Life Sciences Commons^™

Research Update: Bud Bank Ecology For Understanding Perennial Grass Persistence, Lan Xu

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Grassland ecosystems often demonstrate very remarkable resiliency to severe natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Such resiliency following disturbances comes from either seed banks (germinable seeds in the soil) or bud banks (meristems or buds, such as bulbs, bulbils, and buds on rhizomes, corms, and tubers, that generate vegetative tissues). Although seeds are important for dispersal, initial colonization, and maintenance of genetic diversity; few grass seeds persist in the soil more than five years, plus seed production often is unreliable under grazing. Recent studies have demonstrated that >99% of aboveground stems in undisturbed tallgrass prairie were recruited from the bud bank while <1% were recruited from the seed bank. Even under grazed or disturbed sites in tallgrass prairie, belowground buds make a significantly larger contribution (80%) to plant recruitment than do seeds (20%).

Effects Of Short-Term Cattle Exclusion On Plant Community Composition: Prairie Dog And Ecological Site Influences, Aaron Field, Kevin Sedivec, John Hendrickson, Patricia Johnson, Benjamin Geaumont, Lan Xu, Roger N. Gates, Ryan Limb

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

On the Ground

• Maintaining cattle and prairie dogs on rangelands is important ecologically, economically, and culturally. However, competition between these species, both actual and perceived, has led to conflict.
• We explored the effects of short-term (2-year) cattle exclusion on plant communities both on and off prairie dog towns and among three common ecological sites.
• Plant communities were different between on-town and off-town plots and among ecological sites but were similar between cattle-excluded and nonexcluded plots.
• Plant community composition did not differ between rangeland targeted for moderate forage utilization and that in which cattle had been excluded for 2 years.

Effect Of Grazing Prairie Dog—Colonized Rangeland On Cattle Nutrition And Performance: A Progress Report, Kenneth C. Olson, Christopher Schauer, Chanda Engel, Janna J. Kincheloe, Jameson R. Brennan, Ben L. Hauptman

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

On the Ground

• One objective of the ongoing Renewal on Standing Rock Reservation project is to evaluate the response of grazing steers to the level of prairie dog colonization on Northern Mixed Grass Prairie.
• We fenced four pastures to create an increasing gradient of a proportion of the pasture area colonized by prairie dogs. Pastures are stocked with yearling steers during each growing season.
• Comparing steer performance, Global Positioning System (GPS) locations of grazing, diet samples, and ingestive behavior at each proportion of the prairie dog colony per pasture allows prediction of the optimal proportion of colonization, which enables selection …