Granivory and soil disturbance are two modes by which burrowing rodents may limit the success of native plant restoration in rangelands. This guild of animals has prolific effects on plant community composition and structure, yet surprisingly little research has quantified the impact of rodents on plant restoration efforts. In this study, we examined the effects of seed removal and soil disturbance by the giant kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ingens) on native plant restoration in a California rangeland. Using experimental exclosures and stratifying restoration plots on and off rodent-disturbed soil, we assessed the individual and combined effects of seed removal and soil disturbance on seedling establishment of four native plant species. Across all species, biotic soil disturbance by kangaroo rats reduced seedling establishment by 19.5% (range = 1-43%), whereas seed removal reduced seedling establishment by only 6.7% (range = 4-12%). Rates of seed removal across species weakly paralleled kangaroo rat dietary preferences. These results indicate the indirect effects of burrowing rodents such as kangaroo rats on native seedling establishment via changes in soil properties may rival or exceed the direct effects of seed removal. © 2015 Society for Range Management. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Downy brome (Bromus tectorum L.) is a highly successful invasive species primarily because it fills an open niche in native plant communities. It also produces large amounts of litter over time. We hypothesized that removing accumulated litter with a prescribed burn before applying herbicides would improve herbicide efficacy, extending the duration of control. In January 2012, two downy brome-infested sites were burned. In March 2012, postemergent applications of glyphosate, imazapic, and tebuthiuron were made in a split-plot design. Above-ground biomass was collected at 6, 18, and 27 months after treatment (MAT) to evaluate treatment effects. In nonburned areas, all herbicide treatments were similar to the control 27 MAT; however, burning combined with imazapic or tebuthiuron reduced downy brome biomass 27 MAT by 81% ± 4.6 SE and 84% ± 19.3 SE, respectively. Remnant species responded positively to burning and herbicide treatments. Native cool-season grass biomass increased after burning whereas native warm-season grass biomass increased following tebuthiuron treatments. The impact of litter on imazapic and tebuthiuron availability was also evaluated. Herbicide interception increased in a linear relationship with increasing litter. For every 50 g · m-2 increase in litter there was a 7% increase in the amount of herbicide intercepted, meaning that 75% of the applied herbicide was intercepted by 360 g · m-2 of litter. A simulated rainfall event of 5 mm, 7 days after application, removed a significant amount of herbicide. This indicates that in sites with surface litter, timely precipitation could be critical for herbicide efficacy; however, when burning was used to remove litter and was followed by herbicides with residual soil activity, downy brome control was extended. Due to downy brome's relatively short seed viability in the soil, extending herbicide efficacy to several years could help to reduce the soil seed bank. © 2015 Society for Range Management. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Domestic livestock have replaced bison (Bison bison) on almost all the remaining rangelands of North America. One of the few places where bison and cattle (Bos taurus) comingle on shared rangelands is in the Henry Mountains (HM) of southern Utah. Ranchers there are concerned, however, that bison are selecting the same grazing areas that are needed by cattle. We used global positioning system telemetry on bison across the entire HM rangeland to determine which habitats are most important for bison throughout the seasonal cycle. Sexual segregation was also measured (using the segregation coefficient, SC) to determine if bison bulls exert localized impacts by congregating in certain habitats separate from cow/calf groups. The HM bison exhibited low levels of sexual segregation for both the breeding (SC = 0.048) and nonbreeding seasons (SC = 0.112). We found bison habitat use to be diverse and dynamic, with bison grazing effects distributed widely across habitats throughout the seasonal cycle. Patches of grassland, whether naturally occurring or created through burning or mechanical treatments, were favored regardless of their distance to water. Our findings should assist ranchers and agency personnel in moving forward with the integrated management of free-ranging bison and cattle on the HM rangeland, with implications for bison conservation on public lands elsewhere in the United States. © 2015 The Authors.

In China, three major rangeland management policies have caused dramatic social, economic, and ecological changes for pastoral regions in the past 30 yr: the Rangeland Household Contract Policy (RHCP), Rangeland Ecological Construction Projects (RECPs), and the Nomad Settlement Policy (NSP). The impacts of these policies are greatly debated. In this paper, we conduct a systematic review of academic perspectives on the impacts of the three policies and the causes of ineffective and negative effects. The findings demonstrate that academics increasingly report negative impacts of RHCP on the ecosystem, animal husbandry, pastoralist livelihoods, and pastoral society. An increasing number of scholars, although not the majority, attribute the negative impacts to improper policy itself rather than incomplete implementation. Regarding the RECPs, most academics believe that policies have improved the rangeland ecosystem but with obvious negative impacts on pastoralist livelihoods and pastoral society; they attribute the problems to incomplete policy implementation. For the NSP, most academics report positive impacts on pastoralist livelihoods and animal husbandry, although recent researchers have identified negative impacts on pastoral society and the ecosystem. Although they are not in the mainstream, more and more academics attribute the negative impacts to improper policy. Finally, we apply the concept of coupled social-ecological systems (SES) to further analyze the outcomes of these three policies and propose a more flexible and inclusive land tenure policy that recognizes the diverse local institutional arrangements; an integrated RECP framework that considers coadaptation between social and ecological systems; and facilitating voluntary choice in nomad settlement and developing innovative approaches to provide social services for pastoralists who would like to remain in pastoral areas. As these three policy approaches are applied in rangeland management and pastoral development worldwide, this paper may provide useful implications for future policy development in pastoral regions on a global scale. © 2015 Society for Range Management. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.