India, Oct. 19 -- Imagine grass being taken across the ocean to help damaged land, then imagine that same grass showing up on hundreds of thousands of acres. That's the story of Lehmann lovegrass in Arizona. The USDA Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System reports that between 1940 and 1980, ranchers and other land managers established it on over 172,000 acres. Later researchers described how far it spread and what that meant for native plants.

Rangeland is open land that is used mostly for grazing livestock. Lehmann lovegrass is a perennial grass and comes back every year. It is native to South Africa. According to a 1992 study by Michael Anable, Mitchel McClaran, and George Ruyle published in the journal Biological Conservatio...