Other Life Sciences Commons^™

A Case For Eustress In Grazing Animals, Juan J. Villalba, Xavier Manteca

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Herbivores grazing in extensive systems are exposed to a series of challenges, rooted in the inherent spatial and temporal variability of their environment that potentially constrain their health, nutrition, and welfare. Nevertheless, in this review, we argue that challenges induced by some biotic (e.g., vegetation) and abiotic (e.g., terrain) factors may also be viewed as “positive” sources of stress or eustress, since they present complex problems, that when solved successfully elicit a greater degree of behavioral plasticity and adaptability in grazing animals. Chemically and structurally diverse landscapes require animals to display complex behaviors and exhibit adaptive capabilities, like building a …

Recoupling Fire And Grazing Reduces Wildland Fuel Loads On Rangelands, Heath D. Starns, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, R. Dwayne Elmore, Dirac Twidwell, Eric T. Thacker, Torre J. Hovick, Barney Luttbeg

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Fire suppression and exclusion, the historically dominant paradigm of fire management, has resulted in major modifications of fire-dependent ecosystems worldwide. These changes are partially credited with a recent increase in wildfire number and extent, as well as more extreme fire behavior. Fire and herbivory historically interacted, and research has shown that the interaction creates a unique mosaic of vegetation heterogeneity that each disturbance alone does not create. Because fire and grazing have largely been decoupled in modern times, the degree to which the interaction affects fuels and fire regimes has not yet been quantified. We evaluated effects of fire-only and …

Impact Of Alternative Range Management Systems On Grasslands In The Central Platte River Valley, Nebraska, Luis E. Ramirez

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Land management strategies can directly and indirectly affect plant assemblages and their behavior. Little research has been performed in south central Nebraska to quantify the effect of fire and grazing interactions on species composition, vegetation structure, forage quality, and potential cost associated with land management.

I evaluate the effect of season-long continuous, patch-burning, and rotational grazing approaches on vegetation and ranching costs to determine their value as conservation tools. This study includes data collected between 2007 and 2009 from grasslands in south central Nebraska. I found that land management influence plant assemblages by shifting communities when grazing and/or fire are …

Influence Of Fall Grazing By Sheep On Plant Productivity, Shrub Age Class Structure And Herbaceous Species Diversity In Sagebrush Steppe, Ryan Duncan Woodland

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Traditional chemical and mechanical treatments of Wyoming Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis) are costly and have typically focused solely on increasing forage for livestock production. Managing these systems biologically with grazing can potentially reduce costs and increase both biodiversity and understory production as well as rejuvenate Wyoming Big Sagebrush (ARTRWY). This experiment was conducted on Deseret Land and Livestock Ranch in northern Utah in October 2003. One hundred and twenty sheep (dry ewes) grazed 3, 60m x 40m plots (40 sheep plot^-1). Sheep were provided a protein-energy supplement to facilitate use of the secondary metabolites …

Recreation, Livestock Grazing, And Protected Resource Values In The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Lael Palmer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis reports the results of a project which identified differences in characteristics of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument user groups as they related to their perceptions of how they experience the Monument as recreationists. It explored opinions of four groups: hikers vs. hunters and pre-designation users vs. post-designation users. Responses of these groups were compared for attribution of perceived resource damage, feelings of crowding, acceptability of management action, and importance of identified monument values to their visit. In addition, characteristics of the users were examined to determine if demographic characteristics accounted for differences in perception toward the resources. Finally, how …

Some Of The Relationships Between Livestock Grazing And Duck Nesting In The Saltgrass Vegetation Type In Utah, Horatio W. Murdy

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Little is known of the relationships between livestock grazing and duck nesting. This dearth of information occurs in spite of the fact that an understanding of these relationships is necessary in order to evaluate duck production on range land, and to formulate grazing policies for lands devoted to the production of ducks.

Recognizing the need for information on this subject, the Utah Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit and the Wildlife Management Institute jointly sponsored a study, during 1948-1949, of livestock grazing-duck nesting relationships in the saltgrass vegetation type in northern Utah. The study was financed by the Institute and supervised by …

The Ecology Of Agropyron Inerme On Protected And Heavily Grazed Range Land In Cache Valley, Utah, Wallace R. Hanson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

During the past decade much attention has been attracted to the great range lands of the West. The inherently low productivity of these arid lands coupled with abnormal drought and constantly heavy use by livestock because of lack of grazing control, have caused these lands to become greatly depleted over most of the West. That the vegetation on most range land in the intermountain states is depleted appreciably is evident to the careful observer. Undoubtedly the vegetation of much of the range has decreased in quantity, but more serious in many cases is the decrease in quality. Valuable forage species …