Complex Rangeland Systems: Integrated Social-Ecological Approaches to Silvopastoralism
Issue Date
2018-09Keywords
agroforestryhardwood rangelands
savanna
silvopastoral systems
social-ecological systems
wood pasture
wood pastures
wooded rangelands
woodland
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Plieninger, T., & Huntsinger, L. (2018). Complex rangeland systems: integrated social-ecological approaches to silvopastoralism. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 71(5), 519-525.Publisher
Society for Range ManagementJournal
Rangeland Ecology & ManagementAdditional Links
https://rangelands.org/Abstract
Crossing disciplinary boundaries, particularly between social and ecological sciences, challenges those seeking to contribute to solving complex and multidimensional environmental problems on rangelands. In this Special Issue we present a set of 13 papers that to varying degrees attempt to integrate, or bring together, diverse approaches across disciplines to understand silvopastoral systems. The papers are about rangelands in numerous countries and regions, including Spain, Estonia, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, the United States, Latin America, and Sweden. Silvopastoral systems provide ecosystem goods and services important to communities, cultures, and society. Management deliberately exploits the diversity fostered by rangeland systems that mix woody species with a well-developed herbaceous understory, offering a greater diversity of products, species, vegetation structural characteristics, and habitat components than either grassland or forest. Biodiversity often peaks at the intermediate levels of tree and shrub cover characteristic of silvopastoral systems. We introduce the papers grouped by four overarching topics: 1) typologies and scales, 2) social-ecological interactions, 3) integrated management, and 4) multiple knowledge systems. Unfortunately, silvopastoral systems often run afoul of ongoing intensification and simplification trends in agricultural production that reduce their economic and ecological resilience. Privately owned systems, the most common in this issue, are subject to the need for owner income. Finding ways to support the benefits of these systems for the public is difficult, as management traditions must be conserved as well as the land. We hope this issue illustrates the value of multifunctional systems and offers insights into how they work.Type
Articletext
Language
enISSN
1550-7424EISSN
1551-5028ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.rama.2018.05.002