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Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Desert Ecology
Dispersal Ecology Of Desert Mosses Along Gradients Of Elevation, Wildfire Disturbance And Local Niche, Robert Joseph Smith
Dispersal Ecology Of Desert Mosses Along Gradients Of Elevation, Wildfire Disturbance And Local Niche, Robert Joseph Smith
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
Much of the variation in plant communities can be explained by the dispersal of individuals across landscapes, an ecological process that contributes to clinal variation, post-disturbance recovery and habitat occupancy. The role of dispersal is of particular concern for Mojave Desert plant communities that may not be able to tolerate recent departures from historical fire regimes. The aim of this thesis was to infer how dispersal is reflected by patterns of diversity in disturbed and undisturbed bryophyte communities in the Spring Mountains of southern Nevada. Chapter 2 presents an examination of sub-surface bryophyte communities (propagule "soil-banks") along a 1400 m …
Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Summer 2011, Scott R. Abella, Charles W. Denton, David G. Brewer, Rory W. Steinke, Wayne A. Robbie, W. Wallace Covington, E. Cayenne Engel, Ross Guida
Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Summer 2011, Scott R. Abella, Charles W. Denton, David G. Brewer, Rory W. Steinke, Wayne A. Robbie, W. Wallace Covington, E. Cayenne Engel, Ross Guida
Mojave Applied Ecology Notes
Thoughts on fire possibilities on Mount Charleston, estimating historical densities of Ponderosa pine in northern AZ, over-understory changes in the Spring Mountains, seeding effectiveness in Red Rock Canyon, workshop announcements.
Disturbance And Plant Succession In The Mojave And Sonoran Deserts Of The American Southwest, Scott R. Abella
Disturbance And Plant Succession In The Mojave And Sonoran Deserts Of The American Southwest, Scott R. Abella
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Disturbances such as fire, land clearing, and road building remove vegetation and can have major influences on public health through effects on air quality, aesthetics, recreational opportunities, natural resource availability, and economics. Plant recovery and succession following disturbance are poorly understood in arid lands relative to more temperate regions. This study quantitatively reviewed vegetation reestablishment following a variety of disturbances in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of southwestern North America. A total of 47 studies met inclusion criteria for the review. The time estimated by 29 individual studies for full reestablishment of total perennial plant cover was 76 years. Although …
Trying To Beat The Brome: Understanding Establishment Thresholds And Choosing Competitive Native Species At Parashant National Monument, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel
Trying To Beat The Brome: Understanding Establishment Thresholds And Choosing Competitive Native Species At Parashant National Monument, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Desert fires fueled by exotic grasses like the omnipresent red brome (Bromus rubens) can be intense and cause widespread mortality of native vegetation. Native desert scrub communities such as those dominated by blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima) do not readily reestablish after fire (Abella 2009) and may even become more abundant in the post-burn landscape initiating a fire cycle that occurs at a greater frequency than the recovery time of the long-lived desert perennial community.
Native Species Interactions With Red Brome: Suggestions For Burn-Area Revegetation, Scott R. Abella
Native Species Interactions With Red Brome: Suggestions For Burn-Area Revegetation, Scott R. Abella
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
In deserts, native perennial plants often actually facilitate the establishment of exotic annual grasses. One of our focal areas of research is to identify native species for use in revegetation projects that reduce the establishment of exotic annual grasses, or at least do not strongly facilitate exotic species establishment. An initial research effort involving a competition experiment of red brome with native species and a correlational field study of brome distribution among native perennial plants is in press with the journal Invasive Plant Science and Management.
New Book Chapter Reviewing Mojave Desert Revegetation Practices Is Forthcoming, Scott R. Abella
New Book Chapter Reviewing Mojave Desert Revegetation Practices Is Forthcoming, Scott R. Abella
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
I was invited to write a chapter for a forthcoming book on Arid Environments to be published by Nova Science Publishers. This book is anticipated to appear in late 2008 or early 2009, and we will be able to provide additional details about the entire book at that time. I co-authored our chapter on revegetation with Alice Newton, Vegetation Manager at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. We systematically reviewed 23 published studies of planting or seeding native species in the Mojave Desert.
Plant Community Response To Fire: A Chronosequence Study, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel
Plant Community Response To Fire: A Chronosequence Study, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel
Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications
Fires are becoming more prevalent events across the landscape in the southwestern US. Over the next several decades the already arid southwest is predicted to become warmer and drier, with longer summers, and an increase of “extreme” weather events such as lightening inducing thunderstorms. While the “hotter and drier” forecast may indicate less abundant plant life, and thus less available biomass for fuel, exotic invasive plant species are becoming more dominant across the landscape with increases in human travel and commerce. Exotic species (particularly many of the invasive grasses) are adding fuel for the fires to burn when the annuals …
Riparian Plant Water Relations Along The North Fork Of The Kings River, California, J. L. Nachlinger, S. D. Smith, R. J. Risser
Riparian Plant Water Relations Along The North Fork Of The Kings River, California, J. L. Nachlinger, S. D. Smith, R. J. Risser
Life Sciences Faculty Research
Plant water relations of five obligate ripar-ian species were studied along California's North Fork Kings River. Diurnal stomatal conductance, transpi-ration, and xylem pressure potentials were measured throughout the 1986 growing season and in mid-season in 1987. Patterns were similar for all species although absolute values varied considerably. Maximum stomatal conductance occurred early in the day and season during favorable environmental conditions and decreased as air temperature and the vapor pressure difference between the leaf and air increased. Maximum transpiration rates occurred in mid-morning and mid-summer resulting in estimated daily water losses per unit sunlit leaf area of 163-328 mol H2O …