Dynamics of Blue Grama within a Shortgrass Ecosystem

Abstract

The dynamics of standing crop for live, dead, and litter compartments of blue grama were studied for 2 years to formulate equations useful for predicting growth rates over 2-week intervals. During the period of rapid vegetative growth, 54% of the variation in rates of changes for live herbage was accounted for by the amount of live herbage present at a given time. During the declining period, the amount of live herbage, leaf moisture, and air temperature accounted for 58% of the variation in net changes. The transfer rate from live to dead herbage was 0.22% of the live herbage per day during the growing season, while litter accumulated from the dead herbage at a rate of 0.31% per day. This transfer rate became 0.086% per day during the non-growing season. Litter decomposed during the growing season at a rate of 0.35% per day.