ABOUT THE COLLECTIONS

Welcome to the Rangeland Ecology & Management archives. The journal Rangeland Ecology & Management (RE&M; v58, 2005-present) is the successor to the Journal of Range Management (JRM; v. 1-57, 1948-2004.) The archives provide public access, in a "rolling window" agreement with the Society for Range Management, to both titles (JRM and RE&M), from v.1 up to five years from the present year.

The most recent years of RE&M are available through membership in the Society for Range Management (SRM). Membership in SRM is a means to access current information and dialogue on rangeland management.

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Print ISSN: 0022-409x

Online ISSN: 1550-7424

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  • Yields, Nutrient Quality, and Palatability to Sheep of Fourteen Grass Accessions for Potential Use on Sagebrush-Grass Range in Southeastern Idaho

    Murray, R. B. (Society for Range Management, 1984-07-01)
    Fourteen grass accessions were evaluated in terms of yields, nutrient quality, and palatability to sheep at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in southeastern Idaho. The interspecific hybrid (Agropyron cristatum × A. desertorum) produced the greatest amount of total biomass (which includes leaves, stems, and heads), but Russian wildryes (Psathrostachys juncea), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), and the RS- hybrid (Elytrigia repens × E. spicata) produced a greater proportion of leaf material. Crude protein contents declined with advance in plant maturity in all accessions, except Russian wildryes (Bozoisky-Select and RWR-V13) in which crude protein contents declined only slightly between June 30 and September 15. All accessions contained adequate Ca, Mg, and Mn levels in the forage throughout the spring, summer and fall. Phosphorus and Zn levels were inadequate for sheep during late summer and fall. Sulfur content was below recommended levels for sheep. Potassium levels dropped below recommended rates in some accessions on September 15, and certain accessions indicated a proneness towards inducing grass tetany in early spring based on K: (Ca + Mg) ratios. Copper levels were adequate for sheep on June 30, but 10 of 14 accessions were below recommended levels on September 15. When preference is considered without interference from seedstalks, all accessions were preferred similarly by sheep. However, preference decreased as numbers of seedstalks increased. Burning in mid-March removed dead standing seedstalks and litter providing more accessible forage, but tended to aggravate the problem by increasing the number of new seedstalks. Heavy use in the spring may reduce flowering, and produce a greater proportion of vegetative stems. An index based on leaf yields, crude protein content, and sheep preference was used to rank species. This index ranked the Russian wildrye (Bozoisky-Select) first followed by RWR-V13 second.
  • Water Stress of Tallgrass Prairie Plants in Central Oklahoma

    Hake, D. R.; Powell, J.; McPherson, J. K.; Claypool, P. L.; Dunn, G. L. (Society for Range Management, 1984-03-01)
    The predawn xylem water potentials of Andropogon gerardi, Schizachyrium scoparium, Panicum oligosanthes, Sporobolus asper, Ambroisia psilostachya, Psoralea tenuiflora and Solanum eleagnifolium were determined by the pressure equilibration chamber method during the 1980 growing season in a Central Oklahoma tallgrass prairie. Water potentials declined rapidly after June indicating high levels of water stress in all species. The decline in plant water potential for Schizachyrium scoparium, and to a lesser extent, Panicum oligosanthes, was much greater than that for the other 5 species. Andropogon gerardi apparently avoids dehydration by having a deep root system, whereas Schizachyrium scoparium survives in spite of a high degree of dehydration. Aboveground live biomasses declined sharply at about the same time plant water potential values decreased sharply. Results indicate plant water potential data are useful for interpreting range plant growth responses and predicting adaptability of species to harsh growing conditions.
  • Water Balance Calculations and Net Production of Perennial Vegetation in the Northern Mojave Desert

