Kansas Research Shows Reintroducing Bison on Tallgrass Prairie Doubles Plant Diversity

Findings from decades of data also point to resistance to extreme drought.

Decades of research led by scientists at Kansas State University offered evidence reintroducing bison to roam the tallgrass prairie gradually doubled plant diversity and improved resilience to extreme drought.

Gains documented in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science were among the largest recorded globally in terms of species richness on grazing grasslands. The research involved more than 30 years of data collected at the Konza Prairie Biological Station near Manhattan.

Zak Ratajczak, lead researcher and assistant professor of biology at Kansas State, said removal of nearly all bison from the prairie occurred before establishment of quantitative records. That meant effects of removing the dominant grazer were largely unknown, he said.

“Bison were an integral part of North American grasslands before they were abruptly removed from over 99% of the Great Plains,” Ratajczak said...

ok so. let’s talk about fire. not as a disaster, but as a natural, ancient, necessary process.

fire ecology is the study of how fire interacts with ecosystems. not just how things burn, but how fire shapes the land, how species respond to it, and how entire systems rely on it. it’s part of the cycle of life. dramatic, chaotic, and weirdly healing.

you’ll hear people say things like “the forest needs to burn,” and they’re not being edgy. some trees like lodgepole pine and knobcone pine literally need heat to open their cones. some grasses grow back stronger after a burn. fire recycles nutrients, clears out dead biomass, and reduces competition. it can help control pests and disease. it opens up space and light. and in many ecosystems—especially rangelands, chaparral, and savannas—fire is just part of how things work.

but here’s the problem. we’ve spent over a century trying to keep fire off the landscape.

colonization erased Indigenous fire stewardship—practices that worked with fire instead of fearing it. then came decades of aggressive suppression (thanks, smokey the bear) and more and more development pushing into wild spaces. now, mix in hotter temps, drier vegetation, and longer fire seasons because of climate change, and yeah. things aren’t looking great.

we’re seeing more extreme wildfires because we’ve created the perfect conditions for them. overloaded fuels, flammable invasives like cheatgrass and buffelgrass, drought-stressed plants, and a general disconnect between people and land.

this is where fire ecology comes in.

it helps us understand how fire behaves, how ecosystems respond, and how to restore balance. it supports the use of prescribed burns, fire-adapted planning, and listening to the Indigenous knowledge that’s been ignored for too long. it lets us ask better questions about what resilience actually looks like.

it also helps us shift the mindset. fire isn’t always bad. it’s not something we can just get rid of. it’s part of the system. and pretending we can live without it hasn’t worked out well for anyone.

if fire is as old as the land itself, and it built the ecosystems we depend on, what does it say that we treat it like a mistake?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

sources:

Sugihara, N.G. et al. (2006). Fire in California’s Ecosystems.

Ryan, K.C., Knapp, E.E., & Varner, J.M. (2013). Prescribed fire in North American forests and woodlands: History, current practice, and challenges. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Success Story: Grazing, Water, and Greater Sage-Grouse

Story by Steve Stuebner @SteveStuebner, for the Sage Grouse Initiative @SageGrouseInit 

For more than half a century, the BLM has proudly worked with the many thousands of American ranchers who graze their livestock on 155 million acres of our nation’s public rangelands. 

Drought can be tough on wildlife and cattle in the northwest corner of South Dakota and on the fringe of sage grouse steppe. In 2012, a period of low rainfall caused creeks and small reservoirs in the region to deplete, which negatively affects grazing livestock as well as wildlife. Today, with new funds from the Sage Grouse Initiative that help improve grazing systems, rancher Ron Steineke will at last have a reliable water source for livestock and wildlife, too.

Today, Steineke runs about 1,000 cattle on a mix of 11,500 acres of private and state land, as well as land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on the rolling prairie in western South Dakota. His ranch shelters sage grouse and is important for nesting birds, especially on the western edge which is close to a lek- a location where male sage grouse display and mate with hens each spring.

rangelands are wild. not just in the “untamed west” kind of way, but in the “vast, essential, misunderstood” kind of way. they make up about 40–50% of the Earth’s land surface (FAO, 2009) and they’re not forests, not farms, not cities. just big open landscapes dominated by grasses, shrubs, and sparse trees.

that includes:

• grasslands

• savannas

• shrublands

• deserts

• tundra

and in the U.S., especially the West, rangelands are often working lands. they’re used for grazing livestock, wildlife habitat, recreation, and yes, fire.

but here’s the thing: people tend to ignore rangelands. they’re not as photogenic as forests, not as immediate as coral reefs. they’re subtle. they require context. they demand patience. and honestly? they deserve better PR.

rangelands matter because:

• they store massive amounts of carbon in their soils (Conant et al., 2001)

• they support biodiversity, especially species adapted to open spaces (Havstad et al., 2007)

• they provide clean water, open space, cultural value, and food

• they’re fire-adapted and play a role in landscape-scale fire dynamics

but they’re also vulnerable. invasive species (hi, cheatgrass), overgrazing, climate change, and fragmentation are turning big, functioning systems into patchy, stressed-out ones.

understanding rangelands means understanding a huge chunk of the Earth’s land, and learning how to live with the land instead of constantly trying to reshape it.

so yeah, maybe rangelands aren’t flashy. maybe they don’t get the same attention as rainforests or coastlines. but they’ve been here, quietly holding everything together. carbon, water, roots, history.

if half the planet is made of rangeland, what does it say that most people can’t even define it?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

sources:

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). (2009). The state of food and agriculture: Livestock in the balance.

