Land Management Decisions Research Articles

A vertical profile imaging method for quantifying rock fragments in gravelly soil

Rock fragments (RFs) play an important role in soils that can influence land use and management decisions. Rock fragment concentrations most often are visually estimated (VE) in the field, for which accuracy strongly depends on experience and practice of soil classifiers. The direct measurement (DM) method is more accurate, but is costly and labor-intensive. Due to its importance, a simple and inexpensive method for estimating RF concentrations without destructive soil sampling is necessary. The development of camera technology and digital image processing provide an opportunity for soil descriptions and quantitative analyses using an alternative soil profile imaging (PI) method. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the potential for RF concentration estimation using a PI method as compared to the VE and DM methods. Apart from VE and DM, different image processing procedures inside the PI method were compared in a natural, gravelly, alluvial profile (Entisol) with low contrast among RFs in order to develop an alternative and efficient RF quantification method. Results showed that the hue-saturation-value (HSV) color model performed better than the red-greenblue color model for identifying RFs. The proposed profile imaging method accurately segmented 84.9% of the RFs from the soil matrix. The PI had a greater correlation with DM (r = 0.81) compared to the VE method (r = 0.78). Results showed that the alternative PI method could be used to accurately and efficiently estimate RF concentrations in a natural, gravelly soil profile with low contrast among RFs.

How Will Climate Change Affect the Provision and Value of Water from Public Lands in Southern California Through the 21st Century?

AbstractWe estimate the ecosystem service value of water supplied by the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California under climate change projections through the 21st century. We couple water flow projections from a dynamic vegetation model with an economic demand model for residential water originating from the San Bernardino National Forest. Application of the method demonstrates how estimates of consumer welfare changes due to variation in water supply from public lands in Southern California can inform policy and land management decisions. Results suggest variations in welfare changes over time due to alterations in the projected water supply surpluses, shifting demand limited by water supply shortages or surpluses, and price increases. Results are sensitive to future climate projections—in some cases large decreases in welfare due to supply shortages—and to assumptions about the demand model.

Addressing the spatial disconnect between national-scale total maximum daily loads and localized land management decisions.

Regulatory watershed mitigation programs typically emphasize widespread adoption of best management practices (BMPs) to meet total maximum daily load (TMDL) goals. To comply with the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, jurisdictions must develop watershed implementation plans (WIPs) to determine the number and type of BMPs to implement. However, the spatial resolution of the bay‐level model used to determine these load reduction goals is so coarse that the regulatory plan cannot consider heterogeneity in local conditions, which affects BMP effectiveness. Using the Topo‐SWAT modification of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), we simulated two BMP adoption scenarios in the Spring Creek watershed in central Pennsylvania to determine if leveraging fine‐scale spatial heterogeneity to place BMPs could achieve the same (or better) nutrient and sediment reduction at a lower cost than the state‐level WIP BMP adoption recommendations. Topo‐SWAT was initialized with detailed land use and management practice information, systematically calibrated, and validated against 12 yr of observed data. After determining individual BMP cost effectiveness, results were ranked to design a cost‐effective BMP adoption scenario that achieved equal or greater load reduction as the WIP scenario for 74% of the cost using eight management‐based BMPs: no‐till, manure injection, cover cropping, riparian buffers, land retirement, manure application timing, wetland restoration, and nitrogen management (15% less N input). Because watersheds of this size typically represent the smallest modeling unit in the Chesapeake Bay Model, results demonstrate the potential to use watershed models with finer inference scales to improve recommendations for BMP implementation under the Chesapeake Bay TMDL.

