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Full-Text Articles in Biodiversity
Monitoring Standing Herbage Of Mid-Grass Prairie On The Fort Pierre National Grassland, South Dakota, Daniel W. Uresk
Monitoring Standing Herbage Of Mid-Grass Prairie On The Fort Pierre National Grassland, South Dakota, Daniel W. Uresk
The Prairie Naturalist
Monitoring vegetation with a modified Robel pole on the Fort Pierre National Grassland was evaluated for combined shallow clay and loamy overflow ecological sites (dominated by warm-season grasses), and for clayey ecological sites (dominated by cool-season grasses). My objectives were to 1) develop a relationship between visual obstruction readings (VOR) and standing herbage, 2) provide guidelines for vegetation monitoring, and 3) evaluate vegetation monitoring during the growing season for clayey ecological sites. The relationship between visual obstruction readings and standing herbage was linear and regression coefficients were highly significant (P < 0.001) for both ecological types. Cluster analyses for shallow clay and loamy overflow ecological sites grouped the VOR and standing herbage (kg•ha-1) into 4 resource categories. Monitoring with 4 transects will provide adequate information to estimate standing herbage within 259 ha (1 section). Three resource categories (VOR + herbage) for clayey ecological sites were defined by cluster analyses. Monitoring with 4 transects was determined to provide reliable estimates of standing herbage. July validation of vegetation with the developed clayey ecological site model will provide reliable monitoring of standing herbage from July through November for this ecological site.
Vegetation Trends On A Waste Rock Repository Cap In The Northern Black Hills, Andrew C. Korth, Gary E. Larson, Lan Xu, Thomas E. Schumacher
Vegetation Trends On A Waste Rock Repository Cap In The Northern Black Hills, Andrew C. Korth, Gary E. Larson, Lan Xu, Thomas E. Schumacher
The Prairie Naturalist
We assessed successional trends, long-term vegetation sustainability, and soil surface protection during the 2005-2007 growing seasons on the 32-ha Ruby Gulch Waste Rock Repository cap. The cap consisted of 150 cm of rock and soil covering a polyethylene membrane which in turn covered mining waste rock in order to prevent leaching of heavy metals and acidic water into streams. Following construction in 2003, a contractor applied a grass-forb seed mixture to provide soil-surface protection especially for steeply sloped portions of the cap. In 2005, we established 56, 1-m2 plots, and 20, 20-m transects to annually measure canopy cover, basal …
Is Degradation A Major Problem In Semi-Desert Environments Of The Gobi Region In Southern Mongolia?, Karsten Wesche, Vroni Retzer
Is Degradation A Major Problem In Semi-Desert Environments Of The Gobi Region In Southern Mongolia?, Karsten Wesche, Vroni Retzer
Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298
This paper tests predictions derived from the non-equilibrium theory of rangeland science. Data were collected in livestock enclosures situated in the relatively moist desert steppes of the Gobi Gurvan Saykhan region of southern Mongolia from 2000 to 2003. Plant community composition and species’ richness in enclosures showed clear differences between years, but these were equally strong in ungrazed controls. Thus, changes were mainly attributed to differences in precipitation between years as opposed to grazing, as no significant effects thereof were detected. This was also confirmed by data on above-ground standing biomass. This changed tremendously over the years, with differences between …