The Effects of Winter Burning and Grazing on Resources and Survival of Texas Horned Lizards in a Thornscrub Ecosystem
| Autor: | Donald C. Ruthven, Eric C. Hellgren, Richard T. Kazmaier, Anna L. Burrow |
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| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: |
Ecology
biology Endangered species Growing season Horned lizard Vegetation Phrynosoma cornutum biology.organism_classification Threatened species Grazing General Earth and Planetary Sciences Pogonomyrmex rugosus Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation General Environmental Science |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Wildlife Management. 74:300-309 |
| ISSN: | 1937-2817 0022-541X |
| DOI: | 10.2193/2009-090 |
| Popis: | The ecological effects of land-use practices on reptiles, especially endangered or threatened species, are of conservation and scientific interest. We describe the effects of rotational livestock grazing and prescribed winter burning on resources and survival of the Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) during the summers of 1998 to 2001 in southern Texas, USA. We evaluated survival rates of Texas horned lizards (n = 111) on 6 study sites encompassing 5 different burning and grazing treatments. We also measured indices of cover (i.e., vegetation) and food abundance (i.e., harvester ants [Pogonomyrmex rugosus]). We telemetered and relocated adult lizards daily. We divided the study into 2 seasons, spring (15 Apr–30 Jun) and summer (1 Jul–15 Aug), corresponding to the relative activity of horned lizards. Winter burning provided an increase in food resources and led to increased survival of Texas horned lizards in the second growing season after fire, but grazing-induced changes in vegetation ... |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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