Creating a Design Framework to Diagnose and Enhance Grassland Health under Pastoral Livestock Production Systems

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Human life depends on the provision of ecosystem services from grasslands ecosystem, which have been threatened due to practices adopted by current farming systems. Researchers have thus pointed out the use of systems thinking and design theory to create more sustainable pastoral live-stock production systems that work within grasslands for the continuous delivery of multiple ecosystem services. Systems thinking is a holistic theory that brings different perspectives from a particular situation and design theory is a prescriptive theory that aims to achieve a defined goal by using specific tools and background. In this narrative review, we explain why the use of both theories would contribute to the creation of more sustainable livestock production systems and provide an overview of grasslands with the goal of creating the required design framework for the design of pastoral livestock production systems that enhance grassland health. ABSTRACT: Grasslands and ecosystem services are under threat due to common practices adopted by modern livestock farming systems. Design theory has been an alternative to promote changes and develop more sustainable strategies that allow pastoral livestock production systems to evolve continually within grasslands by enhancing their health and enabling the continuous delivery of multiple ecosystem services. To create a design framework to design alternative and more sustainable pastoral livestock production systems, a better comprehension of grassland complexity and dynamism for a diagnostic assessment of its health is needed, from which the systems thinking theory could be an important approach. By using systems thinking theory, the key components of grasslands—soil, plant, ruminant—can be reviewed and better understood from a holistic perspective. The description of soil, plant and ruminant individually is already complex itself, so understanding these components, their interactions, their response to grazing management and herbivory and how they contribute to grassland health under different climatic and topographic conditions is paramount to designing more sustainable pastoral livestock production systems. Therefore, by taking a systems thinking approach, we aim to review the literature to better understand the role of soil, plant, and ruminant on grassland health to build a design framework to diagnose and enhance grassland health under pastoral livestock production systems.