Rangeland Ecology & Management

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HAWAII'S DIVERSE RANGELAND ECOTYPES
Author
May, Joseph A.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2015
Body

Generally, the major range and forage types of Hawaii, which are principally naturalized plant communities, with a steady-state disclimax, can be categorized into about six groups. However, there are other, more seldom-occurring naturalized groups, and even less-often–occurring native, historic climax rangeland plant communities still present. The principal six naturalized range and forage types that typically compose a good majority of the grazing land acres are 1) Leeward Coastal Desert range type, 2) Leeward Semiarid Midgrass Steppe range type, 3) Subhumid and Humid Tallgrass range types, 4) Temperate Subhumid range type, 5) Humid Lowland/Humid range type, and 6) Humid Very Tall Grass range type. In this presentation, I focus on these six naturalized range and forage types that occur on six of the eight major Hawaiian islands (Kauai, Oahu, Lanai, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii). The islands of Niihau and Kahoolawe are not included as I have no field experiences on these two other major islands. I have elected to present the ecological dynamics of each range type in a traditional Clements–Dyksterhuis range condition model for simplicity of reading and understanding. I hope to assist conservationists or professional agriculturalists in understanding the average annual forage production and ecological dynamics to better inform them for decision-making on ranches and public rangelands in the state of Hawaii. Key Words: Hawaii; range types; Clements–Dyksterhuis range model

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Sacramento, CA