By: Dr. Maria Silveira

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) established the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network (https://ltar.ars.usda.gov/), with the mission of developing long-term, transdisciplinary research to address national and local agricultural priorities and advance the sustainable intensification of U.S. agriculture. The University of Florida, Range Cattle Research and Education Center, in partnership with Archbold Biological Station, is one of 18 sites nationwide in the LTAR network (ABS-UF site) (Figure 1). The Archbold-UF interdisciplinary team with expertise in soil, agronomy, animal sciences, wildlife, and ecology addresses research questions related to management and sustainability of native and cultivated pastures in subtropical regions. Since joining LTAR, the ABS-UF site has developed strong collaborations with other scientists across the network, making our research efforts more impactful and meaningful.

The main research emphasis at the Range Cattle REC under the LTAR project involves the management of native rangelands and cultivated pastures. The experimental site represents one of the few long-term, large-scale studies dedicated to study multiple ecosystem responses to grazing land management and the complex relationships among land use, land management, and agricultural production. The site is also part of the Ameriflux network (https://ameriflux.lbl.gov/).

In a recent webinar, we provided a brief update about our current research efforts at the UF LTAR site at Ona. Run time is 40:34 minutes. Watch it on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_CWAlamjpk

Maria is a professor in the UF/IFAS Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences Department stationed at the UF/IFAS Range Cattle REC in Ona.  If you have questions, you can reach her at mlas@ufl.edu.

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