They considered the impacts of the Pleistocene megafauna, the Spanish introduction of grazing animals, and populations of grazing animals at the Jornada from the late 1800s to the present. They pointed out the economic difficulties facing ranchers, who must contend with fluctuations in forage biomass while making constant mortgage payments. The symposium closed with the traditional rangeland barbecue, served at the USDA Headquarters ranch that evening. This reference book will be of wide interest to both scientists and lay readers who frequent desert ecosystems. Prepared by 41 scientists from around the world, the entries are easily within the reach of new students and visitors to arid lands, and each entry is nicely cross-referenced to lead the reader to further information.
Most entries also end with several references that are recommended for further reading.
For scientists, the book will be more useful for its diverse coverage of topics than for its in-depth coverage of current research. At the Jornada, John works closely with Tony Parsons, Athol Abrahams, and Bill Schlesinger on studies of sediment and nutrient transport during hillslope runoff. With this issue of Jornada Trails , we recognize Dr. Jeff Herrick as our featured Jornada Basin LTER investigator. During his post-doctoral work on soil aggregate stability, Jeff developed interests in other scientific efforts at the Jornada, most notably in the environmental monitoring program conducted in collaboration with Walt Whitford and the Environmental Protection Agency. Jeff has continued that effort over the last few years, leading to the preparation of a manual on rangeland monitoring techniques that will be published by the Natural Resource Conservation Service this fall.