Rangelands and pastures include grasslands, savannas, shrublands, and woodlands and are often maintained to support grazing animals. Rangelands and pastures cover more than one-third of the land area in the USA and a similar extent globally. The ecosystem goods and services associated with rangeland and pastureland include critical wildlife habitat, forage for livestock, amenities related to water conservation, sustainable soil functions, and soil stabilization and support a diversity of biota and livelihoods. This paper provides a framework for development of a socio-ecological system (SES)–oriented set of indicators for rangeland and pasture systems to support evaluation of impacts of climate and land use changes. These indicators will also serve to inform adaptive management practices. We present a rationale for using an SES approach to evaluate trends and vulnerabilities of rangeland and pasture systems and provide an example of a set of system indicators arising from the SES approach. The indicators include evaporative demand, land cover extent, aboveground plant biomass, human demographics (population age distribution), cattle numbers, and economic value of cattle products relative to total agricultural value. These indicators are not meant to be comprehensive but are offered to illustrate how they might be used in a SES approach to plan for, assess, and mitigate climate change impacts. The conceptual framework provides a systems perspective on the impact of climate change on the socio-ecological dynamics of rangeland and pasture systems including measures of the resilience and vulnerability of ecosystem services with respect to the six indicators. The article focusses on livestock production in rangeland ecosystems, recognizing that additional work is needed to address pastures and other ecosystem services. Examples of the types of regional information associated with the indicators are provided. Guidance for future efforts in indicator development is offered. This framework will serve to guide future development of indicators for rangeland and pasture components of a larger national effort of indicators.

中文翻译：

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美国牧场和牧场的气候变化指标框架

牧场和牧场包括草原、稀树草原、灌木地和林地，通常被维护以支持放牧动物。牧场和牧场覆盖了美国超过三分之一的土地面积，全球范围也相似。与牧场和牧场相关的生态系统产品和服务包括重要的野生动物栖息地、牲畜饲料、与水源保护相关的便利设施、可持续土壤功能以及土壤稳定和支持生物群和生计的多样性。本文提供了一个框架，用于开发面向社会生态系统 (SES) 的牧场和牧场系统指标集，以支持评估气候和土地利用变化的影响。这些指标也将有助于为适应性管理实践提供信息。我们提出了使用 SES 方法评估牧场和牧场系统的趋势和脆弱性的基本原理，并提供了由 SES 方法产生的一组系统指标的示例。这些指标包括蒸发需求、土地覆盖范围、地上植物生物量、人口统计数据（人口年龄分布）、牛数量以及牛产品相对于农业总价值的经济价值。这些指标并不全面，而是用来说明如何在 SES 方法中使用它们来规划、评估和减轻气候变化影响。概念框架提供了关于气候变化对牧场和牧场系统社会生态动态影响的系统视角，包括与六个指标相关的生态系统服务恢复力和脆弱性的测量。本文重点关注牧场生态系统中的畜牧生产，认识到需要额外的工作来解决牧场和其他生态系统服务问题。提供了与指标相关的区域信息类型的示例。提供了未来指标开发工作的指导。该框架将有助于指导未来制定更广泛的国家指标努力中的牧场和牧场组成部分的指标。认识到需要额外的工作来解决牧场和其他生态系统服务问题。提供了与指标相关的区域信息类型的示例。提供了未来指标开发工作的指导。该框架将有助于指导未来制定更广泛的国家指标努力中的牧场和牧场组成部分的指标。认识到需要额外的工作来解决牧场和其他生态系统服务问题。提供了与指标相关的区域信息类型的示例。提供了未来指标开发工作的指导。该框架将有助于指导未来制定更广泛的国家指标努力中的牧场和牧场组成部分的指标。