A Knowledge Brokering Framework for Integrated Landscape Management

Sustainable land management is at the heart of some of the most intractable challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. It is critical for tackling biodiversity loss, land degradation, climate change and the decline of ecosystem services. It underpins food production, livelihoods, dietary health, social equity, climate change adaptation and many other outcomes. However, interdependencies, trade-offs, time lags and non-linear responses make it difficult to predict the combined effects of land management decisions . Policy decisions also have to be made in the context of conflicting interests, values and power dynamics of those living on the land and those affected by the consequences of land use decisions. This makes designing and coordinating effective land management policies and programmes highly challenging. The difficulty is exacerbated by the scarcity of reliable data on the impacts of land management on the environment and livelihoods. This poses a challenge for policymakers and practitioners in governments, development banks, non-governmental organisations and other institutions. It also sets demands for researchers, who are under ever increasing pressure from funders to demonstrate uptake and impact of their work. Relatively few research methods exist that can address such questions in a holistic way. Decision makers and researchers need to work together to help untangle, contextualise and interpret fragmented evidence through systems approaches to make decisions in spite of uncertainty. Individuals and institutions acting as knowledge brokers can support these interactions by facilitating the co-creation and use of scientific and other knowledge. Given the patchy nature of data and evidence, particularly in developing countries, it is important to draw on the full range of available models, tools and evidence. In this paper we review the use of evidence to inform multiple-objective integrated landscape management policies and programmes, focusing on how to achieve multiple sustainable development objectives across diverse landscapes. We set out key success factors for evidence-based decision-making, which are summarised into ten key principles for integrated landscape management knowledge brokering and 12 key skills for knowledge brokers. We finally propose a decision-support framework to organise evidence that can be used to tackle different types of land management policy decision.

Mapping soil profile depth, bulk density and carbon stock in Scotland using remote sensing and spatial covariates

AbstractThe spatial distribution of soil organic carbon is an important factor in land management decision making, climate change mitigation and landscape planning. In Scotland, where approximately one‐quarter of the soils are peat, this information has usually been obtained using field survey and mapping, with digital soil mapping only carried out recently. Here a method is presented that integrates legacy survey data, recent monitoring work for peatland restoration surveys, spatial covariates such as topography and climate, and remote sensing data. The aim of this work was to provide estimates of the depth, bulk density and carbon concentration of Scotland's soils in order to allow more effective carbon stock mapping. A neural network model was used to integrate the existing data, and this was then used to generate a map of soil property estimates for carbon stock mapping at 100‐m resolution over Scotland. Accuracy assessment indicated that the depth mapping to the bottom of the organic layer was achieved with an r2 of .67, whereas carbon proportion and bulk density were estimated with an r2 of .63 and .79, respectively. Modelling of these three properties allowed estimation of soil carbon in mineral and organic soils in Scotland to a depth of 1 m (3,498 megatons) and overall (3,688 megatons).Highlights Scotland's soil organic carbon was mapped using a digital soil mapping approach. This provides a high‐resolution map available for scientists, regulatory bodies and policymakers. The method largely agreed with previous work but improved the spatial resolution of the mapping. Significant soil carbon stocks are held in both organic (peat) and non‐peat soils.

Planning for change? Assessing the integration of climate change and land-based livelihoods in Colorado BLM planning documents

Many western communities are surrounded by public lands that support land-based and local economies. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decision-making affects the vulnerability of those land-based livelihoods, especially in the context of climate change. We analyzed Colorado BLM planning documents to evaluate how they are considering climate change, sensitive resources, impacts, and land-based livelihoods in their planning processes using both quantitative word counts and qualitative coding. Documents published in recent years (2011–2015) include more mentions of climate change than older documents (1985–1997). However, the review showed that while climate change is discussed within the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) planning documents, the final Resource Management Plans contain few mentions of climate change. Further, there is minimal consideration of how climate change may impact land-based livelihoods. These results prompt questions about the planning process, how climate change considerations are integrated into the final documents, and how that impacts on-the-ground management. The review suggests a need for increased consideration of climate change throughout the BLM’s planning process so that landscapes can be managed with more attention and awareness to climate change and the associated impacts to resources and dependent communities.

