@conference {JRN54913,
	title = {A Tale of Two Thresholds: Mistakes and Serendipity in a Desert Grassland},
	booktitle = {Ecosystems},
	year = {2018},
	month = {08/2018},
	publisher = {Ecological Society of America},
	organization = {Ecological Society of America},
	address = {New Orleans, LA},
	abstract = {<p>Semiarid grasslands have crossed thresholds to shrub-dominated states due to heavy grazing episodes and their after-effects. Extreme weather events and restoration actions can catalyze varying degrees of grass recovery. While we understand these thresholds in biophysical terms, we have scarcely explored their ultimate societal causes. I will reconstruct thought processes underpinning historical desertification events on the Jornada Experimental Range, including some recent first-hand experiences. I also describe how such {\textquotedblleft}mental models{\textquotedblright} underpin restoration success. Given the large management extents and heterogeneity inherent to drylands, I argue that appropriate mental models are the most important tools we have to manage thresholds.</p>
},
	author = {Brandon T Bestelmeyer}
}
