Biological monitoring: verification
Last week we discussed the four ecosystem process: energy cycle, mineral cycle, water cycle and community dynamics. In this blog I want to discuss how to choose the right monitoring program for you and some of the techniques that we use at Parker Creek Ranch to monitor our pastures.
There is an enormous amount of monitoring methods that exist to gauge the health of your pastures. Some of the methods are time consuming and expensive. I am not suggesting that any one method or combination of is the right or wrong way. Your choice of what to monitor and the methods you choose are all dependent on your context. In the Bullseye soil monitoring manual they have created a Monitoring Methodologies Matrix (pg. 8) that is used to choose what monitoring techniques are best for you. Download this manual and you will not be disappointed. It has a wealth of information and is the golden standard for rangeland monitoring on ranches.
We currently have two long-term monitoring sites at Parker Creek Ranch. We have been taking soil samples since 2011 in all of our pastures. The two long-term sites came about after Mandy applied for a SARE research grant in 2017 with the hope that it will turn into a long-term monitoring project for our ranch. Mandy was awarded the research grant in 2018. We will share the results with all of you in 2020. We are establishing “base line” data points that we hope to continue monitoring long-term. This project is in partnership with SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education) and our collaborators at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. I want to acknowledge that Mandy has really gone above and beyond to establish these long-term monitoring sites. The first site studies were conducted carrying around a infant on her back during the blistering summer heat.
We are using primarily five methods to monitor our pasture conditions:
1. Vegetation Cover Survey: We conduct vegetation cover surveys to determine the relative abundance and presence of plant species in our pastures. Using a m2 quadrat along 50 m transects, we estimate percent cover of bare ground, litter, grass, forbs, and woody species at 0m, 19.5m, and 39.5m intervals. Vegetation surveys are excellent for understanding the energy cycle and community dynamics of a pasture. They can tell us whether our management strategies for vegetation are achieving the desired results or not.
2. Soil Nutrients: Soil samples are collected for nutrient analysis. This is the preferred method for understanding the mineral cycle on your pastures. Data is used to inform our nutrient management plan and vegetation production goals. We prefer to use the AMS hammer head soil probe that is designed for taking soil samples in heavy clay. If you don’t want to spend the money, simply use a sharp shooter. I prefer to send our soil samples to the Texas Plant & Soil Lab in Edinburg, TX. They are arguably one of the best soil labs in the world.
3. Soil Compaction: Measuring soil compaction helps us to primarily to understand the water cycle. If the soil is highly compacted it simply will not absorb water. Initial measurement locations are georeferenced so the same places are returned to for the future measurements. Measurements are made with a soil penetrometer. There are a lot of penetrometers on the market. My advice is pick one and stick with it.
4. Infiltration Test: The infiltration test is the golden standard for understanding whether or not your pasture has a healthy water cycle. Hydraulic conductivity of the soil surface will be measured using the AMS infiltration rings. Tests are timed to capture infiltration rates when the soil is at field capacity. The AMS rings are an excellent low cost option. There are others out there on the market. If you are a good welder and have a little bit of design experience you can build them yourself relatively easy. The infiltration test is a great indicator of soil health for our ranch. Most of the ranch is in heavy clay that has poor drainage. In the past when it rained the top 1” is saturated and the rest sheets off. Through conscious management we have improved the infiltration rate of our soil dramatically.
5. Photo Point Survey: Permanent photo points are established in each pasture in both the control and treatment areas. Landscape photos are taken by setting the camera on top of the T-post and photographing the landscape in each cardinal direction. We also take three ground level photos within 10 feet of each T-post that are randomly designated with a m2 quadrat and marked by flagged rebar. We take a photograph directly over the quadrant and identify cover type, and percent bare ground at each photo point. This tool also helps us to understand the long-term community dynamics and energy cycle of the pasture.
It’s all about context folks. Choose what works best for you. Think about how much time or money you want to spend, why do you want to monitor, what do you want to do with the information and how often you want to repeat monitoring? Do not blindly copy what someone else is doing. Understand your goals and objectives and the management strategies you are implementing to achieve them. Then decide which monitoring techniques can give a deeper understanding of how the systems and processes are functioning over a period of time on your land. Monitoring is key to making timely, informed decisions about management.
Are you looking for someone to help you set-up a monitoring plan or do you want to outsource the entire task? Contact us for consulting services. We can help you determine:
Where on your farm or ranch are you going to get the best feedback for management?
How many monitoring sites you need to establish?
Which monitoring techniques will give you the data you need?
How to interpret the changes over a period of time.
Help you understand and determine which land management strategies are best to create the changes you desire.