Assessing the sensitivity and repeatability of permanganate oxidizable carbon as a soil health metric: An interlab comparison across soils

Soil organic matter is central to the soil health framework. Therefore, reliable indicators of changes in soil organic matter are essential to inform land management decisions. Permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), an emerging soil health indicator, has shown promise for being sensitive to soil management. However, strict standardization is required for widespread implementation in research and commercial contexts. Here, we used 36 soils—three from each of the 12 USDA soil orders—to determine the effects of sieve size and soil mass of analysis on POXC results. Using replicated measurements across 12 labs in the US and the EU (n = 7951 samples), we quantified the relative importance of 1) variation between labs, 2) variation within labs, 3) effect soil mass, and 4) effect of soil sieve size on the repeatability of POXC. We found a wide range of overall variability in POXC values across labs (0.03 to 171.8%; mean = 13.4%), and much of this variability was attributable to within-lab variation (median = 6.5%) independently of soil mass or sieve size. Greater soil mass (2.5 g) decreased absolute POXC values by a mean of 177 mg kg−1 soil and decreased analytical variability by 6.5%. For soils with organic carbon (SOC) >10%, greater soil mass (2.5 g) resulted in more frequent POXC values above the limit of detection whereas the lower soil mass (0.75 g) resulted in POXC values below the limit of detection for SOC contents <5%. A finer sieve size increased absolute values of POXC by 124 mg kg−1 while decreasing the analytical variability by 1.8%. In general, soils with greater SOC contents had lower analytical variability. These results point to potential standardizations of the POXC protocol that can decrease the variability of the metric. We recommend that the POXC protocol be standardized to use 2.5 g for soils <10% SOC. Sieve size was a relatively small contributor to analytical variability and therefore we recommend that this decision be tailored to the study purpose. Tradeoffs associated with these standardizations can be mitigated, ultimately providing guidance on how to standardize POXC for routine analysis.

Bridging the research-management gap: landscape science in practice on public lands in the western United States

ContextLandscape science relies on foundational concepts of landscape ecology and seeks to understand the physical, biological, and human components of ecosystems to support land management decision-making. Incorporating landscape science into land management decisions, however, remains challenging. Many lands in the western United States are federally owned and managed for multiple uses, including recreation, conservation, and energy development.ObjectiveWe argue for stronger integration of landscape science into the management of these public lands.MethodsWe open by outlining the relevance of landscape science for public land planning, management, and environmental effects analysis, including pertinent laws and policies. We identify challenges to integrating landscape science into public land management, including the multijurisdictional nature and complicated spatial pattern of public lands, the capacity of agencies to identify and fill landscape science needs, and perceptions about the meaning of landscape approaches to management.ResultsWe provide several recent examples related to landscape monitoring, restoration, reclamation, and conservation in which landscape science products were developed specifically to support decision-making.ConclusionsWe close by highlighting three actions—elevating the importance of science-management partnerships dedicated to coproducing actionable landscape science products, identifying where landscape science could foster efficiencies in the land-use planning process, and developing scenario-based landscape models for shrublands—that could improve landscape science support for public land planners and managers.

Regionalization of Coarse Scale Soil Moisture Products Using Fine-Scale Vegetation Indices—Prospects and Case Study

Surface soil moisture (SSM) plays a critical role in many hydrological, biological and biogeochemical processes. It is relevant to farmers, scientists, and policymakers for making effective land management decisions. However, coarse spatial resolution and complex interactions of microwave radiation with surface roughness and vegetation structure present limitations within active remote sensing products to directly monitor soil moisture variations with sufficient detail. This paper discusses a strategy to use vegetation indices (VI) such as greenness, water stress, coverage, vigor, and growth dynamics, derived from Earth Observation (EO) data for an indirect characterization of SSM conditions. In this regional-scale study of a wetland environment, correlations between the coarse Advanced SCATterometer-Soil Water Index (ASCAT-SWI or SWI) product and statistical measurements of four vegetation indices from higher resolution Sentinel-2 data were analyzed. The results indicate that the mean value of Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) correlates most strongly to the SWI and that the wet season vegetation traits show stronger linear relation to the SWI than during the dry season. The correlation between VIs and SWI was found to be independent of the underlying dominant vegetation classes which are not derived in real-time. Therefore, fine-scale vegetation information from optical satellite data convey the spatial heterogeneity missed by coarse synthetic aperture radar (SAR)-derived SSM products and is linked to the SSM condition underneath for regionalization purposes.