• Conant, R.T., Paustian, K., & Elliott, E.T. (2001). Grassland management and conversion into grassland: Effects on soil carbon. Ecological Applications.

hi. today we’re talking about colossal biosciences and their announcement that they’re bringing back the dire wolf. this is me letting you know they are absolutely not. not really. not in any way that matters to conservation, science, or actual wolves.

they’re not reviving Aenocyon dirus. they’re making a Frankenstein predator out of modern canid DNA and slapping the name dire wolf on it because that gets headlines. that’s not resurrection. that’s branding.

let’s be very clear. the real dire wolf is extinct. gone for over 10,000 years. it wasn’t even a “true wolf.” it was a separate genus from gray wolves that split off over 5 million years ago. no dog or wolf shares enough DNA to revive it. it didn’t interbreed with wolves. it didn’t evolve with them. it was its own weird jacked cousin that couldn’t keep up with climate change or prey collapse.

colossal is taking fragments of ancient DNA, mixing them with modern wolf and possibly dog genes, and saying they’ll recreate a “proxy species” that will fill the same ecological niche. they’re not even pretending this is a full de-extinction. they’re making a vibe match and hoping people are too dazzled to ask questions.

this wouldn’t piss me off as much if they weren’t pretending it’s a conservation win. it’s not. the idea that we can engineer our way out of extinction is a massive distraction from the fact that we are still actively destroying the ecosystems we have. we don’t need designer wolves. we need to stop wiping out the species that already exist. we need to protect gray wolves and red wolves and Ethiopian wolves and the 1,000 other species losing habitat every day. and colossal is out here playing Jurassic Park with corporate funding while we can’t even get enough legislation passed to keep wolves from being shot out of helicopters in Montana.

but olivia you’re a plant person. what do you know about conservation. ok first of all thank you for that attack. second of all I wanted to be a zookeeper for years and only switched to range when I realized I’d have to fight ten other interns for the right to scoop tiger poop for $14 an hour. I still love predators. I still care about balance and biodiversity. I just spend more time with grass now.

anyway. colossal is not bringing back dire wolves. they’re making a genetically weird dog with a prehistoric aesthetic. and pretending that’s a win for nature is not just misleading. it’s dangerous. extinction is real. it’s permanent. and this kind of science-flavored fantasy makes people think we don’t have to worry about it anymore. like we’ll just 3D print a new animal later. like there’s a backup plan. there isn’t.

that’s it. the dire wolf is still extinct. what we’re getting is a glorified science project with teeth. stop calling it conservation. and stop pretending extinction is reversible just because you want to make headlines.

love u bye.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

hi! i’m liv. i have a degree in natural resources with an emphasis in rangeland ecology + management, and a minor in marine sciences because i like to suffer across multiple ecosystems. i care a lot about fire, landscapes, and the weird little relationships between plants, people, and the environment.

this (side)blog is where i blend science communication with fantasy nerdery and a dash of unhinged targaryen energy. if you’re into fire ecology, rangelands, ecosystem chaos, dragons, or the occasional post about how weird shrubs are, welcome. i’m your girl.

i’m not here to be perfectly polished. i’m here to make fire science make sense to regular people and maybe scream a little about how nature is metal. and also hot. sometimes literally.

tag navigation

#eco musings – rambles & thoughts

#science posts – actual fire ecology stuff

#fantasy crossover – when i lose my mind and compare ecosystems to house targaryen

#personal – life stuff, vibes, yelling into the void

main is @therogueflame

What do fairy shrimp and cattle have in common? California’s grasslands! 

Yep, we’ve got shrimp in our grasslands, or more specifically, in our vernal pools! 

To keep vernal pools and our grasslands healthy, managing invasive non-native grasses and weeds is a must. By partnering with ranchers and using smart grazing practices, cattle can become super grassland caretakers. Cattle have a big appetite for all those invasive non-native plants that crowd the edges of vernal pools and threaten the species that depend on vernal pools like the endangered California tiger salamander and conservancy fairy shrimp. 

Learn more about how this working partnership is a win for endangered species and a win for conservation! 

http://ow.ly/LZFM50I0Arn Illustration by Cal Robinson/USFWS

New research shows prairie dogs may be more friend than foe to Texas ranchers

The burrowing rodents can improve the nutritional quality of nearby grasses.

Generally speaking, the prairie dog and the Texas rancher are not allies.

Conventional wisdom among folks who raise livestock is that the prairie dog is a nuisance to be eradicated. The little rodents compete for the same grass that cattle eat, and stepping into one of their subterranean towns is a great way for a cow to break a leg.

But new research challenges the idea that prairie dogs do more harm than good for livestock. Cullom Simpson, a wildlife biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, spoke with Texas Standard about an experiment he conducted with the Borderlands Research Institute at Sul Ross State University...