This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. This book provides an unprecedented synthesis of the current status of scientific and management knowledge regarding global rangelands and the major challenges that confront them. It has been organized around three major themes. The first summarizes the conceptual advances that have occurred in the rangeland profession. The second addresses the implications of these conceptual advances to management and policy. The third assesses several major challenges confronting global rangelands in the 21st century. This book will compliment applied range management textbooks by describing the conceptual foundation on which the rangeland profession is based. It has been written to be accessible to a broad audience, including ecosystem managers, educators, students and policy makers. The content is founded on the collective experience, knowledge and commitment of 80 authors who have worked in rangelands throughout the world. Their collective contributions indicate that a more comprehensive framework is necessary to address the complex challenges confronting global rangelands. Rangelands represent adaptive social-ecological systems, in which societal values, organizations and capacities are of equal importance to, and interact with, those of ecological processes. A more comprehensive framework for rangeland systems may enable management agencies, and educational, research and policy making organizations to more effectively assess complex problems and develop appropriate solutions.

The purpose of this text is to introduce readers to the science of range management, coupling the latest concepts and technology with proven traditional approaches. In addition to being an excellent reference for professional range managers, ranchers, wildlife biologists soil scientists, and the growing segment of the public interested in natural resource management, "Range Management: Principles and Practices, 4/e," is the ideal core text for courses in Range Management offered at colleges and universities. This fourth edition retains its sound, insightful overview of the fundamentals of this important field while offering the most current information available with regard to recent research and changes. Significant new material has been added on Stocking Rate, Grazing Intensity, Grazing Methods, Livestock Distribution Improvement, Multiple-Use Range Management, Range Management in Developing Countries, and Future trends in range Management.

The science of range management, like many other resource disciplines, has embraced and integrated environmental concerns in the field, the laboratory, and policy. Rangeland Ecology and Management now brings this integrated approach to the classroom in a thoroughly researched, comprehensive, and readable text. The authors discuss the basics of ran

For introductory Range Management courses. This introduction to the science of range management couples the latest concepts and technology with proven traditional approaches. It combines fundamental topics, such as range plant physiology, range plant ecology, stocking-rate considerations, and grazing system selection, with the most recent research.