Characterization of a mine legacy site: an approach for environmental management and metals recovery

The characterization of historical mine tailings provides important information for land-management decisions, in particular when considering potential reprocessing activities or the development of an environmental protection program. In addition, outcomes from such characterization may define the scope for a more detailed investigation. The present work describes the characterization of the waste material from the Cabeço do Pião tailings impoundment performed within the project ReMinE: Improve Resource Efficiency and Minimize Environmental Footprint. The purpose of the work was to investigate alternative mine waste management options such as the extraction of valuable resources from an environmental liability. The study involved the collection of 41 samples at different locations at two different depths, physical and chemical characterization of the wastes, natural leaching tests, and potential for acid generation. The results showed that, apart from the potential instability of the dyke (with an average slope of 35°), the drained solutions flowing by percolation contain very small particles with high arsenic contents that are being incorporated into the river sediments. In addition, these very fine-grained materials are available for the transport by the wind creating secondary sources of environmental contamination. This data is fundamental for economic and environmental assessment of the two main alternatives, reprocessing or removal.

Long‐term hydrologic recovery after wildfire and post‐fire forest management in the interior Pacific Northwest

AbstractElevated wildfire activity in many regions in recent decades has increased concerns about the short‐ and long‐term effects on water quantity, quality, and aquatic ecosystem health. Often, loss of canopy interception and transpiration, along with changes in soil structural properties, leads to elevated total annual water yields, peak flows, and low flows. Post‐fire land management treatments are often used to promote forest regeneration and mitigate effects to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. However, few studies have investigated the longer‐term effects of either wildfire or post‐fire land management on catchment hydrology. Our objectives were to quantify and compare the short‐ and longer‐term effects of both wildfire and post‐fire forest management treatments on annual discharge, peak flows, low flows, and evapotranspiration (AET). We analyzed ten years of pre‐fire data, along with post‐fire data from 1 to 7 and 35 to 41 years after wildfire burned three experimental catchments in the Entiat Experimental Forest (EEF) in the Pacific Northwest, USA. After the fire, two of the catchments were salvage logged, aerially seeded, and fertilized, while the third catchment remained as a burned reference. We observed increases in annual discharge (150–202%), peak flows (234–283%), and low flows (42–81%), along with decreases in AET (34–45%), across all three study catchments in the first seven year period after the EEF wildfire. Comparatively, annual discharge, peak flows, lows flows, and AET had returned to pre‐fire levels 35–41 years after the EEF fire in the two salvage logged and seeded catchments. Surprisingly, in the catchment that was burned but not actively managed, the annual discharge and runoff ratios remained elevated, while AET remained lower, during the period 35–41 years after the EEF fire. We posit that differences in long‐term hydrologic recovery across catchments were driven by delayed vegetation recovery in the unmanaged catchment. Our study demonstrates that post‐fire land management decisions have the potential to produce meaningful differences in the long‐term recovery of catchment‐scale ecohydrologic processes and streamflow.

