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  Journal of Range Management, Volume 31, Number 6 (November 1978)

  Society for Range Management, 1978-11-01
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  Journal of Range Management, Volume 31, Number 3 (May 1978)

  Society for Range Management, 1978-05-01
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  Journal of Range Management, Volume 31, Number 5 (September 1978)

  Society for Range Management, 1978-09-01
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  Journal of Range Management, Volume 31, Number 4 (July 1978)

  Society for Range Management, 1978-07-01
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  Journal of Range Management, Volume 31, Number 2 (March 1978)

  Society for Range Management, 1978-03-01
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  Journal of Range Management, Volume 31, Number 1 (January 1978)

  Society for Range Management, 1978-01-01
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  Will Mesquite Control with 2,4,5-T Enhance Grass Production?

  Dahl, B. E.; Sosebee, R. E.; Goen, J. P.; Brumley, C. S. (Society for Range Management, 1978-03-01)

  Both honey mesquite density and percent of plants dead the year of aerial spraying with 2,4,5-T proved to be major factors influencing perennial grass production. Sites with sparse honey mesquite stands and very dense stands (over 50% canopy cover) yielded little extra grass after 2,4,5-T application. Heavy mesquite foliage probably prevented adequate leaf coverage with 2,4,5-T in dense stands, and in sparse stands mesquite competed little with the herbaceous plants. Increased perennial grass production of about 540 lb/acre/year would be necessary over a 5-year period to break even with a $4.60/acre aerial application of 2,4,5-T. With honey mesquite cover of 30%, a plant kill over 80% the year of application was required to provide a 540 lb/acre/year grass increase. However, a 90% kill would provide nearly 750 lb/acre/year extra perennial grass. Thus, paying particular attention to optimum environmental factors and proper timing for the 2,4,5-T application can pay big dividends.
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  White-tailed Deer Preferences and Hunter Success under Various Grazing Systems

  Reardon, P. O.; Merrill, L. B.; Taylor, C. A. (Society for Range Management, 1978-01-01)

  Preferences of white-tailed deer to various grazing management systems now being tested at the Texas A&M University Agricultural Research Station, Sonora, were evaluated on the basis of deer density and economic returns from hunting. Hunter success was evaluated on the basis of several factors. White-tailed deer definitely preferred a rangeland grazed under a system which included a systematic rotational deferment, and the more frequent the deferment the higher the preference. Hunter success was directly related to deer density, time during the season hunted, brush management, and type of grazing system utilized. Results from this study indicates that good livestock grazing management can also be good big-game range management.
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  Vegetative Responses of Some Great Basin Shrub Communities Protected against Jackrabbits or Domestic Stock

  Rice, B.; Westoby, M. (Society for Range Management, 1978-01-01)

  We surveyed the vegetation at 19 locations inside and outside 12 exclosures built at various times in Curlew Valley, northern Utah. The exclosures were in semidesert shrub vegetation and included several communities definable by a dominant perennial shrub distribution having sharp boundaries. At the level of the individual quadrat, there was no correlation between the density of any of the abundant annuals and the percentage of the soil surface that was bare, or covered by rock, dead plant matter, or cryptogam crust. The communities as defined by dominants arranged themselves in the order winterfat, shadscale, shadscale and perennial grasses, sagebrush, black sage. These communities are known to be found on progressively less xeric sites. The changes which resulted from protecting samples of these communities from grazers were fairly consistent within each community, but differed among communities; and moreover these changes were not correlated with a trend from more to less xeric sites. Protection against sheep, with or without protection against jackrabbits, did not have very many effects even over 15 years: halogeton generally decreased; peppergrass increased where present; winterfat increased in vigor but not in density where it was dominant. Other dominant shrubs and perennial grasses did not respond to protection. Protection against jackrabbits had no consistent extra effect on the parameters studied. The classical concept of range succession is that recovery from overgrazing moves a community through secondary succession parallel to a gradient towards relatively more mesic conditions. On the whole, this concept has not been useful in interpreting the results of excluding grazers from these semiarid shrublands.
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  Vegetative Differences Among Active and Abandoned Towns of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus)

  Klatt, L. E.; Hein, D. (Society for Range Management, 1978-07-01)

