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Plant biodiversity on shortgrass steppe after 55 years of zero, light, moderate, or heavy cattle grazing

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Abstract

Shortgrass steppe rangeland near Nunn, Colorado, USA, has been lightly,moderately, or heavily grazed by cattle, or protected from grazing inexclosures, for 55 years. Plant species biodiversity and evenness were greatestin lightly- and moderately-grazed pastures. Both pastures weredominated by the warm-season shortgrass Boutelouagracilis, but the cool-season midgrasses Pascopyrumsmithii and Stipa comata contributedsignificantly to biomass production on the lightly-grazed pasture, asthey did in the exclosures. Diversity was least in the exclosures, which werestrongly dominated by the cactus Opuntia polyacantha.Buchloë dactyloides, another warm-seasonshortgrass, and Bouteloua gracilis were co-dominantsunder heavy grazing, and diversity was intermediate. Plant community structureand diversity were controlled by selective grazing by cattle and soildisturbance by cattle and rodents. Shortgrass steppe moderately or heavilygrazed by cattle was similar to and probably as sustainable as steppe grazed formillenia by bison and other wild ungulates.

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  1. US Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, High Plains Grasslands Research Station, 8408 Hildreth Road, Cheyenne, WY, 82009, USA

    Richard H. Hart

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Hart, R.H. Plant biodiversity on shortgrass steppe after 55 years of zero, light, moderate, or heavy cattle grazing. Plant Ecology 155, 111–118 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013273400543

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