Inter-Seasonal Time Series Imagery Enhances Classification Accuracy of Grazing Resource and Land Degradation Maps in a Savanna Ecosystem

In savannas, mapping grazing resources and indicators of land degradation is important for assessing ecosystem conditions and informing grazing and land management decisions. We investigated the effects of classifiers and used time series imagery—images acquired within and across seasons—on the accuracy of plant species maps. The study site was a grazed savanna in southern Kenya. We used Sentinel-2 multi-spectral imagery due to its high spatial (10–20 m) and temporal (five days) resolution with support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) classifiers. The species mapped were important for grazing livestock and wildlife (three grass species), indicators of land degradation (one tree genus and one invasive shrub), and a fig tree species. The results show that increasing the number of images, including dry season imagery, results in improved classification accuracy regardless of the classifier (average increase in overall accuracy (OA) = 0.1632). SVM consistently outperformed RF, and the most accurate model and was SVM with a radial kernel using imagery from both wet and dry seasons (OA = 0.8217). Maps showed that seasonal grazing areas provide functionally different grazing opportunities and have different vegetation characteristics that are critical to a landscape’s ability to support large populations of both livestock and wildlife. This study highlights the potential of multi-spectral satellite imagery for species-level mapping of savannas.

Meaning, Belonging and Well-being: The Socio-psychological Benefits of Engaging in Private Land Conservation

While the economic and ecological benefits of private land conservation (PLC) programmes are well known, their contribution to socio-psychological well-being is less understood. Thus we applied the concept of basic psychological needs (BPN) from self-determination theory (SDT) to document these well-being impacts and understand the experience of landowners engaged in PLC programmes in Tasmania, Australia. We developed and administered an online survey (n = 193) that adapted items from SDT scales and used SDT as a framework to code data derived from semi-structured landowner interviews (n = 60). The interviews explored the ways in which participation in PLC supported the three basic needs of autonomy (the need to act according to personal values and desires), competence (the need for perceived efficacy), and relatedness (caring relationships and social belonging). PLC programmes supported autonomy by helping landowners align private land management decisions with deeply held environmental values. These programmes fostered competence and relatedness by developing trust and shared purpose amongst the people engaged in PLC, enabling personal and social learning, and enhancing life purpose and belonging. The scale and longevity of PLC programmes, and thus, the ecological and economic benefits flowing from them, may be increased through attending to, documenting and communicating the well-being benefits of participation.

Long-Term Water Footprint Assessment in a Rainfed Olive Tree Grove in the Umbria Region, Italy

Life Cycle Assessment (the systematic analysis of the environmental impact of products during their entire life cycle), Carbon Footprint and Water Footprint assessments play an important role in decision-making processes. These assessments can help guide land management decisions and will likely play a larger role in the future, especially in natural areas with high biodiversity. Agriculture is a substantial consumer of fresh water, so it is important to identify causes and possible solutions to optimize agricultural water use. Water footprint assessments consider water consumption from several points of view and aid in reaching Sustainable Development Goals. Olive trees are a widespread agricultural crop growing in the Mediterranean Basin and are particularly important in the Umbria region in Italy. This paper estimates the water footprint impact related to the production of 1 kg of olives in a rainfed olive orchard managed using low environmental impact techniques. Eleven years of data collection (meteorological data, olives yield data, processes data) are analyzed for typical rural conditions. The results show that local management techniques have lower water requirements than standard international usages. These results can be used to improve and to further explore agricultural water use.

Relationships between absenteeism, conservation group membership, and land management among family forest owners

Absentee landowners, or those who do not live on their forestland, own approximately 117 million acres of private forestland in the U.S. Thus, their land management decisions and activities influence the flow of forest-based goods and services. We explore the question of whether absentee family forest owners are less active land managers than resident landowners and whether membership in conservation organizations is associated with higher levels of land management activity by absentee owners. To examine these questions, we administered a mail survey to randomly-selected family forest landowners in Indiana. While we found some support for the contention that absentee owners are less active forestland managers than resident owners, we also found they are not necessarily inactive landowners. We found absentee owners were less likely to have: inspected their forestland for invasive plants, pulled or cut invasive plants, used herbicides to kill invasive plants, reduced fire hazard, or grazed livestock than resident owners. Absentee owners were more likely to be enrolled in the Indiana Classified Forest and Wildlands Program, a preferential forest property tax program. Absentee owners who are members of a conservation organization were more likely than absentee non-member owners to have undertaken a variety of land management activities, including: undertaking wildlife habitat improvement projects, inspecting their forestland for invasive plants, pulling or cutting invasive plants, enrolling in the Indiana Classified Forest and Wildlands program, and obtaining a management plan.

