<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:creator>Erik Beever</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2003</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class="EXLDetailsDisplayVal"&gt;Compared to other ungulates of North America,&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;free&lt;/span&gt;-&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;roaming&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;horses&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;(&lt;i&gt;Equus caballus&lt;/i&gt;) possess a unique evolutionary history that has given rise to a distinct suite of behavioral, morphological, and physiological traits. Because of their unique combination of cecal digestion, an elongate head with flexible lips, and non-uniform use of the landscape,&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;horses&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;represent a unique disturbance agent in semi-arid&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;ecosystems&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;of the&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;western&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;United&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;States&lt;/span&gt;. Consequently, it is inappropriate to assume that influences of&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;horses&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;on the structure, composition, function, and pattern of arid and semi-arid&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;ecosystems&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;will mirror influences of cattle or other artiodactyls. Although&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;management&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;areas for&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;free&lt;/span&gt;-&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;roaming&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;horses&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;occupy 18.6 million ha of land across&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;western&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;North America, we know relatively little about how&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;western&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;ecosystems&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;and their components have responded to this uniquely managed ungulate. I draw on my research of horse habitats in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;western&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;Great Basin (U.S.A.) to examine predictions of&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="searchword"&gt;horses&lt;/span&gt;' unique influence, and advocate for continued research to refine our understanding of synecological relationships among horses and diverse ecosystem components in arid and semi-arid regions.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>Wiley</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Management implications of the ecology of free-roaming horses in semiarid ecosystems of the western United States</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>