Plant Community Patterns on Upland Prairie in the Eastern Nebraska Sandhills
نویسندگان
چکیده
Topography is an important factor in determining vegetation patterns in grasslands. We collected frequency of occurrence data from transects on dune tops, south-facing slopes, north-facing slopes, and interdunal valleys in the eastern Sandhills of Nebraska to determine the effect of topographical position on plant species composition. We used canonical discriminant analysis to separate the four topographical positions based on frequency of occurrence of the 18 principal planttaxa. Topographic position played an important role in plant distribution on upland prairie with interdunal transects strongly separated from transects on other topographical positions. Bluegrasses (Poa L. spp.), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), and white sage (Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt.) were highly associated with interdunal valleys. Little bluestem [Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.)] and cool-season grasses, such as needlegrasses (Stipa L. spp.) and Junegrass [Koeleria pyramidata (Lam.) Beauv.], tended to be associated with north-facing slopes and warm-season grasses, such as prairie sandreed [Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook) Scrihn.] and sand bluestem (Andropogon hallii Hack.), tended to be associated with south-facing slopes. Sedges (Carex L. spp.), western ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya DC.), and Scribner dichanthelium [Dichanthelium oligosanthes (Schult.) Gould var. scribnerianum (Nash)] were the most common taxa occurring over all topographic positions. Aspect proved to be an important factor in influencing vegetation distribution in the eastern Sandhills of Nebraska.
منابع مشابه
Nest and Brood Site Selection and Survival of Greater Prairie-Chickens in the Eastern Sandhills of Nebraska
Greater Prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus cupido pinnata) are a grassland species of conservation concern. Although greater prairie-chickens have experienced decline over much of their range, the Nebraska Sandhills has the largest and most stable population in North America. However, the responses of nest site selection and survival to vegetation characteristics in the Sandhills is unknown. We stud...
متن کاملDocumenting relationships between small mammals, ground-nesting passerine birds, and grazing systems on private rangelands in the Nebraska sandhills
Introduction Biologists lack a great deal of information about wildlife in the Nebraska Sandhills, especially on private rangelands. For example, there is little knowledge about the small mammals of the area and their role in the ecosystem in which they live. Because only three percent of Nebraska is public land (Schneider et. al 2005), private land management is, by default, critical to the bi...
متن کاملPrairies and Pastures of the Dissected Loess Plains of Central Nebraska
INTRODUCTION Lvni-north of the great southward bend o[ the Platte River in central Nebraska but southeast of the sandhills, there are several thousand square miles of rugged uplands known as loess bluffs. They are quite unlike the sandhills with their typical cover, largely of postelimax tall grasses. They also differ widely from the Nebraska plain eastward and south-eastward where mid-grass or...
متن کاملDiversity of Coprophagous Scarabaeidae (Coleoptera) in Grazed Versus Ungrazed Sandhills Prairie in Western Nebraska
متن کامل
Distribution of Plants with Extrafloral Nectaries in Temperate Communities
The abundance of plants with extrafloral nectaries was determined for a series of temperate habitats in Nebraska. Mean cover of plants with extrafloral nectaries was 1.3% in riparian forest understory, 1.8% in virgin deciduous forest understory, 0.0% in tall-grass prairie, and 8.3% in sandhill prairie. Sandhills prairie contained distinct communities with different mean cover of plants with ext...
متن کامل