Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Volume 54, Issue 2, Pages 301-308Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00267-014-0294-y
Keywords
Sierra Nevada; Riparian standards and guidelines; United State Forest Service; Public lands; Inyo National Forest; Kern Plateau
Categories
Funding
- USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We examined long-term (10 years) meadow plant community responses to (1) livestock grazing under riparian grazing utilization limits; (2) suspension of livestock grazing; and (3) meadow site wetness and precipitation on the Inyo National Forest, California. Observed trends in meadow plant species richness, diversity, and frequency of soil stabilizing species were not significantly different between grazed (N = 16) and non-grazed (N = 9) study sites (P > 0.12 in all cases). Modest increases in richness and diversity were observed over the study period, but frequency of soil stabilizing species was constant. These results suggest that riparian conservation grazing strategies implemented during the study period neither degraded nor hampered recovery of meadow plant community conditions relative to non-grazed conditions. Meadow site wetness was negatively correlated to richness (P < 0.01) and diversity (P < 0.01), but was positively correlated to soil stabilization (P = 0.02). Precipitation was not a significant predictor for plant community responses.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available