I investigated how shrub-induced spatial heterogeneity influenced and was manifested by a representative ground-story plant species at a sagebrush-steppe site in southwestern Wyoming. The dispersion of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) reflected differences between undershrub (higher plant densities) and interspace (between shrubs, supporting lower densities) microenvironments, hence the population ecology of this annual species served as a biological probe of shrub-associated patch structure in this community. Since cheatgrass is an annual, factors affecting the seed portion of its life cycle were of special interest. First, attributes of the above- and below-ground seed pool were characterized. The environment-wide seed depositional pattern was assessed using seed traps of several designs, and the legacy of seed incorporation into the soil was examined by separating seeds from soil samples. For both components of the seed pool, annuals' seeds predominated. Seeds at the surface were subject to substantial redistribution, moving readilythrough interspace, and their deposition was related to both the interaction of wind and shrub canopies and the presence of litter. More annuals' seeds were encountered in undershrub than in interspace soils; seeds of cheatgrass were restricted to the soil surface. Second, a manipulative experiment tested effects of granivoryfherbivory and presence/absence of a replicate shrub's canopy upon success of cheatgrass plants arising from known numbers of seeds introduced into undershrub versus interspace microenvironments. While biomass of plants in treatments accessible to herbivores was less than that of protected plants, consumers did not affect plant densities, and herbivore effects were not microenvironment-specific . Shrub canopy removal had no effect on plant success, and, contrary to expectations based on the dispersion of indigenous plants, interspace plants fared better than undershrub counterparts. Finally, demographic fates of individually marked seeds were observed, to disentangle effects of microenvironment from effects of microenvironment-specific surface types on determining safe sites. Littered microsites were strongly associated with undershrub microenvironments, and on these surfaces, cheatgrass seeds were less likely to move and to suffer depredation, and more likely to become favorably positioned for subsequent germination and establishment, than on bare ground surfaces typifying interspace. \
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-3155 |
| Date | 01 May 1991 |
| Creators | Kelrick, Michael Ira |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact Andrew Wesolek (andrew.wesolek@usu.edu). |
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