Species adaptation trials were observed over periods varying from 21 to 28 years at ten Arizona pinyon-juniper sites. Fifty-nine species and varieties developing fair to excellent stands and persisting five or more years were considered adapted to one or more of the sites. Fifty-four of these were still present at the last rating. Thirty have reproduced themselves and are spreading naturally. Most widely adapted species are Agropyron desertorum, A. intermedium, A. smithii, A. trichophorum, Atriplex canescens, Bothriochloa ischaemum, Bouteloua curtipendula, Muhlenbergia wrightii, and Tridens elongatus. Moisture variation caused some cool season grasses to fluctuate more widely in growth and stand than the other adapted species, especially shrubs. Warm-season growers were generally sensitive to low temperatures and cool-season growers to high temperatures. Complete protection from livestock appeared to have detrimental effects on some species. Sites are described and classified to help identify planting potential and facilitate wide application of results. Guidelines are suggested for shortening the time period needed to evaluate species adaption.

Careful selection of letter size and amount of information to be included before photographing slides is essential for legible slides. This article presents information that can be used to select the correct size of lettering for a specific drawing size before drafting and photographing them so as to insure that the 2 × 2 inch slides produced will be legible even to those sitting in the back of the audience.

One hundred thirty-two coyotes, 27 opossums, 22 skunks, 18 bobcats, 15 raccoons, 12 badgers, and one gray fox were killed on a 1,550-ha area of mixed brush rangeland in South Texas during January-July 1975 and 1976 to determine the responses of herbivore and quail populations to predator control. When compared to an area without predator control, predator removal at this level had little discernible effect on density trends of bobwhite or scaled quail, rodents, or lagomorphs. However, fawn production per unit area was 70% greater in 1975 on the area with predator control and 43% greater in 1976. These data suggest that intensive short-term predator control on South Texas rangeland results in little or no adverse impact on range forage due to expanding populations of small herbivores. Productivity and populations of white-tailed deer may increase and harvests should be adjusted accordingly, as overuse of range forage could occur.

When compared with undrifted sites, meadow sites with artificially induced drifts have shorter growing seasons, higher average growing season temperatures due to the absence of a cool spring, similar growing season soil water availabilities, and slightly less available nutrients due to leaching. Community composition, plant production, and plant phenology were affected slightly by doubling snow pack to 12-dm and were affected considerably by quadrupling snow pack to 24-dm. Though larger increases in snowfall might, it seems unlikely that 20-30% increases in winter precipitation would significantly affect the vegetation of Festuca idahoensis meadows.

Several instruments used for measuring soil compaction have been evaluated on a homogeneously-textured, nongravelly silt-loam soil. The instruments used in the study were the air permeameter, proving ring penetrometer, volumeasure, pocket penetrometer, and gamma ray scattering device. Correlation coefficients and regression equations were developed between each instrument and bulk density as determined by the soil core method. Readings from all instruments were significantly correlated with soil core bulk density. The two instruments which had the highest correlation with bulk densities during initial testing, the air permeameter and the proving ring penetrometer, were further evaluated on a rangeland soil. In this instance, predicted bulk densities (using the above regression equations) from air permeameter readings correlated better with soil core bulk densities than did predicted bulk densities from proving ring penetrometer readings.

Fifty stands, representing six common and three rare species of gramas (genus Bouteloua), were sampled for vegetation abundance, species composition, and selected habitat factors. Numerical and statistical procedures were used to aid in obtaining succinct descriptions of the habitat structure of the grama species. Factors such as texture and content of various nutrients of the soils were among those that showed trends. Black grama (B. eriopoda) was found to be associated with soils higher in nitrate, potassium, organic matter, pH, and lime. Most similar to stands of black grama were stands of eludens grama (B. eludens) and sideoats grama (B. curtipendula), which tended to also be associated with sandy clay textured soils and steep, rocky slopes. All stands of eludens grama were found on southerly exposures. Hairy grama (B. hirsuta) and spruce-top (B. chondrosiodes) were most widely distributed and tended to occur together on relatively level sites with clayey, acidic soils. Curly mesquite (Hilaria belangeri) was nearly always associated with these two gramas. Blue grama (B. gracilis) tended to be most abundant on acidic, relatively infertile, sandy clay loam soils.

Six range parameters measured monthly over an 11-month period on nine ranches distributed throughout the main ecological zones of Botswana were related to the monthly liveweight changes of growing cattle. Clipped and esophageal fistula samples provided estimates of crude protein content (CP) and dry matter digestibility (DM), while available DM and grazing index provided estimates of available herbage. Linear, quadratic, and multiple regressions all indicated that liveweight change was influenced primarily by the CP content of the herbage selected. The CP content of fistula samples accounted for 54% of the variation in liveweight gain, while digestibility of the same samples accounted for 32%. Quadratic regressions failed to account for any more variance than linear regressions. The inclusion of digestibility with CP content in a multiple linear regression failed to have any effect. The addition of grazing index to CP content increased the variance accounted for in both the fistula and clipped samples from 54% to 56% and 48% to 53%, respectively. It appears that under the natural range conditions of Botswana, crude protein is presently the major limiting factor, and initial research efforts must be directed towards increasing the CP content of the diet available to beef cattle.

Field spectroradiometric measurements for canopy reflectances of three dominant south Texas woody plants (cenizo, honey mesquite, live oak) were used successfully to predict their color infrared film images and distinguishability: cenizo, whitish; honey mesquite, relatively light magenta; and live oak, darker magenta.