Virtual Issues

Rangeland Dynamics and State and Transition Models: an Enduring Conceptual and Practical Framework

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 management. The Westoby et al. paper provided a new approach to describing vegetation dynamics in rangelands. In particular, the paper eloquently provided an alternative to existing paradigms of linear vegetation change that were unable to account for field observations of irreversible vegetation change.

Importantly, the language used to describe state and transition models was aimed at management rather than ecological theory. The concepts were rapidly adopted by rangeland scientists and managers across the world and have led to hundreds of subsequent papers applying state and transition models. They have also been implemented by agencies (e.g. USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service) in the day to day management of rangelands.

To mark the anniversary of the Westoby et al. paper, this virtual issue has been compiled from papers published in The Rangeland Journal which have drawn on their concepts. Brian Walker and Mark Westoby have generously provided an editorial article that reflects on their early thinking behind state and transition models and commentary on its evolution over the past 30 years.

Andrew Ash and Ron Hacker

Grazing and Biodiversity – The Positive Side

The adverse effects of poorly managed grazing on biodiversity and ecosystem function are attested by much scientific literature. This weight of evidence, leading to a generally negative view of grazing as an ecological factor, tends to overshadow the evidence for beneficial effects of properly managed grazing. This compilation of papers presents examples from around the world of the benefits of properly managed grazing for conservation of biodiversity.

Managing the World’s Rangelands: Future Strategies and Socio-economic Implications

Rangelands in their diverse forms occupy about 70% of the Earth’s inhabited land area and support about 15% of the population. While productivity is low they have greater potential than most other regions to provide essential ecosystem services to a growing global population with minimal disruption of natural processes. This potential for sustainable land use is under threat from many pressures – biophysical, economic and political – and its realisation will require responses across all of these dimensions.

The articles in this virtual issue provide examples from the world’s rangelands of the pressures opposing sustainable land use, potential policy responses appropriate to local socio-ecological systems, and technical developments that will underpin sustainable land use. This broad scope is a deliberate editorial response to the multifaceted challenge of securing sustainable use of the world’s rangelands. The Australian Rangeland Society, together with The Rangeland Journal’s editors and publishers, hope that this collection of articles will extend awareness of the scale and complexity of the challenge and stimulate ongoing contributions.