We examined the distribution of ground-flora species (herbaceous and woody species <1 m tall) across riparian areas of northeastern Wisconsin in an effort to understand how hierarchical landscape properties, such as the physiographic system (ground moraine and outwash plain), valley system (constrained and unconstrained), and valley floor landforms influence distribution patterns of ground-flor...

Exotic plant invasions threaten ecosystems globally, but we still know little about the specific consequences for animals. Invasive plants can alter the quality of breeding habitat for songbirds, thereby impacting important demographic traits such as dispersal, philopatry, and age structure. These demographic effects may in turn alter song-learning conditions to affect song structure and divers...

abstract the objective of current research is to investigate distribution patterns of vegetation types and its relation with environmental factors in southern margin of haj aligholi kavir of damghan. three vegetation types including halecnemum strobilaceum, sedlitzia rosmarinus and artemisia sieberi were studied in marginal arid regions and uplands of the study area. firstly, geographic locatio...

Understanding determinants of local species diversity remains central to developing plans to preserve biodiversity. In the continental United States, climate, grazing by large mammals, fire, and topography are important ecosystem drivers that structure North American tallgrass prairie, with major impacts on plant community composition and vegetation structure. Frequency of fire and grazing by b...

The USA’s federally funded Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has largely been successful in restoring many critical ecosystem functions to millions of acres through the conversion of vulnerable croplands to diverse perennial plant communities—primarily to perennial grass and forb plantings. CRP contracts, however, on as much as 6.5 million hectares (ha) are now expiring. Aside from leaving the...

Effect of fertilizer applications and grazing exclusion on species composition and biomass in wet meadow restoration in eastern Washington. Fertilizer applications and grazing exclusion were used as restoration strategies in degraded wet meadows in eastern Washington to grow biomass in the root systems where it could not be grazed. We used a split-block design to test vegetation responses to si...

/ Land condition trend analysis (LCTA) is a long-term monitoring program used on military training lands to identify ecological changes that result from training and management activities. We initiated LCTA at the Kansas Army National Guard Training Facility (KANGTF) in Saline County, Kansas, in March 1998. This paper evaluates the LCTA methodology for birds by comparing LCTA results with a mod...