Intraspecific and diffuse competition: The response of Nassella pulchra in a California grassland
-
-
Authors: A. R. Dyer, and K. J. Rice
Date: 1997
Journal: Ecological Applications
Volume: 7
Number: 2
Pages: 484-492
Summary of Methods: Dyer and Rice measured the effects of weeding, increased soil depth, grazing and prescribed burning on the competitive relationship between the native perennial, purple needlegrass (Nassella pulchra), and invasive annual species to determine if use of these management tools could restore the native plant community in the California annual grasslands. Burning and weeding both reduced the effects of diffuse competition with annual species, however, the effects of fire only lasted one season. Soil depth and grazing did not have direct effects on plant growth or survival, however grazing tended to increase survival of purple needlegrass plants due to the reduced gopher activity in grazed plots. The authors concluded that the long term domination of invasive annual species in the California annual grasslands has created an alternative state that is not suitable for the survival of the native purple needlegrass.
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: competitive suppression, diffuse competition, grassland restoration, interspecific competition, perennial bunchgrass, purple needlegrass, nassella pulchra, california annual grassland
Annotation: 18 experimental areas were established in 1988, with six treatment combinations of two levels of prescribed burning and three levels of grazing by sheep.,The grazing treatment was applied annually in April (Spring) or in August (Summer). Ungrazed and unburned controls were included in the design.,To assess the effect of fire on plant growth, a second set of 24 plots was planted from February-March 1992 in spring grazed and ungrazed experimental areas that had been burned the previous fall.,Grazing intensity is defined as "ungrazed", "spring grazed", and "summer grazed".
-
Get article
Cite article with DOI
-