Saline Depression
Scenario model
Current ecosystem state
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Management practices/drivers
Select a transition or restoration pathway
- Transition T1-2 More details
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No transition or restoration pathway between the selected states has been described
Target ecosystem state
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Description
The Reference State is a dynamic state that encompasses the reference community, and the phases it may undergo in response to alterations in the environment.
It serves as the base state for the subsequent States depicted in the model.
Human induced activities such as unregulated grazing by domestic livestock, or interruption of the natural disturbance processes can result in community phase changes within the reference state.
As this is a small-patch vegetative community in a larger matrix, the site is seldom managed independently.
More severe disturbances, such as plowing, ditching or excavating can negatively impact the hydrological, soil and vegetative components of the system to the degree that they cross a threshold to a more degraded state.
Submodel
Description
This state is a result of sod-busting native grasslands to facilitate conversion to production agriculture.
The initial mechanical disturbance of the soil, and the repeated tillage associated with farming impacts the soil properties and disrupts the hydrological cycle to the degree that the threshold between the reference state and the sod disturbance state is crossed. It is unlikely that complete restoration of the ecological processes to the reference state is possible.
Mechanism
The native sod is broken mechanically to facilitate conversion to production agriculture. It may be planted to a commodity crop, or excavated to provide more capacity for use as a tail-water recovery pit.
The resulting severe alterations to the soil properties and the disruption of the hydrologic cycle make return to the reference state highly unlikely
Model keys
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Ecological sites
Major Land Resource Areas
The Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool is an information system framework developed by the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and New Mexico State University.