RISCC Network Management Challenge: The RAD Framework to Address Ecological Transformation
Dates
Publication Date
2024
Summary
Ecological transformations are persistent shifts in multiple components of an ecosystem that are not easily reversed. They can be caused by many different drivers including wildfire, climate change, and invasive species, as well as interactions between these drivers. For example, increased wildfire and drought frequency and/or severity in sagebrush ecosystems promote the spread of invasive grasses and the transformation to grassdominated ecosystems. With ecological transformation, it is becoming increasingly hard to maintain ecosystem conditions based on historical baselines. The RAD (resist, accept, direct) framework offers alternative management approaches in addition to those aimed at maintaining historical conditions, including [...]
Summary
Ecological transformations are persistent shifts in multiple components of an ecosystem that are not easily reversed. They can be caused by many different drivers including wildfire, climate change, and invasive species, as well as interactions between these drivers. For example, increased wildfire and drought frequency and/or severity in sagebrush ecosystems promote the spread of invasive grasses and the transformation to grassdominated ecosystems. With ecological transformation, it is becoming increasingly hard to maintain ecosystem conditions based on historical baselines. The RAD (resist, accept, direct) framework offers alternative management approaches in addition to those aimed at maintaining historical conditions, including accepting ecosystem transformations or directing systems towards novel conditions (Lynch et al. 2021; Schuurman et al. 2022)