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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Effects Of Disturbance And Restoration Treatment On Fertile Islands In Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Camille Traylor
Effects Of Disturbance And Restoration Treatment On Fertile Islands In Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Camille Traylor
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
Disturbances by humans are one of the main drivers of change in contemporary desert ecosystems. Restoration treatments such as topsoil application and outplanting can be implemented in response to disturbances in order to maintain soil stability and a diverse plant community. Fertile islands - nutrient enriched areas beneath perennial shrubs - are fundamental features of deserts that can facilitate annual plant growth. A major uncertainty in desert ecology is how much time is required for fertile islands and nurse plant effects (the facilitation of one plant by another) to develop below maturing perennial plants. By studying naturally recruited perennial plants …
Early Post-Fire Plant Establishment On A Mojave Desert Burn, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel, Christina L. Lund, Jessica E. Spencer
Early Post-Fire Plant Establishment On A Mojave Desert Burn, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel, Christina L. Lund, Jessica E. Spencer
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Fire has become more extensive in recent decades in southwestern United States arid lands. Burned areas pose management challenges and opportunities, and increasing our understanding of post-fire plant colonization may assist management decision-making. We examined plant communities, soils, and soil seed banks two years after the 2005 Loop Fire, located in a creosote-blackbrush community in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in southern Nevada’s Mojave Desert. Based on a spring sampling of 20, 0.01-ha plots, live + dead cover of the exotic annual Bromus rubens averaged nine times lower on the burn than on a paired unburned area. Perennial species …