Article
 

Watercourse-Upland and Elevational Gradients in Spring Vegetation of a Mojave-Great Basin Desert Landscape

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/8k71nj767

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • Springs in arid lands provide critical habitat for a variety of species and functions to humans, yet the ecology and management needs of springs to maintain these values are poorly understood. To examine plant communities along spring watercourse-upland gradients, we sampled 12 springs at low (desert) and high (forest) elevations on the Desert National Wildlife Refuge in the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts in southern Nevada. In contrast to the commonly reported positive relationship between native and exotic species richness in sampling studies, we did not find strong correlations (r² < 0.05) between native and exotic richness at any distance from watercourses. Additionally, exotic species cover was lower nearest (0 and 2 m) watercourses than at uplands 20 m from watercourses, which also differs from the hypothesis that watercourses are more heavily invaded than uplands. Exotic species were more pervasive at low-elevation compared to high-elevation springs, but the proportion of total plant cover comprised by exotics was still small (0.03 – 0.06) at low-elevation springs. Species distributions and ordinations suggested that compositional watercourse-upland gradients were often readily detectable, but the composition of springs was individualistic. Some springs contained wetland species such as Juncus saximontanus, while other springs contained species of dry-site affinity. This study also illustrated challenges associated with estimating reference conditions for arid-land springs, as there are no known data prior to the development (i.e., modifying surface flow) of the springs and no known unmodified springs on this landscape.
  • Keywords: exotic species, seeps, wetlands, riparian, conservation
Resource Type
DOI
Date Available
Date Issued
Citation
  • Abella, S. R., Craig, J. E., McPherson, S. L., & Spencer, J. E. (2014). Watercourse-Upland and Elevational Gradients in Spring Vegetation of a Mojave-Great Basin Desert Landscape. Natural Areas Journal, 34(1), 79-91. doi:10.3375/043.034.0109
Journal Title
Journal Volume
  • 34
Journal Issue/Number
  • 1
Rights Statement
Funding Statement (additional comments about funding)
  • This study was funded as part of the WeedSentry Program by the Clark County MultipleSpecies Habitat Conservation Planthrough a cooperative agreement betweenthe National Park Service (Lake MeadNational Recreation Area [LMNRA], inparticular K. Turner and A. Newton) and theUniversity of Nevada Las Vegas, and wassupported by A. Newton and C. Normanof LMNRA.
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Replaces

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details McPhersonSaraForestryWatercourseUplandElevational.pdf 2017-07-25 Public Download