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Brandon T. Bestelmeyer

Ecologist, USDA-ARS, Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, New Mexico  88003-0003
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Animal and Range Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM

Landscape/community ecology with research in the following areas:

• Concepts and measurements of thresholds, resilience, and alternative states
• Modeling variation in vegetation states and threshold development at multiple scales related to spatial patterns of plant cover, climate, soils, and socio-economic factors
• Biodiversity responses to differences in net primary production in alternative states
• Methods to develop state-and-transition models and ecological site descriptions used by the management community

• 2006, Participant, Ecothresholds Project, the Heinz Center
• 2006, Member, executive committee, Jornada Basin LTER site
• 2005, Editorial Board, Journal of Arid Environments
• 2004, Editorial Board, Restoration Ecology
• 2004, Member, Ecological Principles Committee, National Cooperative Soil Survey
• 2003, Advisor, USDA-NRCS Ecological Site Description development efforts

Go to our searchable database to read abstracts.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

1. Smith, F.A., B.T. Bestelmeyer, J. Biardi, and M. Strong. 1993. Anthropogenic extinction of an endemic woodrat from Isla Coronado, Baja California, Mexico. Biodiversity Letters 1: 149-155.
2. Bestelmeyer, B.T. and J.A. Wiens. 1996. The effects of land use on the structure of ground-foraging ant communities in the Argentine Chaco. Ecological Applications 6: 1225-1240.
3. Bestelmeyer, B.T. 1997. Stress-tolerance in some Chacoan dolichoderine ants: implications for community organization and distribution. Journal of Arid Environments 35: 297-310.
4. Bestelmeyer, B.T. and M.T. Stevenson. 1998. Documenting risk avoidance in desert rodents using a new technique. Southwestern Naturalist 43: 397-401.
5. Bestelmeyer, B.T. and R.L. Schooley. 1999. The ants of the southern Sonoran desert: community structure and the role of trees. Biodiversity and Conservation 8: 643-657.
6. Bestelmeyer, B.T. 2000. The trade-off between thermal tolerance and behavioural dominance in a subtropical South American ant community. Journal of Animal Ecology 69: 998-1009.
7. Schooley, R.L., and B.T. Bestelmeyer. 2000. Movements during colony founding by queens of the honeypot ant (Myrmecocystus mimicus Wheeler). American Midland Naturalist 144: 439-444.
8. Schooley, R.L., B.T. Bestelmeyer, and J.F. Kelly. 2000. Influence of small-scale disturbances by kangaroo rats on Chihuahuan Desert ants. Oecologia 125: 142-149.
9. Bestelmeyer, B.T. and J.A. Wiens. 2001. Ant biodiversity in semiarid landscape mosaics: the consequences of grazing vs. natural heterogeneity. Ecological Applications 11: 1123-1140.
10. Bestelmeyer, B.T. and J.A. Wiens. 2001. Local and regional-scale responses of ant diversity to a semiarid biome transition. Ecography 24: 381-392.
11. Bestelmeyer, B.T., J.R. Brown, K.M. Havstad, G. Chavez, and R. Alexander, and J.E. Herrick. 2003. Development and use of state-and-transition models for rangelands. Journal of Range Management 56: 114-126.
12. Bestelmeyer, B.T., J.R. Miller and J.A. Wiens. 2003. Applying species diversity theory to land management. Ecological Applications 13: 1750-1761.
