Nature and Place of Transition From True Prairie to Mixed Prairie

Nature and Place of Transition from True Prairie to Mixed Prairie

Quantitative Study of Degeneration of Mixed Prairie

Introduction The vegetation of great areas of Mixed Prairie has been destroyed by plowing. But even larger ones, still intact , have degenerated far from a climax condition. The almost universal cause for such deterioration, aside from drought, is grazing. The objective of this study has been to ascertain the changes in vegetation that have resulted from 60-70 years of different intensities of ...

Vegetation of Prairie Dog Colonies and Non-Colonized Shortgrass Prairie

Black-tailed prairie dogs have declined by 98% in the past century. Due to continued declines, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated the species as a candidate for listing in 2000. Prairie dogs foster both plant and animal diversity, and their continued presence is a concern in the Great Plains. We compared vegetation structure and composition of black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludov...

Five years of phenology observations from a mixed-grass prairie exposed to warming and elevated CO2

Atmospheric CO2 concentrations have been steadily increasing since the Industrial Era and contribute to concurrent increases in global temperatures. Many observational studies suggest climate warming alone contributes to a longer growing season. To determine the relative effect of warming on plant phenology, we investigated the individual and joint effects of warming and CO2 enrichment on a mix...

Lekking and Nesting Response of the Greater Prairie-chicken to Burning of Tallgrass Prairie

In the southern Great Plains, the greater prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) is confined to tallgrass prairie, a habitat now largely converted to agriculture. Remaining prairie is highly fragmented and subjected to land management practices that greatly alter the ecosystem of this species. Chief among these practices are deliberate, large-scale spring burns associated with early intensive sto...