  Vegetational differences were studied among one active prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) town and three towns which had been abandoned 1, 2, and 5 years, respectively. Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides) were dominant on all four study areas. Percent cover of total vegetation, grasses, and increaser and invader species declined with length of abandonment. Percent cover of the only decreaser, western wheatgrass (Agropyron smithii), was similar on the abandoned towns and lowest on the active town. Composition of vegetation on the four study areas did not indicate that the usual stages of secondary succession on short grass prairie had occurred on the abandoned prairie dog towns. Most changes in vegetation following abandonment of 5 years or less by prairie dogs were apparently relatively minor and would not benefit cattle grazing significantly.
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  Vegetation Response to Contour Furrowing

  Wight, J. R.; Neff, E. L.; Soiseth, R. J. (Society for Range Management, 1978-03-01)

  Over an 8-year period, contour furrowing on a panspot range site increased average annual herbage production 165% (527 kg/ha), increased plant available soil water 107%, and reduced total basal cover 73% (from 15.72 to 4.22%). On a saline-upland site, contour furrowing increased available water but had no measurable effect on total herbage production and basal cover. Thickspike and western wheatgrass accounted for most of the increased yields on the contour-furrowed panspot site. High yields on the furrowed plots were due primarily to increased soil water resulting from increased overwinter recharge and reduced summer runoff.
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  Use of Infiltration Equation Coefficients as an Aid in Defining Hydrologic Impacts of Range Management Schemes

  Gifford, G. F. (Society for Range Management, 1978-03-01)

  Based on infiltrometer data from 13 pinyon-juniper sites in Utah, the relationship of selected rangeland vegetation characteristics and soil physical properties to the various infiltration coefficients contained in three well-known algebraic infiltration equations was determined. Coefficients in Kostiakov's equation were related more to vegetation factors than to soil factors while coefficients in Philip's equation were more related to soil factors than to vegetation factors. The single coefficient in Horton's equation was somewhat intermediate, representing both vegetation and soil influences. It is conceivable that changes in rangeland use activities or intensity of use may be detected through changes encountered in infiltration coefficients, with emphasis on either vegetation or soil factors or both, depending on the equation or model used.
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  Toxicity of Saponins in Alfombrilla (Drymaria arenarioides)

  Williams, M. C. (Society for Range Management, 1978-05-01)

  Alfombrilla (Drymaria arenarioides H.B.K.) is a highly toxic short-lived perennial of the Caryophyllaceae family found in Mexico. The species has gradually spread northward through Chihuahua and Sonora and now threatens to invade the southwestern United States. Alfombrilla was analyzed for seven common poisonous compounds. Of these, only saponins, which assayed 3.0% of the plant dry weight, were present at toxic levels. Sheep were killed when fed dried alfombrilla at 0.5% of body weight and with saponin extracted from an equivalent weight of plant. When 1-week-old chicks were fed alfombrilla at 2 to 3% of body weight and with an equivalent weight of pure saponin extracted from the plant, they were acutely poisoned. Thin-layer chromatography showed that six saponins were present in alfombrilla.
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  Total Nonstructural Carbohydrates in the Vegetation Components of a Shortgrass Prairie Ecosystem Under Stress Conditions

  Bokhari, U. G. (Society for Range Management, 1978-05-01)

  Total nonstructural carbohydrate (TNC) contents and its distribution in five above- and belowground compartments of the producer subsystem were studied under control, water, nitrogen, and water + nitrogen treatments on the native shortgrass prairie ecosystem. Results indicated that water and water + nitrogen treated plants accumulated significantly greater amounts of TNC (g m-2) in both the aboveground and belowground compartments than the control and nitrogen fertilized plants. Greater amounts of TNC in the water and water + nitrogen treatments were accumulated primarily because of greater biomass production and not as a result of greater TNC concentration (percent dry weight). Significantly greater amounts of TNc (50% and 80%) were channeled below ground than above ground in all four treatments. Stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated positive relationship between TNC (g m-2), TNC concentration (percent dry weight), and certain abiotic variables that appear to limit growth and TNC accumulation in different treatments.
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  Tiller Development and Growth in Switchgrass

  Beaty, E. R.; Engel, J. L.; Powell, J. D. (Society for Range Management, 1978-09-01)