13. Bestelmeyer, B.T., and J.A. Wiens. 2003. Scavenging ant foraging behaviour and variation in the scale of nutrient redistribution in semiarid grasslands. Journal of Arid Environments 53: 373-386.
14. Bestelmeyer, B.T., J.E. Herrick, J.R. Brown, D.A. Trujillo, K.M. Havstad. 2004. Land management in the American Southwest: a state-and-transition approach to ecosystem complexity. Environmental Management 34: 38-51.
15. Bestelmeyer, B. T. 2005. Does desertification diminish biodiversity? Enhancement of ant diversity by shrub invasion in southwestern USA. Diversity and Distributions 11: 45-55.
16. Beever, E. A., R. K. Swihart, and B, T. Bestelmeyer. 2006. Linking the concept of scale to studies of biological diversity: evolving approaches and tools. Diversity and Distributions 12: 229-235.
17. Bestelmeyer, B. T. 2006. Threshold concepts and their use in rangeland management and restoration: the good, the bad, and the insidious. Restoration Ecology 14: 325-329.
18. Bestelmeyer, B. T., D. A. Trujillo, A. J. Tugel, and K. M. Havstad. 2006. A multi-scale classification of vegetation dynamics in arid lands: what is the right scale for models, monitoring, and restoration? Journal of Arid Environments 65: 296-318.
19. Bestelmeyer, B.T., J. P. Ward, K. M. Havstad. 2006. Soil-geomorphic heterogeneity governs patchy vegetation dynamics at an arid ecotone. Ecology 87: 963-973.
20. Bestelmeyer, B., J. Ward, J Herrick, A. Tugel. 2006. Fragmentation effects on soil aggregate stability in a patchy arid grassland. Rangeland Ecology and Management 59: 406-415.
21. Herrick, J. E., B. T. Bestelmeyer, S. R. Archer, A. J. Tugel, and J. R. Brown. 2006. An integrated framework for science-based arid land management. Journal of Arid Environments 65: 319-335.
22. Herrick, J. E., Garcia-Moya, W. Willms B. T. Bestelmeyer, P. Sundt, and W. S. Barnes. 2006. Arid and semiarid rangeland monitoring in North America. Sécheresse 17(1-2): 235-241.
23. Monger, H. C. and B. T. Bestelmeyer. 2006. The soil-geomorphic template and biotic change in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Journal of Arid Environments 65:207-218.
24. Peters, D., B. Bestelmeyer, E. Fredrickson, J. Herrick, C. Monger, and K. Havstad. 2006. Disentangling complex landscapes: new insights into arid and semiarid system dynamics. Bioscience 56: 491-501.
25. Rango, A., A. Laliberte, C. Steele, J. E. Herrick, B. Bestelmeyer, T. Schmugge, A. Roanhorse and V. Jenkins. 2006. Using unmanned aerial vehicles for rangelands: current applications and future potentials. Environmental Practice 8: 159-168.
26. Bestelmeyer, B. T., N. I. Khalil, and D. P. C. Peters. 2007. Does shrub invasion indirectly limit grass establishment via seedling herbivory? A test at grassland-shrubland ecotones. Journal of Vegetation Science 18: 363-270.
27. Bestelmeyer, B.T., Tugel, A.J. Peacock, Jr., G.L., Robinett, D.G., Shaver, P.L., Brown, J.R., Herrick, J.E., Sanchez, H., and Havstad, K.M. 2009. State-and-transition models for heterogeneous landscapes: A strategy for development and application. Rangeland Ecology and Management 62(1):1-15.
28. Peters, D.P. C., B. T. Bestelmeyer, and M. G. Turner. In press. Cross-scale interactions and changing pattern-process relationships: Consequences for system dynamics. Ecosystems.

