Effects of herbage removal on productivity of selected high-Sierra meadow community types
Environmental Management
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Abstract
We investigated the effects of herbage removal on three subalpine meadow plant communities in the Rock Creek drainage of Sequoia National Park, California, USA. In the xeric Carex exserta Mkze. (short-hair sedge) type, annual aboveground productivity averaged 19 g/m2 in control plots (clipped once after plant senescence in late September) over a five-year period. Annual aboveground productivity was enhanced about 30%–35% when plots in this community type were clipped more frequently (i.e., “additional” herbage removal in the early, mid, and late seasons) during each of four treatment years but was reduced by 13%–19% during a fifth (recovery) year in which all but late September clipping was suspended. In a moderately mesic Eleocharis pauciflora (Lightf.) Link. (few-flowered spike rush)-Calamagrostis breweri Thurb. (short-hair grass) type, control plot productivity averaged 115 g/m2/yr and was reduced by 20–30% by the additional herbage removal. A more mesic Deschampsia caespitosa (L.) Beauv. (tufted hairgrass)-Carex rostrata Stokes, (beaked sedge) type had the greatest mean above-ground productivity (169 g/m2/yr) but also showed damage (i.e., decrease in productivity by 15%–20%) caused by the additional herbage removal. These data suggest that long-term, intensive herbage removal may be more detrimental to moderately mesic and mesic subalpine meadow community types than to xeric types.
Suggested Citation
Stohlgren, T.J., DeBenedetti, S.H., and Parsons, D.J., 1989, Effects of herbage removal on productivity of selected high-Sierra meadow community types: Environmental Management, v. 13, no. 4, p. 485-491, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01867682.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Effects of herbage removal on productivity of selected high-Sierra meadow community types |
| Series title | Environmental Management |
| DOI | 10.1007/BF01867682 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Year Published | 1989 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Springer-Verlag |
| Publisher location | New York, NY |
| Description | 7 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Environmental Management |
| First page | 485 |
| Last page | 491 |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Other Geospatial | Sequoia National Park |