Management sensitivity, repeatability, and consistency of interpretation of soil health indicators on organic farms in southwestern Ontario

Assessment tools are needed to evaluate the effect of farming practices on soil health, as there is increasing interest from growers to improve the health of their soils. However, there is limited information on the efficacy of different soil health indicators on commercial farms and perhaps less so on organic farms. To assess efficacy, three organic growers in cooperation with the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario’s Farmer-Led Research Program tested management sensitivity, measurement repeatability, and consistency of interpretation of different soil health indicators. On each farm, we compared permanganate-oxidizable carbon (active carbon), organic matter, wet aggregate stability, phospholipid fatty acid analysis, Haney soil health test, and Haney nutrient test on one field of grower-perceived high productivity, one field of grower-perceived low productivity, and one reference site (undisturbed, permanent cover). Our results were consistent with previous research that showed grower perception of productivity and soil health associated with management-sensitive soil health indicators. Of the indicators tested, active carbon was the only indicator that was sensitive, repeatable, and consistent across the three farms, and soil organic matter was highly repeatable and consistent to detect differences greater than 0.5% organic matter. This study highlights differences among soil health indicators on commercial farms, and it concludes that active carbon and organic matter were the most useful soil health indicators for these organic farms. Participating growers intend to use results to benchmark current soil status and to help guide land management decisions towards improved soil health.

Geochemical behavior and fate of trace elements in naturally contaminated soils under projected land-use changes

PURPOSE: This paper focuses on determining the geochemical fractionation pattern of trace elements (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Tl, and Zn) naturally occurring at elevated levels in chestnut grove soils of SW Spain. The goal was to explore how environmental changes triggered by land use and management decisions might affect the resilience and adaptive capacity of soil to retain geogenic trace elements. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two plausible scenarios were considered: conversion of forestland to cropland (scenario I) and mining area (scenario II). The potential for trace element removal under the assumed scenarios was assessed by chemical extraction procedures designed to simulate the combined effects of experimentally induced pH and redox changes. Trace elements were partitioned into residual and labile fractions using a five-step sequential extraction scheme optimized for soils enriched in well-crystallized Fe oxides, and their concentrations in the soil extract solutions were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Most metals are tightly bonded to residual and reducible phases, indicating that silicate minerals and Fe oxy-hydroxides, respectively, played a remarkable role in the metal geo-accumulation. Limited mobilization and dispersion of exchangeable and acid-soluble contaminants would be expected to occur through releases or accidental spills from hazardous wastes. An increase in the oxidation state of the soil environment would affect the stability of the organic matter involving the release of the associated trace elements, particularly Cu. Upon reducing conditions induced by land-degradation processes, reductive dissolution of Fe oxy-hydroxides could release large proportions (45–60%) of adsorbed and occluded potentially harmful elements, notably As, Pb, and Cd. CONCLUSIONS: The increasing abandonment of the chestnut groves constitutes a driving force for environmental changes that might affect the geochemical status of the trace elements stored in the soil. Soil could shift from a sink to a source of harmful contaminants over time. This fact should be considered by local stakeholders engaged in planning and decision-making on future land uses.

