long-term patterns of wild and domestic ungulate effects on rangeland plant communities of the...
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Long-term patterns of wild and domestic ungulate effects on rangeland plant
communities of the Colorado Plateau
Kyle Nehring PhD Student Utah State University
Advisor: Kari Veblen
Direct = Individual Survival and Reproduction Success
Indirect = Competition and Plant Community Changes
Direct = Individual Survival and Reproduction Success
Indirect = Competition and Plant Community Changes
Direct and Indirect =
Soil Characteristic Changes/ Alterations
Are different forms of herbivory driving these plant community dynamics?
Alternative stable states
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1. Quantify the effects of different combinations of ungulate species on a plant community’s composition and structure
Research Goals
2. Identify herbivory effects across different plant communities and site characteristics
Research Goals
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Moab
0 20 40 60 80 100Kilometers
± ExclosureEcological Site Type
) Pinyon Juniper) Wyoming Big Sage) Mountain Big Sage) Salt Desert Shrub
Livestock and Wildlife Exclosures
Methods
Plant Community Composition and Structure Surveys
• Nested Plant Frequency Frames
• Line Point Intercept
• Basal Gap
• Canopy Intercept
• Shrub Belt Transects
• Grass Belt Transects
Ungulate Use Surveys
• Graze and Browse Damage Assessments
• Pellet Counts
• Ungulate Diet Composition: Laboratory microhistological tests
• Wildlife Cameras: Ungulate exclosure use and possible habitat selection
• Cryptobiotic Soil Cover and Composition
• Soil Pedon Characterization and
Classification
• Historical Vegetation
Cover: Aerial Photographs and BLM/USFS Survey Data
• Climate Data
Soil Surveys and Other
Preliminary Results
o No large compositional changeso Structural Differences:
• Smaller sage outside exclosures (recruitment or grazed shrubs?)• Large shrubs inside total exclosure
Mean Big Sagebrush Counts in Big Sage Sites
Winterfat Counts in Big Sage Sites
INDIAN RICEGRASS
SQUIRREL TAIL NEEDLE AND THREAD
SANDBERG BLUEGRASS
SAND DROPSEED
Mean Bunch Grass Counts in Big Sage Sites
Future Research and
Applications
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Utah Department of Agriculture and Food: Cap Ferry Grant
Utah Agriculture Experimental Station
USU Ecology Center: 2013-2014 Graduate Student Research Support Award and Conference Travel Award
USU Wildland Resource Department
Research Collaborators: Jane Zelikova, Eugene Schupp, Colby Brungard, April Darger
Moab USGS: Mike Duniway and Jayne Belnap
The Veblen Lab
Canyonlands Research Center and Supporting Partners
Field Technicians: Hope Braithwaite, Corey Sample, Andrew Tredennick, Antra Boca
My Committee: Kari Veblen, Janis Boettinger, and Juan Villalba
Questions?