Additional Publications

29. Bestelmeyer, B. 2000. Ants, much more than pesky. Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park Newsletter, Spring.
30. Bestelmeyer, B. T. 2000. A multiscale perspective on ant diversity in semiarid landscapes. Dissertation. Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
31. Bestelmeyer, B. T., D. Agosti, L. Alonso, C. R. Brandão, W. L. Brown, Jr., J. H. C. Delabie, and R. Silvestre. 2000. Field techniques for the study of ground-dwelling ants: An overview, description and evaluation. Pp. 122-144 in Ants: Standard Methods for Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity (Biological Diversity Handbook Series) (D. Agosti, J. Majer, L. Alonso, and T. Schultz, eds). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
32. Bestelmeyer, B. 2001. Buffelgrass invasion: what is the value of a desert? Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park Newsletter, Spring.
33. Bestelmeyer, B. T. 2001. Introduction to the RAP expedition to Laguna del Tigre National Park, Petén, Guatemala. Pp. 20-27 in A Biological Assessment of Laguna del Tigre National Park, Petén, Guatemala. RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment 16 (B. Bestelmeyer and L. Alonso, eds). Conservation International, Washington, DC.
34. Bestelmeyer, B. T. and L. E. Alonso (eds.). 2001. A Biological Assessment of Laguna del Tigre National Park, Petén, Guatemala. RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment 16. Conservation International, Washington, DC. ISBN 1-881173-33-X.
35. Bestelmeyer, B. T., L. Alonso, and R .R. Snelling. 2001. The ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Laguna del Tigre National Park, Petén, Guatemala. Pp. 84-94 in A Biological Assessment of Laguna del Tigre National Park, Petén, Guatemala. RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment 16 (B. Bestelmeyer and L. Alonso, eds). Conservation International, Washington, DC.
36. Bestelmeyer, B, J. Brown, K. Havstad, R. Alexander, and G. Chavez, and J. Herrick. 2001. An approach to managing landscape pattern and dynamics in southern New Mexico. Society for Range Management New Mexico Section Newsletter, Spring.
37. Bestelmeyer, B. T. and J. R. Brown. 2003. Future directions in soil-vegetation descriptions: Systematizing dynamics. Pp. 35-36 in National Cooperative Soil Survey Conference 2003 Proceedings: Supplemental Report, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
38. Bestelmeyer, B., J. R. Brown, and K. M. Havstad. 2003. Grazing in complex environments: The details matter. Pp. 1-6 in The New Ranch at Work: Proceedings of a Conference. Quivira Coalition, Santa Fe, NM.
39. Bestelmeyer, B. T., J. R. Brown, J. E. Herrick, and K. M. Havstad. 2003. What does an ecological threshold look like? Pp. 688-690 in Proceedings of the VIIth International Rangeland Congress (N. Allsop, A. R. Palmer, S. J. Milton et al., eds.).
40. Herrick, J. E. and B. T. Bestelmeyer. 2003. Application of ecological assessment and monitoring to (adaptive) sustainable land management. Pp. 21-30 in Memoria de la XV Semana Internacional de Agronomía, Facultad de Agricultura y Zootecnica, Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango, Venecia, Durango, México.
41. Brown, J. and B. T. Bestelmeyer 2004. Key concepts to improve the utility of ecological site descriptions. In: Proceedings of the 2004 USDA-NRCS Western Region Cooperative Soil Survey Conference, June 13-18, 2004, Jackson, Wyoming. CDROM.
42. Peters, D., R. Pielke, B. Bestelmeyer, C. Allen, S. Munson-McGee, and K. Havstad. 2004. Cross-scale interactions, nonlinearities, and forecasting catastrophic events. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101: 15130-15135.
43. Bestelmeyer, B. and J. Brown. 2005. State and transition models 101: a fresh look at vegetation change. Quivira Coalition Newsletter 7: 6-11.
44. Steele, C., Laliberte, A., Bestelmeyer, B., Herrick, J., Rango, A. 2005. Current and Future Options for the Use of Remote Sensing for Rangeland Management and Monitoring. Proceedings, II Simposio Internacional de Manejo de Pastizales, April 20-21, 2005, Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico. P. 84.
45. Bestelmeyer, B. T., J. R. Brown, K. M. Havstad, and E. L. Fredrickson. 2006. A holistic view of an arid ecosystem: A synthesis of research and management applications. pp. 354-368. In: K. M. Havstad, W. H. Schlesinger, and L. F. Huenneke, eds. Structure and Function of a Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem: the Jornada Basin LTER. Oxford University Press.
46. Whitford, W.G. and B.T. Bestelmeyer. 2006. Chihuahuan desert fauna: effects on ecosystem properties and processes. pp. 247-265. In: K. M. Havstad, W. H. Schlesinger, and L. F. Huenneke, eds. Structure and Function of a Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem: the Jornada Basin LTER. Oxford University Press.
47. Bestelmeyer, B. T., J. E. Herrick, K. M. Havstad, and J. R. Brown. In press. A general classification of vegetation dynamics for Chihuahuan Desert management models. Proceedings of the 6th Symposium on the Natural Resources of the Chihuahuan Desert.
48. Herrick, J. E. , B. T. Bestelmeyer, A. J. Tugel, and J. R. Brown. In press. An ecological-site based approach for inventory, assessment, monitoring, and management of Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystems. Proceedings of the 6th Symposium on the Natural Resources of the Chihuahuan Desert.
49. Peters, D., R. Pielke, B. Bestelmeyer, C. Allen, S. Munson-McGee, and K. Havstad. In press. Spatial nonlinearities: cascading effects in the Earth System. In Terrestrial Ecosystems in a Changing World (J. Canadell, D. Pataki, and L.Pitelka, eds). IGBP Book Series.