  Switchgrass accessions collected from throughout the Southeast were grown without harvesting for 8 years. Measurements were made on tiller generation, rate of clone spread, time of tiller initiation, and number of tillers per given area. Data collected show that tillers are true biennials, buds at the base of shoots growing as rhizomes the first year and growing as green leaf bearing shoots the second when an inflorescence is produced. Rate of clone spread is determined by rhizome length. Ecotypes with short rhizomes produce tight clones which are pushed above the soil line by roots. In some of these varieties, actively growing tillers will be found only at the edges of the clones, not within the central region. Accessions which have both short and long rhizomes tend to spread much faster and stands are more stable than accessions which produce only short rhizomes. Tiller density ranged from 12-30 per dm2 on sod forming ecotypes to 20-35 per dm2 on bunch types.
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  The State Land Trust, Its Retention or Elimination

  Burnett, G. W. (Society for Range Management, 1978-03-01)
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  The Influence of Ammonium Nitrate on the Control of Mesquite Resprouts with 2,4,5 T Ester

  Arnold, J. D.; Burzlaff, D. F. (Society for Range Management, 1978-07-01)

  The influence of ammonium nitrate on the phytotoxicity of 2,4,5-T ester, nitrogen concentration, and niacin concentration of honey mesquite was studied. Fertilizer was applied to individual 3-year-old resprouts in the fall of 1973 and 2,4,5-T ester was applied to the individual 3-year-old resprouts on 3 dates in 1974. There was no conclusive evidence that N fertilizer affected the percentage of root-kill of mesquite when sprayed with 2,4,5-T ester. Ammonium nitrate had no effect on the nitrogen or the niacin levels in honey mesquite.
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  The Estimation of Winter Forage and Its Use by Moose on Clearcuts in Northcentral Newfoundland

  Parker, G. R.; Morton, L. D. (Society for Range Management, 1978-07-01)

  This study was designed to evaluate the effect of clearcutting on moose (Alces alces americana) populations in northcentral Newfoundland. Fourteen logged areas of various size and age were sampled for potential standing forage and current use. Balsam fir (Abies balsamea), white birch (Betula papyrifera), pin-cherry (Prunus pensylvanica), and willow (Salix spp.) were the most common forage species. Moose browsed most heavily upon pin-cherry, followed by birch and willow. Balsam fir was only lightly used. The most efficient sized plot for measuring browse production was found to be 6 m2. Available browse on balsam fir trees ≤5 m in height was measured by linear correlation with the product of stem diameter and height. Most winter browse was in cuts 8 to 10 years of age. The greatest use was in cuts 40 to 50 ha in size. A forest management plan which encourages a heterogeneous pattern of 40 to 50 ha block cuts and mature forest cover is suggested to be most compatible with the management of moose in northcentral Newfoundland.
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  The Economic Impact of Poisonous Plants on the Range Livestock Industry in the 17 Western States

  Nielsen, D. B. (Society for Range Management, 1978-09-01)

  Poisonous plants cause serious economic losses in many areas of the West. However, there is no systematic way of accounting for the magnitude of these losses. A significant proportion of the poisonous plant loss is reflected in annual death loss in livestock and in calf and lamb crop percentages. By concentrating one's effort on the effect of poisonous plants on these measures, one should be in a better position to make reasonable estimates of the economic costs of poisonous plants. Other losses from poisonous plants should be considered as data become available. Based on the assumptions outlined, the economic loss in the 17 western states is about $107 million annually. Poisonous plants have the potential on many ranches of causing financial ruin to the business. It has been shown that poisonous plants can be economically controlled and losses kept at manageable levels.
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  The Ecological Niches of Poisonous Plants in Range Communities

  Cronin, E. H.; Ogden, P.; Young, J. A.; Laycock, W. (Society for Range Management, 1978-09-01)

  So many diverse plant species are poisonous to domestic livestock that it seems highly improbable that a universal competitive advantage is common to all poisonous species. Plant poisons may have originated in mutations that were of no direct adaptive value. Once these secondary chemical products became established in the physiologic systems of plants, their interactions with insects and rodents that consumed the seeds, seedlings, or herbage of the plant may have given them adaptive value. Evolution of resistance to poisons of plants by the herbivores probably has led to the proliferation of species in genera that contain many poisonous species such as Astragalus. The study of such relationships should be given priority in range ecology to achieve effective management of the range resource. Some poisonous plant species have also evolved allelopathic defense mechanisms that enhance competitive advantages. The coevolution of poisonous plants, large herbivores, and rumen microfloras offers intriguing possibilities for study that may answer questions basic to the future success of range management.

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