded and wild-sourced species in the furrow. Depending on the species, the furrow supported increased germination of seedlings, or survival of mature and/or reproductive plants. By identifying species likely to benefit from the altered microtopography of the soil we can maximise our investment in future restoration programs.

Poorly managed grazing pressure can degrade pastures and cause pastoralists economic hardship. We subjected poplar box and ironbark eucalypt woodlands in the Aristida/Bothriochloa native pasture community in Queensland to four different grazing pressures over 8 years with half the paddocks recently cleared. Increasing grazing pressure reduced pasture mass, pasture crown cover and ground cover, and reduced the proportion of important forages Themeda triandra and Dichanthium sericeum and undesirable Aristida species. Sustained high grazing pressure resulted in poor pasture production and composition.