Fauna of North America’s Great Plains evolved strategies to contend with the region’s extreme spatiotemporal variability in weather and low annual primary productivity. The capacity for large-scale movement (migration and/or nomadism) enables many species, from bison to lark buntings, to track pulses of productivity at broad spatial scales (> 1 000 km²). Furthermore, even sedentary species often rely on metapopulation dynamics over extensive landscapes for long-term population viability. The current complex pattern of land ownership and use of Great Plains grasslands challenges native species conservation. Approaches to managing both public and private grasslands, frequently focused at the scale of individual pastures or ranches, limit opportunities to conserve landscape-scale processes such as fire, animal movement, and metapopulation dynamics. Using the US National Land Cover Database and Cropland Data Layers for 2011−2017, we analyzed land cover patterns for 12 historical grassland and savanna communities (regions) within the US Great Plains. On the basis of the results of these analyses, we highlight the critical contribution of restored grasslands to the future conservation of Great Plains biodiversity, such as those enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. Managing disturbance regimes at larger spatial scales will require acknowledging that, where native large herbivores are absent, domestic livestock grazing can function as a central component of Great Plains disturbance regimes if they are able move at large spatial scales and coexist with a diverse array of native flora and fauna. Opportunities to increase the scale of grassland management include 1) spatial prioritization of grassland restoration and reintroduction of grazing and fire, 2) finding creative approaches to increase the spatial scale at which fire and grazing can be applied to address watershed to landscape-scale objectives, and 3) developing partnerships among government agencies, landowners, businesses, and conservation organizations that enhance cross-jurisdiction management and address biodiversity conservation in grassland landscapes, rather than pastures.

北美大平原的动物区系发展了应对该地区极端时空变化的策略，以应对该地区的极端气候变化和年基本生产力低下的问题。大规模移动（迁徙和/或游牧）的能力使从野牛到百灵鸟的许多物种能够在宽广的空间尺度（> 1 000 km ²）。此外，即使久坐的物种也常常依靠广泛分布的种群的种群动态来获得长期的种群生存力。当前大平原地区土地所有权和使用的复杂格局对本地物种的保护提出了挑战。管理公共草地和私人草地的方法通常集中于单个牧场或牧场的规模，限制了保护景观规模过程（例如火灾，动物运动和种群动态）的机会。使用美国国家土地覆盖数据库和2011-2017年的农田数据层，我们分析了美国大平原内12个历史草原和热带稀树草原群落（地区）的土地覆盖格局。根据这些分析的结果，我们强调了恢复的草地对大平原生物多样性的未来保护的重要贡献，例如那些被纳入保护储备计划的人。在较大的空间尺度上管理干扰机制将需要认识到，如果没有本地大型食草动物，家畜放牧如果能够在较大的空间尺度上移动并与各种各样的本地物种共存，则可以作为大平原干扰机制的核心组成部分植物群和动物群。扩大草地管理规模的机会包括：1）草地恢复的空间优先顺序以及放牧和火灾的重新引入； 2）寻找增加空间和规模的创新方法，在这些空间上可以应用火和放牧解决流域达到景观尺度的目标，