So, depending on the quality of the soil that grows the grass that the cow eats for lunch, an expensive porterhouse steak could be an delicious meal or a waste of money.

“Our health is tied to the health of the land,” said Fred Provenza, professor of wildland resources at Utah State University. “By understanding and applying natural behaviors to land and resource management, we can cut costs and make improvements socially, economically, and environmentally.”

For the past 30 years, Provenza’s team has produced ground-breaking research that has laid the foundation for what is now known as behavior-based management of livestock, wildlife and landscapes. Their work has inspired researchers in diverse disciplines, from chemical ecology to ruminant nutrition to eco-development.

Provenza and his team are demonstrating how relationships among soils, plants, animals and people affect the dynamics of landscapes. In 2001, their efforts led to the formation of a consortium of scientists and land managers dedicated to helping people understand behavior, both human and animal, to discover sound ecological, economic, and social solutions to land management issues.  Known as BEHAVE (Behavioral Education for Human, Animal, Vegetation and Ecosystem Management), the international network has members from five continents.

“We strive to work with others to reconcile differences of opinion about how to manage landscapes,” said Provenza.  “In this process, everyone involved is a student attempting to better understand behavior at all levels, from genes to landscapes.”

The BEHAVE team is working to create awareness among a broad range of interests, including land management, wildlife management, eco-development, and even nutrition. By helping these groups understand the behavior of humans, animals, and the changing environment, BEHAVE helps them apply new and more efficient practices that benefit the animals, the environment, and even the businesses that manage the land.

BEHAVE team members from USU include professor Mark Brunson, outreach director Beth Burritt, Extension specialist Roger Banner, administrative assistant Rae Ann Hart, research assistant professor Juan Villalba, and a host of graduate students. Together, they conduct research and sponsor a broad variety of outreach activities to generate information and to share what they have learned about behavior-based management.

“BEHAVE workshops, videos and written materials teach land managers that herbivores are not just ‘machines’ selecting which foods to eat and where to live based merely on instinct,” said Provenza. “Animals learn which foods to eat and which to avoid, as well as where to live, from their mothers’ examples. They adapt and change as the environments they inhabit change. This is important because it teaches land managers to rely more on natural habitats and surroundings for animal survival, which reduces costs and increases the resilience of landscapes and the people who live in them.”

Although BEHAVE focuses on herbivores and management of their habitats, Provenza is now broadening his focus by studying links among soils, plants, animals and humans—specifically, on behavioral food choices and their impact, positive or negative, on the environment.

Before BEHAVE, people generally believed herbivores—and people—ate foods because they tasted good and avoided foods because they tasted bad. Provenza’s research has redefined palatability as a functional relationship between a food’s flavor and how the body responds to primary and secondary compounds in foods. This functional explanation for palatability provides the first rigorous experimental evidence for nutritional wisdom in herbivores.

“Our research is proving to be applicable in areas as diverse as training sheep to forage appropriately in vineyards by not eating the vines, training cattle to eat weeds, and using sheep and cattle to rejuvenate sagebrush-steppe landscapes,” said Provenza.  “The research also highlights the importance of providing animals such as sheep, cattle and bison a variety of foods that meet their nutritional needs, whether confined in feedlots or foraging on pastures and rangelands.”

“We have also begun to look at how human food selection is impacting landscapes,” said Provenza. “As humans, we have chosen a few plants that are abundant, palatable, and easily cultivated, and we have simplified ecological systems to maximize yields of crops and pastures. Although these systems have been successful in the short term, these simplified ecosystems have lead to ruinous long-term impacts.”

Provenza’s research, which is linking human health to that of soils, plants, and herbivores, suggests that biodiversity is the key to the success of all four.  Essentially, he is determining how to make that expensive porterhouse both taste better and be more nutritious through healthy and diverse food chains.

“Behavior is the thread that ties this work together,” said Provenza.  “We must use our own nutritional wisdom and learn once again what it means to be locally adapted to the landscapes we inhabit.  If we can understand and apply behavioral principles, we will improve so many aspects of our lives.”