About this Research Topic
The World’s grazing ecosystems support some of the most important biodiversity globally. Prominent examples include the grasslands of East Africa, American Great Plains, Arctic tundra, Alpine grasslands of the Tibetan plateau, and the Mongolia and central Asia steppes. Unifying characteristics of these ecosystems are their vast size, their strong herbivore-ecosystem interactions, and their broad-scale, spatiotemporal dynamics in resource pulses (e.g., green waves) that drive patterns in wildlife movement, distribution, abundance, and biodiversity. Grazing ecosystems are also among the most threatened globally. Overuse, competition with livestock, agricultural encroachment, mineral exploitation, and infrastructure development have resulted in significant habitat loss and fragmentation.
This Research Topic focuses on advances in science and technology that facilitate new approaches to study the ecology of grazing ecosystems (individually or comparatively) and to develop innovative, science-based strategies for conserving and restoring grazing ecosystems and their components. We are seeking contributions that advance ecological theory and develop or deploy new and innovative technologies and tools while focusing on applied outcomes for managing, conserving, and restoring grazing ecosystems and their components. Examples of themes include:
• Novel tools for better quantifying the role of vegetation structure and dynamics for biodiversity (e.g., lidar, UAV mapping)
• Original research on how to maintain or increase connectivity in grazing ecosystems
• Pioneering work for assessing and mitigating impacts from infrastructure development (e.g., remote mapping of fences, multispecies corridor modeling)
• Groundbreaking advances in restoring grasslands or specific keystone plant or animal components (e.g., reintroduction, de-extinction)
• Potential and emerging institutions, fora and research methods for community engagement; understanding, integrating, or reconciling multiple values and knowledge systems; and/or mapping social-ecological drivers of change
This Research Topic focuses on advances in science and technology that facilitate new approaches to study the ecology of grazing ecosystems (individually or comparatively) and to develop innovative, science-based strategies for conserving and restoring grazing ecosystems and their components. We are seeking contributions that advance ecological theory and develop or deploy new and innovative technologies and tools while focusing on applied outcomes for managing, conserving, and restoring grazing ecosystems and their components. Examples of themes include:
• Novel tools for better quantifying the role of vegetation structure and dynamics for biodiversity (e.g., lidar, UAV mapping)
• Original research on how to maintain or increase connectivity in grazing ecosystems
• Pioneering work for assessing and mitigating impacts from infrastructure development (e.g., remote mapping of fences, multispecies corridor modeling)
• Groundbreaking advances in restoring grasslands or specific keystone plant or animal components (e.g., reintroduction, de-extinction)
• Potential and emerging institutions, fora and research methods for community engagement; understanding, integrating, or reconciling multiple values and knowledge systems; and/or mapping social-ecological drivers of change
Keywords: savanna, grasslands, prairie, protected area, herbivore-grassland interactions, socio-ecological systems, restoration, neobiota, drivers of change, sustainable management
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
