No description available.

No description available.

Individual clumps of the perennial grass Bouteloua gracilis from which 25% or 75% of neighbors had been removed to a radius of 50 cm displayed significantly higher biomass production over one summer than did control plants. Neighbor removal also resulted in increased tiller production and flowering as compared to control plants. These results clearly demonstrate the importance of competition to B. gracilis in this system. In contrast, significant differences in predawn leaf water potential were found on only two of four sampling dates during the growing season. On the driest sampling date, increased variability in leaf water potential within treatments obscured the effect of treatment, even though the difference in mean leaf water potential between 75% removal and control treatments (0.35 MPa) was quite high. On the wettest sampling date, all plants appeared well-hydrated, and there was only negligible difference among treatments. In a second study, I examined the effect of near neighbors on the fecundity of an annual herb, Machaeranthera tanacetifolia (Asteraceae). Fecundity was negatively related to the number of neighbors within a biologically meaningful neighborhood radius for both conspecific neighbors and grass neighbors in 1984, and for grass neighbors in 1985. However, in no case did neighbors explain more than 6% of the variance in fecundity of M. tanacetifolia, and most plants produced few or no seeds regardless of the number of neighbors. I present a simple graphical model in which competition from neighbors serves as a necessary but not sufficient condition for high fecundity; other factors must also be favorable if a plant is to be successful. Application of this model to my data revealed that the amount of area occupied by neighbors had an important effect on fecundity for the subset of the population for which other conditions were inferred to be most favorable. As other conditions became less favorable, neighbors became less relevant to fecundity. I then discuss these results in terms of a general model of the interacting effects of competition and other factors, and distinguish four possible classes of outcome.

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The purposes of this study were to compare Soil Conservation Service and Forest Service methods for determining range condition, to develop a method for determining range condition using plant frequency data and to develop range condition guides using Sorensen's coefficient of similarity. The final objective was to compare condition scores based on frequency data to Soil Conservation Service and Forest Service condition scores. Loamy upland and sandy loam upland range sites in the Empire Valley and Santa Rita Experimental Range of southeastern Arizona were sampled. Three prominent soil series of upland range sites within the study area were selected for study. Within each soil series, areas of apparent high, medium and low levels of past and present livestock use were sampled at three locations. Soil profile descriptions were made for each of the 27 sample areas and soil characteristics were used to confirm soil series sampled. Plant communities were sampled by weight estimates, Parker 3-step transects and 40 x 40 cm frequency plots. Forest Service and Soil Conservation Service condition scores did not correlate well within the loamy upland or sandy loam upland range sites. Condition scores by both methods, especially for Forest Service data, are confounded with site potential. Cluster and factor analysis procedures identified plant groups associated with soil series, range site and sample location. Range condition was not identified as a criterion of plant group association. Sorensen's coefficient of similarity scores for frequency data based on a specific "high condition" reference area had a high coefficient of determination value when correlated with Soil Conservation Service condition scores for loamy upland range sites. Forest Service condition scores had a very low coefficient of determination value for the same comparison. Soil Conservation Service and Forest Service condition scores compared to similarity scores for frequency data for the sandy loam upland range site had positive but low coefficient of determination. Sorensen's coefficient of similarity, using frequency data as an index of condition, can be used to develop a range site condition guide for a homogeneous range site.

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Vegetational responses to changes in exposures within a constant slope range were studied on the Shallow Upland Range Sites and Granitic Hills Range Site in the Chihuahuan semidesert grasslands in Central Arizona. Sixteen exposures with slopes between 11 and 17 degrees were chosen for subsample sites. Environmental, complete soil descriptions, and vegetational composition data were taken. All data were analyzed using analyses of variance, ordination programs, and regression analyses to determine climate, soils, and vegetational relationships among exposures. The resulting data indicated that the geological lithologic unit on which the soils formed was the most important factor affecting apparent vegetational type. In this study, the data obtained from the complete soil profile descriptions contributed little information to the understanding of vegetational responses. Soil surface characteristics and surface soil horizon properties influenced soil moisture relationships. The conservation of soil moisture appeared to be more important to plant communities than did the total moisture holding capacity of the soil continuum. Monthly precipitation reliability and soil surface reflectances were environmental factors affecting plant communities occurring on different exposures. Fall/spring, winter/spring, and spring soil temperature interactions were the most important environmental factors affecting vegetation on different sloping exposures. All exposures within each of the four sample locations had vegetational components that were similar to the vegetational components of other exposures but all exposures were found to have different plant communities. Each exposure within a given slope range is a phase and/or subphase of currently used range site descriptions. A range site that is based on a potential natural community at one type location cannot be extrapolated across broad geographical expanses to define vegetative potentials for other areas having similar vegetative aspects. Range site descriptions must be site specific for one geographical rangeland that has had the same historical uses.

A 15-month study was conducted on the Santa Rita Experimental Range to evaluate the factors influencing both plants and cattle in southern Arizona. Forage biomass, nutrient value, botanical composition, and ground cover were greater in the growing season than in the dormant season. Moderate and heavy pastures had lower plant parameters than very heavy pasture, except for forage biomass and Lehmann lovegrass proportion, forage fiber and ground cover. Slopes and washes had a higher forage nutrient content and lower biomass and ground cover than the uplands. Lehmann lovegrass was more abundant on the uplands and in the washes than on the slopes and the reverse was true for native grasses and shrubs. Understory forages contained greater nutrients and forbs than open forages and the opposite occurred for shrubs and ground cover. Grazing activities, drinking, salting, defecation, urination and rumination were greater in the growing seasons, but standing and idling were greater in winter. There were no differences among pastures in major activities, but walking, drinking and salting were greater on very heavy pasture than on moderate and heavy pastures. Most grazing activities were on the uplands and resting activities were in the washes. Biting rates were similar among topographic areas. Upland and wash defecation and urination frequencies were similar and higher than slope frequencies. Grazing activities were greater in the open than under canopy and the reverse was true for resting activities. Open and canopy areas were similar in defecation and urination frequencies and biting rates. Except for resting activities, major and minor activities were more intense in the afternoon than in the morning. Morning and afternoon biting rates were similar. The weather index was the most important predictor of all cattle activities, except for the defecation frequency which mostly depended on the proportion of green forage. The forage nutrients and green proportion were the second and third important predictors of cattle activities, respectively. In conclusion, plants and animals interact and both react to environmental conditions. The recommendations for best management of a grazing land ecosystem should consider these conditions.

No description available.

No description available.