I used field experiments to study how plants in two grassland communities colonized
soil mounds made by the Camas pocket gopher, Thomomys bulbivorus (Richardson). I
identified potential mound colonizers in each source of colonization (buried propagule bank,
seed rain, and established vegetation) and then measured species specific rates of
colonization...
Ecological and historical information are combined in examining the environmental influence of fire and grazing on rangelands in eastern Oregon through time. Competitive relationships between herbaceous and woody flora in the northern Great Basin are discussed, focusing broadly on the shrubsteppe regions 'of Franklin and Dyrness (1973) but with special...
Research was conducted on the Keating rangelands in north-eastern Oregon to determine the food habits of deer and cattle and
similarity of their diets, and to estimate deer and cattle months of
grazing on both a quantitative and nutritional basis. Data were
collected during the winters of 1978-1979, 1979-1980 and...
In an effort to describe the plant communities and
succession of the Oregon coastal grasslands, vegetation
and environmental data were collected from 75 stands at
24 separate locations ranging from Cape Falcon in Tillamook
County to Cape Ferrelo in Curry County. The vegetation
data consisted of cover and frequency values...
In grasslands, grazing by large ungulates can influence vegetation structure, composition, primary productivity, and ultimately, ecosystem functioning. While grazing represents a complex disturbance, grazing intensity largely determines the effects of
grazing on vegetation. Structural and compositional changes in the plant community caused by grazing could have bottom-up effects on species...
Understanding how the interactions and feedbacks between plant function, climate, and soils ultimately affects the terrestrial water balance and subsurface flow processes is major challenge in scientific hydrology. This dissertation summarizes the findings of a manipulative climate warming experiment, an observational field study that utilized stable-isotope tracers, and associated modeling...
Prior to European settlement, native prairie dominated the landscape of the
Willamette Valley. Today, due to urbanization, agriculture, and the cessation of
burning, only isolated remnants of these grasslands still exist. In response to
conservation concerns, there has been a move to restore the remaining prairies in the
Willamette Valley,...
Biological invasions pose one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity, but many naturalized invaders coexist with the native community. Community ecology theory provides a framework for understanding the mechanisms by which invaders might coexist with native species or exclude them from the community, thus informing management practices to maximize...
Humans are increasing the scale and frequency of many natural disturbances, as well as adding novel disturbances to ecosystems. This thesis uses the arthropod community as a metric to examine the multi-trophic responses to disturbances in California grasslands. Chapter 2 explores how the long-term exclusion of native vertebrate herbivores has...