Ecological interactions between fire and grazing have shaped the evolutionary history of grassland ecosystems. Currently, grassland birds have experienced ongoing population declines, following widespread implementation of intensive rangeland management practices that reduce habitat heterogeneity. Patch-burn grazing is an alternative rangeland management strategy that promotes habitat heterogeneity and biodiversity. We conducted a 3-yr. field study in the central Flint Hills of Kansas to compare the spatial ecology of female Greater Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) in rangelands managed with intensive rangeland management versus patch-burn grazing. This is the first study on the effects of patch-burn grazing on the space use decisions of Greater Prairie-Chickens at the home range scale. We used seasonal estimates of home range for 6-mo breeding and nonbreeding periods, as well as resource utilization functions to investigate the response of female prairie chickens to landscape metrics describing fire, grazing, and proximity to anthropogenic structures or lek sites. In our analysis of all radio-marked females, distance to lek was consistently the strongest predictor of space use during both breeding and nonbreeding seasons. Females captured at properties managed with patch-burn grazing selected areas with low stocking rates and high fire frequencies, and they avoided recently burned areas. Our study provides new evidence that patch-burn grazing can improve grassland habitat for Greater Prairie-Chickens, an umbrella species in the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Patch-burn grazing created preferred habitats for female Greater Prairie-Chickens, with a relatively frequent fire return interval, a mosaic of burned and unburned patches, and a reduced stocking rate in unburned areas avoided by grazers. Widespread implementation of patch-burn grazing could result in significant improvements in habitat quality for wildlife in the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. © 2017 The Society for Range Management. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Elk (Cervus elaphus L.) and cattle (Bos taurus L.) co-occur on rangelands throughout western North America. Literature regarding range relations between elk and cattle, however, is contradictory, describing interspecific competition in some cases and complementary or facilitative relations in others. A better understanding of how sympatric elk and cattle behave at fine spatiotemporal scales is needed to properly allocate resources for these species. We used intensively sampled Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking data (1-sec intervals) to classify elk and cattle behavior and investigate their activity and movement strategies in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon, United States, during summer and fall 2007. An ensemble classification approach was used to identify stationary, foraging, and walking behavior classes within the GPS datasets of mature beef and captive elk cows grazing in forested pastures during two randomized experiments, one in summer and the other fall. During summer, elk traveled farther per day, had larger walking budgets, exhibited more and longer walking bouts, and had higher walking velocities than beef cows. Cattle tended to emphasize intensive foraging over extensive movement and thus displayed larger foraging budgets and longer foraging bouts than elk. Site-by-species interactions, however, were detected for some foraging responses. During fall, when forage quality was limiting, elk exhibited a more foraging-centric mobility strategy while cattle emphasized an energy conservation strategy. These differing movement and energetic strategies tended to support the concept that elk and cattle occupy differing behavioral niches. Extensive foraging by elk and intensive foraging by cattle during summer correspond well with behaviors expected for elk searching out forbs in graminoid-dominated habitats and cattle foraging intensively on graminoids. Behaviors exhibited in the fall were consistent with elk continuing to exercise more selectivity among the available forage than cattle. These differing strategies, consequently, would moderate the potential for direct interspecific competition during summer and fall. © Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Society for Range Management.

Success of targeted grazing is strongly influenced by the ability of livestock managers to focus grazing livestock on a specific area. Targeted cattle grazing using low-stress herding (LSH) and strategic supplement placement was conducted at four study sites to evaluate management factors that affected our ability to focus cattle grazing on small areas of large pastures. Simple linear regression was used to evaluate relationships between the time Global Positioning System-tracked cattle spent near supplement placement sites and four factors: 1) intake of low-moisture block (LMB) protein supplement, 2) perennial grass standing crop, 3) horizontal and vertical distance of LMB from water, and 4) slope near LMB. Repeated measures were used to evaluate time cattle spent near LMB in different years at study sites in Arizona and New Mexico. Intake of LMB supplement was a moderately good predictor (r2 = 0.60; P < 0.01) of time cattle remained within 250 m of LMB supplement. When cattle consumed recommended amounts of LMB, they tended to stay near LMB longer if supplement was placed in areas with greater perennial grass standing crop (r2 = 0.34; P = 0.07). No relationships were detected (r2 < 0.15; P > 0.17) between time cattle were near supplement and the horizontal and vertical distance of LMB from water and slope near LMB. The combination of LSH and strategic LMB placement was an effective method to target cattle grazing when cattle consumed recommended amounts of LMB. However, efficacy of LSH and LMB to target cattle grazing may be influenced by environmental factors such as drought and yearly differences in forage standing crop and quality. Changes in cattle grazing behavior in years following initial LSH and LMB treatments also may influence cattle remaining near LMB. © 2017 The Society for Range Management.

