Deep Sand Shrubland
Scenario model
Current ecosystem state
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Management practices/drivers
Select a transition or restoration pathway
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Transition T1A
Mechanical or chemical removal of woody species
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Restoration pathway T1C
Extensive soil disturbance followed by seeding
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Transition T1B
Absence of disturbance and natural regeneration over time, may be coupled with excessive grazing pressure
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Transition T2B
Natural regeneration overtime, followed by reintroduction of historic disturbance regimes
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Transition T2C
Extensive soil disturbance followed by seeding
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Transition T2A
Absence of disturbance and natural regeneration over time, may be coupled with excessive grazing pressure
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Transition T3A
Rangeland seeding
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Transition T3B
Absence of disturbance and natural regeneration over time, may be coupled with excessive grazing pressure
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Transition T4A
Extensive soil disturbance followed by seeding
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No transition or restoration pathway between the selected states has been described
Target ecosystem state
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Submodel
Description
This plant community results following brush control by use of herbicides and/or mechanical treatments. The vegetation is predominately tallgrasses and midgrasses including sand bluestem, little bluestem, Indiangrass, and switchgrass. Legumes such as slender lespedeza, roundhead lespedeza, and Sessile leaf tickclover and showy partridgepea are usually abundant on the site. These sites can be infested by eastern red cedar and other woody plants without proper management.
Where above ground mechanical, or chemical treatments have been used to control shinnery oak, the plant persists through sprouting or possibly from seedlings. Follow-up treatment with fire or herbicides is necessary to maintain this plant community. It is productive and good for grazing cattle, but can be limited in species diversity based on the HPC. In areas where the land has been subjected to repeated deep plowing the shinnery seems to not re-establish in these sites.
Description
With plowing, brush clearing, mechanical preparation this site has been used for cropland. It is highly unlikely to return to the reference plant community once this site has been used for cropland due to the repeated plowing that removes shinnery from the site.
With seeding or sprigging, this site can support a variety of introduced forages for supplemental pasture. Fertilization, weed control, grazing management and occasionally reseeding will be needed to maintain introduced plant communities.
See Forage Suitability Group.
Description
This community is indicative of the absence of the shinnery oak as the major tree or shrub component. Invasion of plants like Eastern red cedar, sand sage brush and other brush species can dominate the landscape in response to some management practices aimed at the oak community, along with continuous overgrazing by cattle. This community can eventually develop into dense stands of brush species that would typically be found in minimal amounts within the communities above. Recovery of this community can be very costly along with periods of removal of grazing pressure through a prescribed grazing plan based on climactic conditions and historical management of the site.
Mechanism
In the absence of prescribed burning or without the use of brush managment this site can become invaded with other woody species. Typically Eastern Red Cedar will not be present unless the shinnery has been removed from the plant community.
Mechanism
Once cultivation has ended, the site may be left idle or planted to native species. This will transition the site to State 2.
Model keys
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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.