What is RAP?
Let’s FInd OUt
https://rangelands.app/
Overall Picture of RAP
RAP stands for Rangeland Analysis Platform, which is a compilation of field data, satellite imagery, and cloud-based computing that shows trends in rangeland resources at a variety of levels and scales.
RAP is a free tool that helps wildlife managers and agriculturalists see the trends for vegetation data on a specific land area over time. This includes pastures, ranches, refuges, watersheds and broader scales as well.
What information can we find
Continuous Vegetation Cover
Annual Aboveground Biomass
16 day Aboveground biomass
Production Explorer
Partner tools
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Continuous Vegetation Cover
Section 1
Continuous vegetation cover- The Rangeland Analysis Platform’s vegetation cover product provides annual percent cover estimates from 1986 to present of: annual forbs and grasses, perennial forbs and grasses, shrubs, trees, and bare ground.
This means that an agriculturalist can see the abundance and distribution of vegetation in an area.
It answers the question. How many plants are actually there and how much bare ground is there in the area we are looking at?
Annual Aboveground Biomass
Section 2
Annual aboveground biomass - The Rangeland Analysis Platform’s vegetation biomass product provides annual aboveground biomass from 1986 to present of: annual forbs and grasses, perennial forbs and grasses, and herbaceous (combination of annual and perennial forbs and grasses). Estimates represent accumulated new biomass throughout the year and do not include biomass accumulation in previous years. Aboveground biomass is calculated by separating net primary production to aboveground and converting carbon to biomass.
This data is primarily intended for rangeland ecosystems.
This means we see how much and where production has changed over time.
It answers the question. How dense has the plant cover been over the years?
16 day Abovegound Biomass
Section 3
16 day aboveground biomass - The RAP provides a 16-day aboveground biomass of: annual forbs and grasses, perennial forbs and grasses, and herbaceous.
16-day biomass are provisional and will be recalculated at the end of the year when all information has been gathered and will include land cover changes (e.g., woodland to grassland, shrubland to grassland) that occur during the current year.
Users are urged to use data found in the 16 day biomass keeping the above statement in mind.
This is where managers would use this information to see what is happening during the production and growing seasons.
This answers the question. What changes are occurring right now?
Production Explorer
Section 4
Production Explorer is also a tool that managers can use to look at production data for a specific area.
This provides them the ability to map out an area in the RAP tool then move it into the production explorer and find 3 sets of data.
This information allows managers to make better decisions on the use of multi-species grazing in that specific area.
Partner Tools
Section 5
Partner Tools- additional tools that are useful to managers that include
Summary
The Rangeland Analysis Platform is a collection of tools that agriculturalists and wildlife managers can use to monitor rangeland. This allows them to evaluate current and past management strategies and possibly develop new ones.
Example - Area near LVHS
1. Launch the RAP tool app, then type in the specific area you want to look at.
2. Once there, you can zoom in to the specific area you want the data to be collected from.
3. After zooming in, you will use the draw features to pinpoint the area.
4. You can upload this pinpointed area to use in the production app later.
Example - Area near LVHS
5. You will now be able to see the graph containing all the information about that area.
6. You can click on the tabs at the top of the graph to see graphs on that information as well.
7. You can download, save and print these graphs for future use.
In this graph, the vertical blue lines indicate the amount of rainfall.
Example - Area near LVHS
8. Using this side, you can see the satellite image of the area you choose.
9. You can see cover and biomass together or individually. Both have drop down menus where you can look at different types.
10. Also you can look at specific years, using the drop down menu on the right for either crops or biomass.
SUMMARY
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In RAP, You can specify the area and the vegetation type you want to evaluate.
You can look at change over time within different variables using the graph on the right. You can look at current 16 day data using the same graph.
You can look at current or historical satellite images of cover and biomass and the specific vegetation you are interested in.