Date
2010
Abstract
Responses of plant communities to mammalian herbivores vary widely, due to variation in plant species composition, herbivore densities, forage preferences, soils, and climate. In this study, we evaluated simultaneous changes in 11 plant assemblages on the 100,000 ha Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) in central New Mexico, USA, over a 20-yr period following removal of the major mammalian herbivores (livestock and prairie dogs) in 1972-1975. Thirty study sites were established in 1976 within and outside of the SNWR, and these sites were resampled in 1986 and 1996 using line transect methods. At the landscape scale, repeated measures ANOVA of percentage cover measurements showed no significant overall net changes in total perennial plant basal cover, either with or without herbivores present; however, there was an overall increase in annual forbs and plant litter from 1976 to 1996. At the site scale, significant changes in species composition and dominance were observed both through time and across the SNWR boundary; each plant assemblage exhibited varying degrees of change, with sites dominated by Bouteloua eriopoda (black grama grass) being the most dynamic and sites dominated by Scleropogon brevifolius (burro grass) being the most persistent. Species-specific changes also were observed across multiple sites: B. eriopoda cover increased while Gutierrezia sarothrae (a small, short-lived shrub) greatly decreased. The non-uniform, multi-directional changes of the different plant assemblages acted to prevent detection of overall changes in perennial vegetation at the landscape level. Some plant assemblages displayed significant changes after removal of herbivores, while others appeared to respond primarily to climate dynamics. Certain species (e.g., G. sarothrae) that were not preferred by livestock or prairie dogs showed overall declines during drought periods, while other preferred species (e.g., B. eriopoda) exhibited widespread increases during wetter periods regardless of herbivore presence. Therefore, the vegetation dynamics cannot be attributed solely to removal of mammalian herbivores, and in some cases can be explained by short- and long-term fluctuations in climate. These results emphasize the variety of responses of different plant assemblages to mammalian herbivores under otherwise similar climatic conditions, and illustrate the value of site- and landscape-scale approaches to understanding the impacts of plant-herbivore interactions.
Handle
http://hdl.handle.net/1928/30065
Other Identifier
SEV109
Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) Identifier
knb-lter-sev.109.90731
Document Type
Dataset
Rights
Data Policies: This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement of the Sevilleta LTER. Datasets must be cited as in the example provided. A copy of any publications using these data must be supplied to the Sevilleta LTER Information Manager. By downloading any data you implicitly acknowledge the LTER Data Policy (http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html).
Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f43c7c1302b27b3ca99f26a99dc00957
Temporal coverage
1976-01-01 - 1996-01-01
Spatial coverage
Location: Just north of UNM's Sevilleta Field Station, siteid: 15
DOI
doi:10.6073/pasta/f43c7c1302b27b3ca99f26a99dc00957
Permanent URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f43c7c1302b27b3ca99f26a99dc00957
Recommended Citation
Parmenter, Robert; Ryerson, Daniel (2010): Desertification/Bureau of Land Managment (BLM) Transects at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (1976,1986,1996). Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f43c7c1302b27b3ca99f26a99dc00957
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knb-lter-sev.109.90731-provenance.xml (4 kB)
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knb-lter-sev.109.90731-report.html (25 kB)
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sev109_blmtransects_02252000.txt (173 kB)
Data in TXT format
Comments
This dataset was originally published on the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Data Portal, https://portal.lternet.edu, and potentially via other repositories or portals as described. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the source data package is doi:10.6073/pasta/f43c7c1302b27b3ca99f26a99dc00957, and may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f43c7c1302b27b3ca99f26a99dc00957. Metadata and files included in this record mirror as closely as possible the source data and documentation, with the provenance metadata and quality report generated by the LTER portal reproduced here as '*-provenance.xml' and *-report.html' files, respectively.