    Lane, L. J.; Romney, E. M.; Hakonson, T. E. (Society for Range Management, 1984-01-01)
    Measurements obtained between 1968 and 1976 indicate the influence of climatic factors and soil characteristics upon soil moisture and production of perennial vegetation in the northern Mojave Desert. Seasonal distribution patterns of precipitation are shown to have a strong effect on plant-available soil moisture, and these patterns are, in turn, reflected in net production of perennial vegetation. Available climatic data and soil characteristics were used as input to a continuous simulation model to calculate the water balance for a unit area watershed. Computed and measured soil moisture agreed quite well over a range of values from close to the wilting point to near field capacity. We used computed evapotranspiration rates to estimate water use by perennial vegetation. Computed water use was multiplied by a water use efficiency factor to estimate net production of perennial vegetation. Estimated net production exhibited year-to-year variability comparable with measured values, and agreed quite closely with available observations. This paper briefly describes soil-water-plant relationships in the northern Mojave Desert and illustrates an application of a continuous simulation model to predict soil moisture and net production of perennial vegetation. Based on our analysis, the simulation model would appear to have potential for estimating the water balance and above ground net primary production on arid and semiarid rangelands.
  • Vegetation of Two Relict Mesas in Zion National Park

    Madany, M. H.; West, N. E. (Society for Range Management, 1984-09-01)
    Twelve permanent vegetation sampling plots were established on Greatheart and Church mesas in Zion National Park, Utah. Both relict mesas are surrounded by cliffs but contain the same variety of soil conditions as the nearby "mainland." The mesa vegetation was segregated into the following broad community types: mixed conifer forest, ponderosa pine savanna, Gambel oak woodland, pinyon woodland, snowberry-sagebrush steppe, and oak-sagebrush shrubland. Cover of all species was measured in the plots, in addition to tree stem density. Relationships of each community type to topo-edaphic factors and response to fire are noted. The mesa ecosystems can be used as standards to gauge the various effects of resource exploitation on analogous "mainland" areas.
  • Vegetation Change after 13 Years of Live-Stock Grazing Exclusion on Sagebrush Semidesert in West Central Utah

    West, N. E.; Provenza, F. D.; Johnson, P. S.; Owens, M. K. (Society for Range Management, 1984-05-01)
    Range managers often assume that release of vegetation from livestock grazing pressure will automatically result in a trend toward the pristine condition. The pathways and time scales for recovery are also sometimes assumed to be the same as for retrogression. These assumptions were examined via monitoring of plant community composition and forage production in five large paddocks of sagebrush semi-desert vegetation in west central Utah over a 13-year interval. No significant increases in native perennial grasses were noted over this period despite a trend toward more favorable precipitation in recent years. Thus, the present brush-dominated plant community is probably successionally stable. A return to vegetation similar to the original sagebrush-native grass mixture is unlikely. The possibility of a successional deflection via fire is enhanced by the increase of annual grass. Improvement of forage production in this vegetation will not necessarily follow after livestock exclusion. Direction manipulations are mandatory if rapid returns to perennial grass dominants are desired in such environments.
  • Vegetation and Soil Responses to Cattle Grazing Systems in the Texas Rolling Plains

    Wood, M. K.; Blackburn, W. H. (Society for Range Management, 1984-07-01)
    The influence of cattle grazing on selected vegetation and soil parameters were evaluated on a clay flat range site with shrub zonal, midgrass, and shortgrass communities in the Rolling Plains near Throckmorton, Texas. Measurements were made on one pasture of each treatment during 1977 following 4 to 20 years of grazing treatments. Heavy, continuous cattle grazing had more area occupied by the shortgrass community than midgrass community. Heavily grazed pastures were generally dominated by the shortgrass community, with midgrasses, depending on the degree of utilization, restricted to the shrub zonal community. Conversely, cattle exclosures had no shortgrass community, and deferred-rotation and moderately stocked continuously grazed systems had much midgrass community with the shortgrass community occupying only 30% of the area, thus increasing range productivity. Vegetation and soil parameters within the high intensity, low frequency and heavily stocked, continuously grazed pastures tended to be similar for the midgrass and shortgrass communities, but the shrub zonal community was generally different. Vegetation and soil parameters in the midgrass community of the moderately stocked, continuously grazed treatment were generally similar to shrub zonal and different from shortgrass communities. Vegetation and soil variables in the exclosures and deferred-rotation treatments were generally similar among the midgrass and shrub zonal communities; however, they differed from the shortgrass communities.
  • Vegetation and Litter Changes of a Nebraska Sandhills Prairie Protected from Grazing

