A 4-year study was conducted on the Missouri Coteau in the Mixed Grassland Ecoregion of Saskatchewan to determine the effects of mowing to a 7.5 cm stubble height on the growth of <i>Festuca hallii</i> (Vasey) Piper and <i>Stipa curtiseta</i> (A.S. Hitch.) Barkworth. Green standing crop (GSC), dead standing crop (DSC) and above ground net primary production (ANPP) were compared to an unmowed control after a single mowing in April, May, June, July, August, September, October or November on 5 landforms including north aspect-concave-slope, north aspect-convex-slope, south aspect-concave-slope, south aspect-convex-slope and level upland. Mowing reduced GSC, DSC and ANPP with reductions varying among months of mowing and among landforms. Green standing crop, DSC and ANPP of <i>F. hallii</i> were greatest on the north aspects and least on south aspect-convex slope and ranged from 2 to 122 g m-2, 3 to 121 g m-2, and 8 to 122 g m-2, respectively. Mowing reduced GSC of <i>F. hallii</i> for 1 to 11 growing season months and DSC for 1 to >11 growing season months. Mowing in May or November reduced ANPP of <i>F. hallii</i> for 1 growing season, while mowing in other months reduced ANPP for 2 growing seasons. Green standing crop of <i>S. curtiseta</i>, ranging from 3 g m-2 to 55 g m-2, was least on the north aspects and greatest on the south aspect-convex slope and was reduced 1 to 5 growing season months following mowing. Mowing after June reduced DSC of <i>S. curtiseta</i>(5 to 58 g m-2) for 1 to 10 growing season months, and ANPP (6 to 64 g m-2) for 1 growing season. Generally, mowing reduced GSC, DSC and ANPP of <i>F. hallii</i> longer than <i>S. curtiseta</i>. Production of <i>F. hallii</i>- and <i>S. curtiseta</i>-dominated plant communities in the Northern Mixed Prairie will be maintained by providing rest periods between defoliation events based on the number of growing season months for <i>F. hallii</i> to recover production.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-12202006-125151 |
| Date | 20 December 2006 |
| Creators | Pantel, Andrew William |
| Contributors | Romo, James T., Pennock, Dan J., Coulman, Bruce E., Bai, Yuguang |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-12202006-125151/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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