Purpose Perennial crops have been suggested as a more sustainable alternative to the currently most common cropping systems. Compared with annual plants, perennial plants produce more biomass and have deeper roots, and are expected to lead to higher soil organic carbon (SOC). This hypothesis, however, has not been well tested for grain crops. Methods Using perennial intermediate wheatgrass (IWG, Thinopyrum intermedium ) and an...

The ecological benefits of changing cattle grazing practices in the western United States remain controversial, due in part to a lack of experimentation. In 1997 we initiated an experimental study of two rangeland alternatives, cattle removal and high‐impact grazing, and compared grassland community responses with those with more conventional, moderate grazing practices. The study was conducted in a high‐elevation, semiarid gr...