Life Sciences Commons^™

Dehydration And Mortality Of Feral Horses And Burros: A Systematic Review Of Reported Deaths, John Derek Scasta, Eric Thacker, Jacob D. Hennig, Karl Hoopes

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Water is a requirement for all organisms, including equids. Dehydration-caused mortality of feral horses (Equus ferus caballus) is often cited as a cause of concern and as justification for management of feral horses, yet a paucity of information exists on the matter. We conducted a systematic review from September 1, 2020 through January 15, 2021 of available news reports of feral horse and burro (E. asinus) dehydration mortalities and public interventions to save horses using a public search engine with a priori defined search term combinations and additional snowball sampling. We found 15 uniquely reported mortality …

Growth And Water Relations Of Native Wheatgrass Populations, Brian P. Bell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Screening populations for development into released plant materials can be done inexpensively and in a timely manner. A common approach has been to quantify the amount of shoot dry mass produced as a surrogate for competitiveness. Besides dry mass production , other morphological characteristics have been employed , but physiological parameters have received less emphasis. Dry mass production may be an important characteristic, but identifying the traits responsible can be just as imperative . Populations with greater drought tolerance may be less impacted by competition for water from weeds, which could lead to greater establishment of desirable grasses on disturbed …

Nutrient And Water Interrelationships Between Crested Wheatgrass And Two Shrub Species, Paul B. Baker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

When crested wheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum) grows in mixture with sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), its production declines. Its production increases when grown in mixture with fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens), according to previous reports. This study investigated soil water extraction and potassium (K) nutrition of the two shrubs to identify possible causes of the differential responses of crested wheatgrass.

Crested wheatgrass had reduced, rather than increased, nitrogen (N) and K yield in mixture with fourwing saltbush. No differences in N and phosphorous (P) concentrations were observed between sagebrush and fourwing saltbush, but fourwing saltbush had a much …

Effect Of Short Duration Grazing On Soil Moisture Depletion And Plant Water Status In A Crested Wheatgrass Pasture, Jon M. Wraith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A short duration grazing system was utilized to determine the effects of intensive periodic defoliation during spring on soil moisture depletion patterns and plant water status in a crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum and A. desertorum) pasture in central Utah. Exclosures were constructed to compare grazed and ungrazed responses. Soil moisture was monitored to a depth of 193 cm at one to two week intervals from mid-April to late-September using a neutron moisture gauge. Predawn and midday leaf water potentials were estimated using a pressure chamber technique. The two paddocks included in the study were grazed three times between …

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 …

Temporal And Spatial Partitioning Of The Soil Water Resource Between Two Agropyron Bunchgrasses And Artemisia Tridentata, Halldor Thorgeirsson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Dynamics of soil water use by two cool-season Agropyron bunchgrasses during the warm season depletion of soil water reserves were monitored for two years in experimental plots in the field. Agropyron desertorum, an introduced, competitive species from Eurasia, extracted more water from the deeper ( > 50 cm) soil layers than the native, less competitive Agropyron spicatum. Agropyron desertorum both extracts this water earlier and to lower soil water potentials than Agropyron spicatum. From the water extraction dynamics of the grasses in monocultures and in their two-way (50:50) mixtures with a shrub they commonly co-occur with, Artemisia tridentata …