Grazing on natural rangelands, which are areas dominated by native vegetation that are used for livestock grazing, can achieve desired vegetation outcomes, preserve native habitat, and economically benefit multiple stakeholders. It is a powerful tool that can be manipulated to reduce wildlife declines and benefit ecosystems. However, the benefits of conservation grazing systems on many wildlife...

In response to earlier findings or elevated levels of selenium in the Kendrick area, two detailed geochemical surveys were conducted in 1988 to stud y the distribution of selenium in soils (0-1 m depth), and new growth of associated big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). A survey of the native rangeland focused on specific geologic units as sources of selen...

Of course, neighboring plants in natural communities interact: we usually think of plants competing for sunlight and soil nutrients. Few topics in plant ecology have inspired so much excitement and controversy, however, as communication between plants. The idea, simply put, is that rooted and immobile plants might act to increase their levels of defense by responding to cues from neighbors that...

Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations have declined by 45 to 80% throughout their North American range. The species currently exists at the northern fringe of their range, on the mixed grass prairie of southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. The population decline in Canada has been the most severe, with declines ranging from 66 to 92% over the last 30 years. There has...

Cheatgrass invasion of Intermountain sagebrush steppe in the western United States poses increasing challenges to function and survival this native ecosystem. The invasive success persistence cheatgrass has been attributed soil total nitrogen, but mechanisms behind remain inconclusive. We hypothesized that microorganisms play a role nitrogen associated with invasion. collected samples from root...

historical records of cheatgrass Bromus tectorum invasion in North American sagebrush-steppe Sumanta Bagchi*, David D. Briske, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer and X. Ben Wu Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, 2138 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA; USDA-ARS, Jornada Experimental Range and Jornada Basin LTER, New Mexico State University, MSC 3JER, Box 30003, Las Cruce...