An adventure in rangeland transition models. LANDSCAPE: An adventure in rangeland transition models.

START We begin our adventure on a bare landscape where annual plants are just starting to emerge… Follow the prompts to guide yourself through the transitions of the landscape. You will need a coin. Slides are numbered in the lower right-hand corner. Once you have reached one “Ending,” try the game again until you reach a different ending. This will give you two transition model scenario prompts from which you will write a half-page response paper. Go to Slide 4.

Fire!!! A “moonscape” fire rages over your landscape. Most of the plant community, including grasses, shrubs, and even the maturing intermediate species are burned completely. Will it ever recover? Flip a coin. If heads, go to Slide 6. If tails, go to Slide 14 .

3 or 4 years later… As annual plants die, their organic material begins to form an “O” layer, and the soil deepens. Soon grasses and perennials establish and emerge. These, as well as the annual plants, are known as pioneer species, the first to colonize a landscape. But what happens next? Flip a coin. If heads, go to Slide 5. If tails, go to Slide 12.

Oh, drat. Overgrazing has wiped out your pioneer species. Will the landscape begin to grow back? Flip a coin. If heads, go to Slide 14. If tails, go to Slide 6.

New neighbors. A bare landscape can be vulnerable. Invasive, early-emergent species have overtaken your landscape. Perhaps there is still hope? Flip a coin. If heads, go to Slide 10. If tails, go to Slide 7.

Darn weeds! Try though they may, the native pioneer species are outcompeted by the early-emergent invasives, which sprout, dominate the canopy and establish their seed bank before the native species even have time to grow! Now it is late summer, the invasives are dying off. And looking rather crispy… Flip a coin. If heads, go to Slide 10. If tails, go to Slide 9.

Hmm, this could get expensive. It seems that the biotic threshold to use exclusively vegetation management was missed. The landscape damage has been so extensive that managers will have to use physical management strategies (an abiotic threshold was crossed) as well as vegetation management to restore the landscapes. Write a ¼ page summary of your adventure. Define abiotic management. What might have been a reason that the biotic threshold was missed? What management techniques might a manager employ for abiotic management?

Don’t look now… Those dead, dry invasive grasses make quite the fire hazard. In late summer, another moonscape fire burns the landscape and virtually wipes out the plant community. Will it ever recover? Flip a coin. If heads, go to Slide 11. If tails, go to Slide 10.

We’d like to speak to the manager. It is decided that fuels management (targeted grazing) should begin on the landscape. But will it be too late? Flip a coin. If heads, go to Slide 8. If tails, go to Slide 15.

Another fire?! This is getting tedious. Every few years, the invasives burn and whatever native community has managed to scratch out a living. Looks like you’re caught in an annual grass dominated state. Write a ¼ page summary of your adventure. Is this kind of transition a common problem in the West? What are the implications for management (think: fire, species, etc)?

For the next 5 to 150 years… Intermediate species begin to colonize the established landscape. These include perennial bunchgrasses and some shrubs like rabbitbrush and sagebrush. Still, these plants have a long lifespan, and have many years to go before they reach maturity… Flip a coin. If heads, go to Slide 3. If tails, go to Slide 13.

150 years later… The landscape now boasts a climax community. Mature, long-living plants are living out entire lifecycles on the landscape. It seems that everything has gone perfectly! Perhaps too perfectly. Write a short response (1/4 page) about your landscape adventure. How realistic is this scenario of arriving at a climax community with little to no disturbance? Besides disturbance, what might happen next to your climax community?

Ahh, a brand-new start. Native annual plants begin to populate the landscape. Go to Slide 4.

Get out the blue-bunch wheatgrass! Managers work quickly to employ vegetation manipulation techniques, like reseeding, to restore the landscape to a healthy state. Write a ¼ page summary of your adventure. When should managers step in to begin restoration efforts, and when should they monitor? Is this always cut-and-dry? Who decides/ what defines a “healthy state” for a landscape?