SPARKS, NEVADA – Dr. Brandon Bestelmeyer received the W.R. Chapline Research Awardat the Society for Range Management’s 77th Annual Meeting in Sparks, Nevada last week. This is the highest honor bestowed to a research scientist by the Society. The award is presented in recognition of major research accomplishments in the areas of grazing management and grazing systems, stakeholder engagement in collaborative rangeland research, and long-term climate impacts on forage and livestock production in the Great Plains.
Dr. Brandon Bestelmeyer is the preeminent scientist globally for his research and development of the ecological understanding dynamics on rangelands and developing a framework for their management. He has demonstrated sustained creativity and originality in the development of a multi-faceted, high-impact, collaborative research program on rangeland ecosystem transitions.
Best known for his development of systematic approaches creating ecological site descriptions (ESDs) and state and transition models (STMs), Dr. Bestelmeyer worked with NRCS to implement the first science-based concepts and protocols for integrating and applying diverse sources of information to the national production of ESDs and STMs. He linked information in STMs to synthetic concepts, mapping approaches, management decisions, and monitoring as “resilience-based management.”
Dr. Bestelmeyer is the quintessential modern scientist: creatively integrating experimental, observational, and synthesis work on ecological thresholds and regime shifts in arid grasslands to transform dominant views of desertification processes and clarify the causes of transition phenomena, with grounding to local problems and assisting in identifying local management issues and solutions. He has produced new understanding of long-term desert grassland regime shifts as large, abrupt, and persistent changes in the structure and function of ecosystems are a critical problem for agroecosystem sustainability and resilience under climate change. He is frequently invited as a consultant and speaker by U.S. and international government agencies and at scientific meetings, including as the sole U.S. keynote speaker at the recent International Rangeland Congress.
For the tremendous contributions to the science and management of rangeland ecosystems he has made, it is with great honor the Society of Range Management recognized Dr. Brandon Bestelmeyer with the W.R. Chapline Research Award.