Coastal Louisiana landscape and storm surge evolution: 1850–2110

Storm surge models are constructed to represent the Louisiana coastal landscape circa 1850, 1890, 1930, 1970, 1990, 2010, 2030, 2050, 2070, 2090, and 2110. Historical maps are utilized to develop models with past landscapes while a continuation of recent landscape trends is assumed for future models. The same suite of meteorological wind and pressure fields is simulated with each storm surge model. Simulation results for 1850 and 1890 demonstrate minimal change in storm surge characteristics along the Louisiana coast. A mean maximum storm surge height increase of 0.26 m from 1930 to 2010 is quantified within the sediment-abundant Atchafalaya-Vermilion coastal basin, while increases of 0.34 m and 0.41 m are quantified within sediment-starved Terrebonne and Barataria, respectively. Future mean maximum storm surge heights increase across these three coastal basins by 0.67 m, 0.55 m, and 0.75 m, indicating negligible differences from 2010 to 2110, regardless of sediment availability. Results indicate that past changes in the Louisiana coastal landscape and storm surge were a consequence of local land and river management decisions while future changes are dominated by relative (subsidence and eustatic) sea level rise. Projecting landscape and surge changes beyond 50 years could aide policy makers as they work to enhance resilience across coastal Louisiana. Similar analyses could be conducted for other deltas across the world, such as the Ganges, that are experiencing challenges comparable to those of the Mississippi River Delta.

Ants drive invertebrate community response to cattle grazing

Livestock grazing acts as a disturbance that alters ground-level habitat structure and can shape faunal communities. Invertebrate fauna have complex responses to grazing, driven by grazing-induced changes to vegetation structure, and may also be influenced by changes to predation pressure and prey availability. However, there is a dearth of knowledge about the effects of grazing on invertebrates, and research is rarely conducted across multiple orders, or at multiple trophic levels. We examined the ordinal-level response of a tropical savanna invertebrate assemblage to four replicated grazing treatments in two vegetation types at a long-term grazing trial in northern Australia. We used overall measures of abundance, order richness, and the assemblage composition (using the 17 orders we observed) to compare invertebrate communities among grazing treatments and between vegetation types. Responses of individual orders were modelled in relation to microhabitat variables. At the end of the dry season in October 2014 and 2015, we sampled 25,785 invertebrates from 17 orders. Ants accounted for over 80% of all individuals captured. We found that, overall, invertebrate abundance was higher in the most heavily grazed treatments, driven by the response of ants, but assemblage composition was not significantly different among grazing treatments. Araneae, Orthoptera, Scolopendromorpha and Scorpiones responded to vegetation type and were associated with % cover of Carissa ovata, bare ground, and grass. Ants, while responsive to grazing treatment, was not associated with any of the microhabitat variables, suggesting habitat structure in combination with other factors may be driving this response. Our results confirm the importance of ants as a sensitive biological indicator of disturbance. Considering their role in ecosystem function, invertebrates, and their responses to livestock grazing, need to be considered when making land management decisions on rangelands, and maintaining invertebrate diversity should be a priority for land managers.

A place‐based participatory mapping approach for assessing cultural ecosystem services in urban green space

Abstract Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) encompass a range of social, cultural and health benefits to local communities, for example recreation, spirituality, a sense of place and local identity. However, these complex and place‐specific CES are often overlooked in rapid land management decisions and assessed using broad, top–down approaches. We use the Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site‐based Assessment (TESSA) to examine a novel approach to rapid assessment of local CES provision using inductive, participatory methods. We combined free‐listing and participatory geographic information systems (GIS) techniques to quantify and map perceptions of current CES provision of an urban green space. The results were then statistically compared with those of a proposed alternative scenario with the aim to inform future decision‐making. By identifying changes in the spatial hotspots of CES in our study area, we revealed a spatially specific shift towards positive sentiment regarding several CES under the alternative state with variance across demographic and stakeholder groups. Response aggregations in areas of proposed development reveal previously unknown stakeholder preferences to local decision‐makers and highlight potential trade‐offs for conservation management. Free‐listed responses revealed deeper insight into personal opinion and context. This work serves as a useful case study on how the perceptions and opinions of local people regarding local CES could be accounted for in the future planning of an urban greenspace and how thorough analysis of CES provision is important to fully inform local‐scale conservation and planning for the mutual benefit of local communities and nature. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.