Ecological Site Descriptions (ESDs) contain information essential to land management assessment and management. ESDs are composed of two distinct parts: inventory and interpretations. The Inventory section for each ESD contains relatively objective information about the abiotic and biotic settings defining the extent of the site concepts; soil and vegetation dynamics in response to changes in climate and disturbance in the form of a state and transition model; and description of important ecological processes that drive change or impart resilience. The Interpretations section should contain information relevant to land management decisions about the array of ecosystem services that may be derived from the site and its associated landscapes and what conservation and management practices may be implemented to achieve objectives. Hydrological attributes have a place in both sections. Infiltration rates, runoff and erosion, and soil moisture dynamics are examples of quantitative information that should be included in ESD Inventory. The Interpretations section should discuss the socioeconomic tradeoffs associated with managing plant communities for different hydrologic outcomes. Because hydrologic processes frequently transcend and integrate multiple ecological sites, both inventory and interpretation discussions should be multiscale and should include catena and watershed scale dynamics.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.