Brandon Bestelmeyer
@bbestelm.bsky.social
Ecologist, rangelands & drylands. Using science to understand land change and promote land management solutions.
Environmental science
69%
Geography
17%
Magnitude Shifts in Aeolian Sediment Transport Associated With Degradation and Restoration Thresholds in Drylands
Aeolian sediment transport rates changed over four orders of magnitude across grassland to shrubland ecological states
Critical perennial grass cover thresholds for magnitude shifts in transport ...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Vegetation state change in #drylands strongly controls dust emissions, leading to orders of magnitude changes in sediment flux. Perennial grass loss increases dust, but we show grass #restoration can reduce it.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Thank you. We’ll post the ppts and release a new web tool after SRM.
Brandon Bestelmeyer
@bbestelm.bsky.social
· Jan 30
Note—it’s 1:20 PM local time!
Brandon Bestelmeyer
@bbestelm.bsky.social
· Jan 30
For those at the Society for Range Management meeting in Spokane, we will be have a short workshop on state-and-transition models/ecological sites in #rangelands , Wednesday February 12 at 2:20PM. Come join us! @mduniway.bsky.social #soils
Brandon Bestelmeyer
@bbestelm.bsky.social
· Dec 20
Jornada scientists and collaborators enjoyed giving a field tour to USDA ARS leadership on several research programs including vegetation and carbon dynamics, precision ranching, wind erosion modeling, nutrient circularity, drought adaptation, and science education
Brandon Bestelmeyer
@bbestelm.bsky.social
· Nov 28
75 mm of rain over the last 17 months, grazed, but with some reproduction, high diversity. Loamy soils over a calcium carbonate hardpan helps. An amazingly resilient Chihuahuan desert grassland.
Brandon Bestelmeyer
@bbestelm.bsky.social
· Nov 24
Precision Ranching Technology for Adaptive Management
YouTube video by The Jornada
youtu.be
Precision ranching is a very promising approach to solving grazing management problems in extensive arid rangelands and represents an option for sustainable/regenerative ag that’s gaining lots of interest. See our test on the Jornada Experimental Range here: youtu.be/9P9kiUh_Cts
Brandon Bestelmeyer
@bbestelm.bsky.social
· Nov 24
Effects of multiple mammalian herbivores and climate on grassland–shrubland transitions in the Chihuahuan Desert
The replacement of grasses by shrubs or bare ground (xerification) is a primary form of landscape change in drylands globally with consequences for ecosystem services. The potential for wild herbivor...
doi.org
Grassland to shrubland state change in the Chihuahuan Desert reduces predation risk for rabbits, and rabbits (and rodents) contribute to state change. Two new papers show this underappreciated and complex feedback in drylands #LTER
doi.org/10.1111/1365...
doi.org/10.1002/ecy....
doi.org/10.1111/1365...
doi.org/10.1002/ecy....