Rooting characteristics of four intermountain meadow community types
Issue Date
1989-07-01Keywords
Carex douglasiipoa nevadensis
gradients
Carex nebrascensis
rooting depth
Poa
Juncus
Juncus balticus
meadows
Carex
plant ecology
root systems
length
plant communities
spatial distribution
biomass
Nevada
soil water regimes
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Manning, M. E., Swanson, S. R., Svejcar, T., & Trent, J. (1989). Rooting characteristics of four intermountain meadow community types. Journal of Range Management, 42(4), 309-312.Publisher
Society for Range ManagementJournal
Journal of Range ManagementDOI
10.2307/3899500Additional Links
https://rangelands.org/Abstract
Healthy meadow communities generally have excellent soil binding properties. However, belowground characteristics of these communities have seldom been evaluated. In 4 meadow community types (CTs) we measured root mass and root length density (RLD) at 10-cm intervals to 40 cm soil depth. The CTs occurred along a wet to dry soil moisture gradient. The ranking of CTs from wettest to driest was: Carex nebrascensis (CANE) > Juncus balticus (JUBA) > Carex douglasii (CADO) > Poa nevadensis (PONE). Total RLD and mass to 40 cm paralleled the order of soil wetness, i.e., there were more roots at the wetter sites. Values of total RLD and mass for the 4 CTs were: 95.6 cm cm-3 and 3,382 g m-2 respectively for CANE; 33.6 cm cm-3 and 2,545 g m-2 for JUBA; 25.7 cm cm-3 and 1,526 g m-2 for CADO; and 8.8 cm cm-3 and 555 g m-2 for PONE. Root mass and RLD declined with depth, a result consistent with other graminoid systems. The RLD values for CANE, JUBA, and CADO are exceptionally high compared to literature values from other graminoid plant communities. The high RLD of the wet CTs suggests that they have superior site-stabilizing characteristics.Type
textArticle
Language
enISSN
0022-409Xae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.2307/3899500