Optimal rates of litter retention for maximizing annual aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) were investigated in native mixed-grass rangelands in Saskatchewan, Canada. The study was conducted on 18 independent study sites on brown and dark brown Chernozem (Mollisol) soils during the 2011 and 2012 growing seasons. Each site contained 30 treatment plots with two control plots and 28 treatment plots receiving between 1 and 2 290 g/m2 of added plant litter sourced from a reference site. Soil moisture values were recorded for each plot in May, June, and July, while forb, graminoid, and total ANPP were harvested at the end of the growing season. Soil moisture-litter relationships were driven by weather patterns with significant differences between years. Graminoid ANPP-litter relationships were nonlinear with peaks in productivity between 54 and 412 g/m2 of litter mass in the brown soil zone and between 27 and 157 g/m2 of litter mass in the dark brown soil zone. Forb ANPP was highest at the lowest litter masses and was not significantly influenced by study year or soil zone. The recommended litter retention rates in provincial range health assessment guidelines are accurate for the dark brown soil zone but are lower than the levels identified here for the more arid brown soil zone. © 2017 The Society for Range Management.

Fire plays a crucial role in mediating species composition in Fescue Prairie. However, previous studies focused on responses of plant community to burning without disentangling the effects of burning on seedling emergence in Fescue Prairie. In this study, seedlings emerging in the field and from soil seed banks incubated in a greenhouse were examined after burning in the spring of 2012 and 2013 near Saskatoon, Canada. Soil seed bank samples were taken from the top 5 cm of the soil profile, separated into litter, 0-to 1-cm soil, and 1-to 5-cm soil layers. In the 2-yr field study, 11 plant families with 1 graminoid and 22 nongraminoids were identified among emerged seedlings. Burning significantly increased the number of 3 native and 1 non-native seedlings emerging, as well as total seedlings emerging from the field in both years (P < 0.05). Species richness and diversity of seedlings emerging from the field were increased by burning. Species composition of emerged seedlings from the field was significantly altered by burning in 2012 (P = 0.03) and 2013 (P < 0.01). In the 2-yr soil seed bank study, 19 plant families with 10 graminoids and 56 nongraminoids emerged. Burning had more prominent effects on seedling density of native species and forbs, rather than non-native species and graminoids. Species composition was altered by burning in all studied soil layers (P < 0.05). Fire appears to stimulate recruitment of some species, especially early seral species, contributing to potential changes in species composition of the Fescue Prairie. © 2017 The Society for Range Management.

A study examining the composition and dynamics of the soil seedbank was conducted at two locations in central Queensland between December 2007 and May 2009. These two grassland communities were infested with parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.), which had been present at both sites for at least 25 years. During the period of study, the seedbank varied between 5 962 and 16 206 seeds/m2 at the Clermont site and between 6 795 and 24 862 seeds/m2 at the Moolayember Creek site. Parthenium weed exhibited a very abundant and persistent seedbank, accounting for 80-87% of the seedbank at the Clermont site and 3-26% of the seedbank at the Moolayember Creek site. The species richness and species diversity of the seedbank, as well as the seed abundance of several native and introduced species, were higher at the Moolayember Creek site than at the Clermont site. The domination of the seedbanks by parthenium weed, especially at Clermont, suggests that the weed is having a substantial negative impact on seedbanks of native plant communities. The diversity of the seedbank at the Clermont site was found to be lower in comparison with that observed during an earlier study in 1995-1996, while the diversity at Moolayember Creek was found to have increased. Hence, the prolonged presence of parthenium weed may have substantially reduced the diversity of the seedbank at the Clermont site, while improved management practices may have increased diversity at the Moolayember Creek site. © 2016 The Society for Range Management.