    Potvin, M. A.; Harrison, A. T. (Society for Range Management, 1984-01-01)
    End of season components of biomass and litter were measured on a Nebraska Sandhills prairie site to follow vegetation changes during the first 4 years following the cessation of intense livestock grazing. The 1977-1980 mean annual end of season biomass at Arapaho Prairie, a Sandhills prairie site, was 109 g/m2. Summer grazing on Arapaho Prairie was terminated in 1977, and as a result, significant increases in the biomass of the deep-rooted, palatable warm-season (C4) grasses, sand bluestem, little bluestem and switchgrass, have occurred since then. The biomass of the shallowly rooted C4 grama grasses for the 4-year period was significantly correlated with growing season precipitation. Significant decreases in end of season biomass of the cool-season (C3) grasses during the same 4-year period were highly correlated with yearly decreases in May precipitation. Following the removal of grazing, litter increased from 40 to 127 g/m2 from 1977 to 1980. A nonsignificant yearly increase in litter production occurred in the third year after grazing as a steady state of litter production and decomposition was approached.
  • Variability of Infiltration within Large Runoff Plots on Rangelands

    Devaurs, M.; Gifford, G. F. (Society for Range Management, 1984-11-01)
    In this study we investigated the variability of infiltration on native rangeland sites. A rainfall simulator was used to collect data on runoff from small (0.37 m2) plots located within large plot boundaries (32.5 m2). Three range sites were sampled and data were collected from unfenced, fenced, and rototilled conditions on each site. In addition data were collected on vegetation, antecedent moisture, bulk density, soil texture, and organic matter as possible explanations for variations in hydrologic response on small and large plots. The field study demonstrated large variability in measured infiltration and soil physical properties on relatively uniform rangeland sites, suggesting that inherent variability patterns need to be examined to provide appropriate confidence intervals for single parameter values that may be applied to larger areas. No set of factors consistently explained the observed variability within large plots.
  • Using Weather Records with a Forge Production Model to Forecast Range Forage Production

    Wight, J. R.; Hanson, C. L.; Whitmer, D. (Society for Range Management, 1984-01-01)
    This paper describes a method for calculating site specific forecast yields and their associated probabilities of occurrence. A physically based range forage model, which utilizes beginning soil water content and daily precipitation, mean air temperature, and solar radiation as inputs, calculates the ratio of actual transpiration (T) to potential transpiration (Tp) as a yield index. Annual yield is calculated by the relationship: yield = potential site yield (yield when water is nonlimiting) × T/Tp. By using the current year's beginning soil water content and weather data for a number of years, a population of yields is generated (one yield for each year of weather data). From the population of yields, a mean and various confidence intervals around the mean can be calculated as the forcast yield and its associated confidence intervals. The forecast procedure was tested using 55 years (1917-1971) of weather records and 12 years (1967-1978) of actual yield and soil water data for an upland range site in eastern Montana. An expected two thirds of the field measured yields were within a standard deviation of the forecasted yields for the April, May, and June forecasts.
  • Threshing Damage to Radicle Apex Affects Geotropic Response of Winterfat

