Fire and herbivory in a Great Salt Lake marsh
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Authors: L. M. Smith, and J. A. Kadlec
Date: 1985
Journal: Ecology
Volume: 66
Number: 1
Pages: 259-265
Summary of Methods: In this study, Smith and Kadlec determined the effects of grazing and fire separately, and in combination, on a Utah freshwater salt marsh. Marsh standing crop increased or decreased in response to burning depending on vegetation type, however, previous research suggests that burning likely enhanced forage quality in all vegetation types. Grazing reduced standing crop and annual production in burned areas but did not affect vegetation in unburned areas. Burned areas were more impacted by grazing because herbivores preferred these sites and the authors suggest that this may have been because of the reduced litter cover or higher protein and water content of the available forage.
Article Summary / Main Points: None
Vegetation Types:
MLRA Ecoregions:
Agrovoc Control Words: Riparian zones Rangelands Wildlife
Article Review Type: Refereed
Article Type: Experimental Research
Keywords: distichlis spicata, fire, herbivory, nutritive quality, primary production, scirpus lacustris, scirpus maritimus, typha, utah, wetlands
Annotation: Study areas were drawndown beginning in April 1981 and a 26-ha area was burned on September 2, 1981. A control area was not burned and the two areas were reflooded one week after the fire. Surveys of the number of shoots per quadrat were conducted once every 3 weeks beginning in May 1982. Quadrats were clipped in late July.
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