Remediation Research in the Jornada Basin: Past and Future

TitleRemediation Research in the Jornada Basin: Past and Future
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication2006
AuthorsHerrick JE, Havstad K, Rango A.
EditorHavstad K, Huenneke L., Schlesinger W.H
Book TitleStructure and Function of a Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem: The Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research Site
Chapter14
Pagination278-304
PublisherOxford University Press
CityNew York, NY
ARIS Log Number159647
KeywordsChihuahuan Desert, Jornada Basin, LTER, synthesis book
AbstractLand degradation in most of the Chihuahuan Desert is characterized by a shift from grass- to shrub-dominated plant communities. Consequently, most remediation efforts are focused on grassland restoration. Early experiments and trials focused on grazing management. Beginning in the 1930's and continuing through the 1980's, various methods of shrub control were evaluated. Early investigators had an intuitive and practical understanding of the system in which they worked. They saw the individual limitations to grassland recovery and attempted to address them. In order to be more successful than they were, we must begin to work at spatial and temporal scales relevant to the processes we hope to affect and target our interventions to those locations and during those periods when the processes are most susceptible to change. We must also, as the earlier workers did, simultaneously target multiple processes with the objective of increasing the resistance and resilience of the modified ecosystems.
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