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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Does Wildfire And Cheatgrass Invasion In A Sage-Steppe Ecosystem Change Soil Texture?, Maeve Mccormick, Xavier Gagne, Jennifer Pierce
Does Wildfire And Cheatgrass Invasion In A Sage-Steppe Ecosystem Change Soil Texture?, Maeve Mccormick, Xavier Gagne, Jennifer Pierce
College of Arts and Sciences Presentations
Fire and land-use changes influence vegetation types and alter below-ground carbon storage and soil characteristics; additionally, shrub-steppe environments are prone to cheatgrass invasion and subsequent alterations in soil morphology and characteristics following fire. We compared soil particle size, texture, consistence, structure, color and pH among adjacent but distinct sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp.), cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum) communities established following a 1983 fire in Kuna Butte of southwestern Idaho, a site underlain by basalt and mantled with loess. Soil characteristics were compared in qualitative field soil profiles (two pits per vegetation type) …