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Growth And Water Relations Of Mountain Big Sagebrush On Reclaimed Mine Soils In Southwestern Wyoming, Alan T. Carpenter

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mined-land reclamation practices in shrub-steppe ecosystems can be augmented by planting seedlings of locally dominant shrubs, e.g., mountain big sagebrush. Dispersion pattern could affect sagebrush performance by influencing amounts of windborne snow, soil and litter which accumulate around shrubs and by influencing water withdrawal by roots. Mountain big sagebrush seedlings were planted in plots on a reclaimed coal strip mine in two dispersion patterns: singly and in clumps of four at the same overall density.

Performance of mountain big sagebrush was monitored during two growing seasons. Measures included plant survival, end-of-growing season aboveground biomass, leaf water potential components, soil water …