Professor of the Graduate School
Professor of the Graduate School
- Ph.D. Wildland Resource Science UCB, 1976
- M.S. Range Management UCB 1969
- BA Biology UCSB, 1968
Rangeland ecology and management
Rangeland ecosystems form extensive wildland landscapes visually dominated by grassland, shrubland, and savanna vegetation. Two important natural processes that control the structure and function of these ecosystems are herbivory and fire. Successful restoration, conservation, and use of rangelands usually requires the use of fire and herbivory and an understanding of vegetation response. Mediterranean-type savanna ecosystems are found as five small pockets in California, Chile, South Africa, Australia, and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Each area has a distinctive biota, which humans have systematically homogenized over the past few thousand years. The Mediterranean-type savanna is an ideal laboratory for examining the relationships among long-lived woody plants, usually native; short-lived herbs, usually non-native; and grazing animals, at different ecological scales. Because people have had highly variable effects on the different systems, usually by changing grazing and burning regimes, comparative study of different regions can yield important insights into how native species may be enhanced and protected in restoration or conservation programs.
Current Projects
Currently I am investigating how environmental factors and management interact to affect the biomass productivity, vegetation spatial structure, and water quality in grasslands and savannas. This project is designed to test several theories about how grazing and burning may have changed the original California savanna and point the way to successful methods for ecosystem restoration. Our group is developing and testing improved methodologies for accurately monitoring grassland community response to environment and management. Results from these studies have shown that livestock grazing and prescribed fire, when properly applied, can enhance native plant recovery, may be useful for modifying vegetation structure, and do not degrade water quality.
Spiegal, S., J.W.Bartolome, and M.D.White. 2016. Applying Ecological Site Concepts to Adaptive Conservation Management on an Iconic Californian Landscape. Rangelands. 38:365-370.
Spiegal, S., L. Huntsinger, P. Hopkinson, and J.W. Bartolome. 2016. Rangeland Ecosystems. Chapter 37 In: Mooney, H. and E. Zavaleta (eds.) Ecosystems of California. UC Press.
Spotswood, E.N., J.W. Bartolome, and B. H. Allen-Diaz. 2015. Hotspots of Community Change: Temporal Dynamics Are Spatially Variable in Understory Plant Composition of a California Oak Woodland. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0133501. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0133501.
Huntsinger, L. and J.W. Bartolome. 2014. Cows? In California? Rangelands 36: Oct 2014.
James W. Bartolome, Barbara H. Allen-Diaz, Sheila Barry, Lawrence D. Ford, Michele Hammond, Peter Hopkinson, Felix Ratcliff, Sheri Spiegal, and Michael D. White. 2014. Grazing for Biodiversity on Californian grasslands. Rangelands 36: Oct 2104.
Ford, L.D., P.A. Van Hoorn, D.R. Rao, N.J. Scott, P.C. Trenham, and J.W. Bartolome. 2014. Managing Rangelands to Benefit California Red-legged Frogs and California Tiger Salamanders. Alameda County RCD.
Bartolome, J.W. and S. Spiegal. 2014. Ecological history of California's Mediterranean landscape. <http://californiarangeland.ucdavis.edu/Ecological_History/>
Evett, R.E. and J.W. Bartolome. 2013. Phytolith evidence for the extent and nature of prehistoric Californian grasslands. The Holocene 23:1644–1649.
Spotswood E.N., J-Y. Meyer, J.W. Bartolome. 2013. Preference for an invasive fruit trumps fruit abundance in selection by an introduced bird in the Society Islands, French Polynesia. Biological Invasions. DOI 10.1007/s10530-013-0441-z.
Booker, K., L. Huntsinger, J.W. Bartolome, N. Sayre, and W. Stewart. 2012. What can ecological science tell us about opportunities for carbon sequestration on arid rangelands in the United States? Global Envir. Change 23:240-251.
Rand R. Evett, Arthur Dawson, and James W. Bartolome.2013. Estimating Vegetation Reference Conditions by Combining Historical Source Analysis and Soil Phytolith Analysis at Pepperwood Preserve, northern California Coast Ranges, USA Restoration Ecology 21:464-473.
Spotswood, E.N. J-Y. Meyer and J.W. Bartolome. 2012. Abundance of invasive trees alters the structure of seed dispersal networks in French Polynesia. Journal of Biogeography. 39: 2007-2020.
Gerardo Moreno (gmoreno@unex.es), James W. Bartolome, Guillermo Gea-Izquierdo, Isabel Cañellas. 2012. Chapter 6: Overstory-understory relationships In: Oviedo, J.L., L. Huntsinger, M. Diaz, P. Campos, P.F. Starrs, G. Montero, and R. B. Standiford (eds) Conservation and Management of Working Mediterranean Oak Woodlands Ecosystems. Springer.
- H196 - HONORS RESEARCH
- 199 - SUPERV INDEP STUDY
- 268 - Seminar in Range Ecology
- 280 - Seminar in Range Ecosystem Planning and Policy
- 296 - Individual Study
- 299 - INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH
Contact details
James Bartolome
By Appointment
UC Berkeley
130 Mulford Hall #3114
Berkeley, CA 94720