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Full-Text Articles in Forest Sciences
Bison Alter The Northern Yellowstone Ecosystem By Breaking Aspen Saplings, Luke E. Painter, Robert L. Beschta, William J. Ripple
Bison Alter The Northern Yellowstone Ecosystem By Breaking Aspen Saplings, Luke E. Painter, Robert L. Beschta, William J. Ripple
Aspen Bibliography
The American bison (Bison bison) is a species that strongly interacts with its environment, yet the effects of this large herbivore on quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) have received little study. We documented bison breaking the stems of aspen saplings (young aspen > 2 m tall and ≤ 5 cm in diameter at breast height) and examined the extent of this effect in northern Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Low densities of Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus canadensis) after about 2004 created conditions conducive for new aspen recruitment in YNP's northern ungulate winter range (northern range). We sampled …