Knowledge Resource Center for Ecological Environment in Arid Area
DOI | 10.1674/0003-0031(2000)144[0078:IOGADI]2.0.CO;2 |
Impact of grazing and desertification in the Chihuahuan Desert: Plant communities, granivores and granivory | |
Kerley, GIH; Whitford, WG | |
通讯作者 | Kerley, GIH |
来源期刊 | AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST |
ISSN | 0003-0031 |
出版年 | 2000 |
卷号 | 144期号:1页码:78-91 |
英文摘要 | Livestock effects on plant communities through overgrazing (desertification) should affect the structure and functioning of semarid rangeland communities. We measured plant, granivorous ant and rodent communities and rates of seed removal by rodents and ants in grazed (by livestock) and ungrazed desert grasslands as well as mesquite and creosotebush shrublands to test hypotheses on the effects of grazing and desertification on ecosystem structure and functioning. In desert grasslands grazing reduced the cover of perennial grasses, particularly the dominant Bouteloua eriopoda, but the cover of forbs and shrubs did not differ between treatments. One species of perennial grass, Dasyochloa pulchellum increased in grazed grasslands compared with grassland exclosures. Detrended correspondence analysis showed that grazing caused desert grasslands to shift in community structure towards the shrublands. There were more seed harvesting ant and rodent species in the creosotebush shrublands than in the grasslands and mesquite shrublands. Grazing had no effect on the diversity of ants or rodents within grasslands, and detrended correspondence analysis revealed no clear trends in granivorous ant community structure in the grazed and unsated grasslands or the mesquite and creosotebush shrublands. Ants removed more seeds than did rodents in the grassland sites but rodents removed more seeds than did ants in the creosotebush sites and seed removal rates by rodents and ants were the same in the mesquite sites. Our data support the hypothesis that livestock grazing leads to a shift from grassland to shrubland in the Chihuahuan Desert, with associated changes in the structure and functioning of faunal communities. Because grasslands support few species and lo iv densities of rodents, seed harvesting ants are the most important granivores in these desert grasslands. On a larger scale, we therefore hypothesize that the observed dominance of rodents as seed harvesters in the Chihuahuan desert is a function of the desertification of desert grasslands to shrublands by livestock, and that associated feedback effects may complicate the regeneration of degraded communities. |
类型 | Article |
语种 | 英语 |
国家 | USA |
收录类别 | SCI-E |
WOS记录号 | WOS:000088519700008 |
WOS关键词 | SOUTHERN NEW-MEXICO ; SOUTHEASTERN ARIZONA ; LIVESTOCK EXCLOSURE ; FORAGING ECOLOGY ; SEED PREDATION ; ANTS ; RODENTS ; GRASSLAND ; BIRDS ; ECOSYSTEMS |
WOS类目 | Biodiversity Conservation ; Ecology |
WOS研究方向 | Biodiversity & Conservation ; Environmental Sciences & Ecology |
来源机构 | New Mexico State University |
资源类型 | 期刊论文 |
条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/138486 |
作者单位 | (1)New Mexico State Univ, Dept Biol, Las Cruces, NM 88003 USA |
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Kerley, GIH,Whitford, WG. Impact of grazing and desertification in the Chihuahuan Desert: Plant communities, granivores and granivory[J]. New Mexico State University,2000,144(1):78-91. |
APA | Kerley, GIH,&Whitford, WG.(2000).Impact of grazing and desertification in the Chihuahuan Desert: Plant communities, granivores and granivory.AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST,144(1),78-91. |
MLA | Kerley, GIH,et al."Impact of grazing and desertification in the Chihuahuan Desert: Plant communities, granivores and granivory".AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 144.1(2000):78-91. |
条目包含的文件 | 条目无相关文件。 |
个性服务 |
推荐该条目 |
保存到收藏夹 |
导出为Endnote文件 |
谷歌学术 |
谷歌学术中相似的文章 |
[Kerley, GIH]的文章 |
[Whitford, WG]的文章 |
百度学术 |
百度学术中相似的文章 |
[Kerley, GIH]的文章 |
[Whitford, WG]的文章 |
必应学术 |
必应学术中相似的文章 |
[Kerley, GIH]的文章 |
[Whitford, WG]的文章 |
相关权益政策 |
暂无数据 |
收藏/分享 |
除非特别说明,本系统中所有内容都受版权保护,并保留所有权利。