Grasslands, Rangelands, and Agricultural Systems

This report explores how switchgrass
(Panicum virgatum L.), a native perennial cellulosic grass, may become the center of biofuel production in some parts of the Great Plains and Midwest. This report will address the sustainability of growing biofuels in the US grassland regions, the environmental and ecological changes that have occurred in these areas already, and how the cultivation of biofuel crops may continue to change the landscape of the region.

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Primary or BEN resource type	Report
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Format	pdf
Is Part Of	This report is one of a four-part series based upon scientific manuscripts initially presented at a conference hosted by the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and sponsored by a consortium of other scientific organizations, nongovernmental organizations, federal agencies, and the private sector in Washington, DC, on March 10, 2008. All four reports can be found at the link below or the following web address: http://www.esa.org/biofuelsreports/
Collection Link	http://esa.org/ecoed/folders/0096/biofuels
Ecological Core Concept	Landscapes and larger scales Human impacts -- Agriculture and resource harvesting Interspecific interactions
Drought & Water-Ecosystem Services Collection	Off
Conservation Targets Under Global Change Collection	Off
Big Data Collection	Off
Editor's Choice	No
Audience	Undergraduate lower division 13-14 Undergraduate upper division 15-16
Pedagogical Use Description	This report can be used to supplement a lesson/lecture on land geography of the US. Students can also read this to begin their critical thinking regarding land appropriation and the economic and environmental undertakings of cultivating switchgrass for biofuel production.
Keywords	agriculture, biofuels, geography, Panicum virgatum L, switchgrass, grassland, perrenial grass, sustainability
Life science discipline (subject)	Botany & Plant Science Agriculture & Aquaculture Ecology Environmental Sciences
Primary Author Controlled Name	Brian Wienhold Gary Varvel Linda Wallace Rob Mitchell Wallace Wilhelm
Primary Author Affiliation	USDA-ARS;University of Oklahoma;USDA-ARS;USDA-ARS;USDA-ARS
Primary Author email	N/A
Submitter Email	educationintern@esa.org
Rights	Ecological Society of America
Review Status	Accepted
Resource Editor	Unknown
Reviewer A	Unknown
Reviewer B	Unknown
Date Of Record Submission	2012-07-06

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