    Booth, D. T. (Society for Range Management, 1984-05-01)
    The acute end of a winterfat [Eurotia lanata (Pursh) Moq.; Ceratoides 1. (Pursh) J.T. Howell] seed is formed by the apex of the radicle and of the cotyledons. It is postulated that this shape makes the embryo root cap especially susceptible to damage during threshing and that such damage is the cause of a high percentage of threshed germinated seed (germinant) lacking positive geotropism. This study consisted of examining germination behavior and post germination anatomy of the root apex of germinants with and without positive geotropism. The radicle apex was found to be damaged in 25% of the threshed seed. Eighty-five percent of the germinants from undamaged seed had positive geotropism as compared to 53% from the damaged seed. The latter had a range of anatomical aberrations in which the root cap was missing or seriously abnormal. It is concluded that the standard method of hammer mill threshing of winterfat fruits results in 25% of the seed sustaining damage to the radicle apex. This damage causes a loss of root cap functions, particularly the sensing of gravity. It is recommended that plantings be made by broadcasting whole fruits, rather than by drilling threshed seed.
  • The Effect of Shade and Planting Depth on the Emergence of Fourwing Saltbush

    Hennessy, J. T.; Gibbens, R. P.; Cardenas, M. (Society for Range Management, 1984-01-01)
    Planting trials in southern New Mexico with fourwing saltbush seeds on mesquite dunes and on shaded and nonshaded interdune areas during 3 successive years revealed that seedling emergence was always greater on shaded areas. Planting depth (2 and 5 cm) did not appear to be a critical factor in seedling emergence. The shade provided by mesquite canopy explains, in part, why fourwing saltbush occurs with much higher frequency on dunes than on interdune areas.
  • The Effect of Phytophagous Nematode Grazing on Blue Grama Die-off

    Stanton, N. L.; Morrison, D.; Laycock, W. A. (Society for Range Management, 1984-09-01)
    Nematode populations were sampled in ungrazed and heavily grazed areas in northeastern Colorado under patches of healthy, senescing, and dead blue grama to test the hypothesis that phytophagous nematodes may cause the senescence. Densities of plant parasites were significantly different under the 3 plant types. Live blue grama supported the highest numbers (1.2 X 10^6 m2) and dead blue grama, the lowest (2 X 10^5 m2). Bacterial feeding nematodes also varied significantly with plant type. Highest densities were found under senescing plants (2.4 X 10^6 m2) and lowest densities were under dead plants (7 X 10^5 m2). Total densities were slightly but insignificantly lower in the heavily grazed area. Scarlet globemallow and fringed sagewort supported lower populations of both plant parasites and bacterial feeders than did live blue grama. The densities under live blue grama were not unusually high and well within the values reported in the literature for arid grasslands. Thus, nematode root grazing may decrease net primary production but we conclude that nematodes themselves were not the major cause of the die-off.
  • Temperature Profiles for Germination of Two Species of Winterfat

    Dettori, M. L.; Balliette, J. F.; Young, J. A.; Evans, R. A. (Society for Range Management, 1984-05-01)
    Germination of seeds of winterfat [Ceratoides lanata (Pursh) Howell] and Eurasian winterfat [C. latens (J.F. Gnel.) Reveal and Holmgren] was compared at 55 constant and alternating temperatures. The seeds of both species germinated at a wide range of temperatures. Optimum germination (defined as not lower than the maximum and its 0.01 probability confidence interval) occurred most frequently at 0, 2, and 5 degrees C cold period temperatures alternating with 15 and 20 degrees C. Optimum temperature regimes tended to be slightly warmer for seeds of Eurasian winterfat. There were large year-to-year differences in the quality of Eurasian winterfat seeds. Three sources of winterfat purchased from commercial seed dealers had low to very low germinability. Seeds of the Hatch selection of winterfat that we tested had a germination response equal to or better than the commercial sources of winterfat seeds.
  • Technique to Separate Grazing Cattle into Groups for Feeding

    Karn, J. F.; Lorenz, R. J. (Society for Range Management, 1984-11-01)
    A training procedure is described which was used to separate a group of cattle grazing the same pasture into smaller groups to facilitate supplementation. The procedure was successfully used to make 3 separations and probably could be used for 1 or 2 more. It appears to be a useful alternative to maintaining supplementation groups on separate pastures.

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