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Quantifying ecological variation across jurisdictional boundaries in a management mosaic landscape

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Abstract

Context

Large landscapes exhibit natural heterogeneity. Land management can impose additional variation, altering ecosystem patterns. Habitat characteristics may reflect these management factors, potentially resulting in habitat differences that manifest along jurisdictional boundaries.

Objectives

We characterized the patchwork of habitats across a case study landscape, the Grand Canyon Protected Area-Centered Ecosystem. We asked: how do ecological conditions vary across different types of jurisdictional boundaries on public lands? We hypothesized that differences in fire and grazing, because they respond to differences in management over time, contribute to ecological differences by jurisdiction.

Methods

We collected plot-scale vegetation and soils data along boundaries between public lands units surrounding the Grand Canyon. We compared locations across boundaries of units managed differently, accounting for vegetation type and elevation differences that pre-date management unit designations. We used generalized mixed effects models to evaluate differences in disturbance and ecology across boundaries.

Results

Jurisdictions varied in evidence of grazing and fire. After accounting for these differences, some measured vegetation and soil properties also differed among jurisdictions. The greatest differences were between US Forest Service wilderness and Bureau of Land Management units. For most measured variables, US Forest Service non-wilderness units and National Park Service units were intermediate.

Conclusions

In this study, several ecological properties tracked jurisdictional boundaries, forming a predictable patchwork of habitats. These patterns likely reflect site differences that pre-date jurisdictions as well as those resulting from different management histories. Understanding how ecosystem differences manifest at jurisdictional boundaries can inform resource management, conservation, and cross-boundary collaborations.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Science Foundation Award #1617309. Many thanks to the jurisdictional managers across the study area for allowing our sampling to occur, and to the Grand Canyon Trust for lending field resources to support our crews. We are grateful for the field staff who worked tirelessly to collect the immense amount of data examined here, including: M. Sample, B. Tiffany, S. Sterner, M. Sotelo, G. Conley, M. Barasha, and M. Andrews.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Landscape Conservation Initiative, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA

    Clare E. Aslan

  2. Conservation Science Partners, Truckee, CA, 96161, USA

    Clare E. Aslan, Luke Zachmann, Meredith McClure & Brett G. Dickson

  3. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Kansas Biological Survey, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Benjamin A. Sikes

  4. Point Blue Conservation Science, Petaluma, CA, 94954, USA

    Samuel Veloz

  5. Environment and Society Department, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322, USA

    Mark W. Brunson

  6. Resources for the Future, Washington, DC, 20036, USA

    Rebecca S. Epanchin-Niell

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  1. Clare E. Aslan
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Correspondence to Clare E. Aslan.

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Aslan, C.E., Zachmann, L., McClure, M. et al. Quantifying ecological variation across jurisdictional boundaries in a management mosaic landscape. Landscape Ecol 36, 1215–1233 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01198-7

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