Annual Changes in Bluebunch Wheatgrass Biomass and Nutrients Related to Climate and Wildfire
| Autor: | James M. Peek |
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| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Northwest Science. 88:129-139 |
| ISSN: | 2161-9859 0029-344X |
| Popis: | Current year's growth (biomass) and nutrient levels of bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), a highly palatable bunchgrass in western North America, were evaluated over 20-year and 10-year periods, respectively. Three study sites representing a range of variation in conditions were located on south-facing slopes. Annual biomass ranged from 5.6 to 109.0 gm m-2 on individual sites with means for all sites of 42.7 gm m-2 (range 17.5–73.3 gm m-2), with April and May precipitation best predicting the variation. Variation was highest on the site lowest in elevation and highest in biomass. A fire in August 2000 that burned all study sites suppressed biomass for the following two years, aided by lower than average precipitation. The highest elevation site had higher mean values of Cu, Mg, N, K, P, S, and Zn than the two lower sites, but the greatest range of values occurred on one of the two lower sites for Ca, Fe, K, Mg, N, P, and S. Combinations of temperature and precipitation predicted Ca, ... |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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