\u201cThey\u2019ve highlighted a really important blind spot that exists in general research about livestock trends globally,\u201d said Retta Bruegger, a rangeland ecologist at Colorado State University, who was not involved in the paper. \u201cI think the implications for rangeland health are really important here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drought and wildfire sprang to her mind as potentially fruitful avenues of future research for scientists.<\/p>\n
Bruegger, who works with ranchers on Colorado\u2019s western slope, added that the paper underscores researchers\u2019 need to pay attention to historical livestocking trends, particularly in the West. \u201cSometimes we have this idea [that] the numbers of livestock on our public rangelands in the West are constant or maybe they\u2019re increasing and they\u2019re really not, according to the paper,\u201d she said. The new work \u201chighlights the need to really be engaged with the actual trends that are happening as we think about ecology and landscapes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sala is excited by the many research opportunities his paper suggests. Even something as well-understood as plants\u2019 ability to trap carbon must be explored more, he said. It\u2019s not enough to simply suspect that flora no longer exposed to grazing will store more carbon, he said. \u201cWe need to find out how much, where, and when. We don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
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