Abstract
As indicated in Chapter 1, the shortgrass prairie of the piedmont of north-central Colorado is a semiarid grassland with an average annual precipitation of about 312 mm (Hyder et al 1975). More than 70% of the precipitation occurs as rain from late April through early August, with the largest quantities occurring in May and June. Year-to-year fluctuations in quantity and seasonal distribution of rainfall are great. In a recent 31-year period, annual precipitation was as low as 110 mm and as high as 582 mm. Average monthly temperatures range from -4°C in January to 21°C in July.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abramsky, Z. 1976. Small mammal studies in natural and manipulated shortgrass prairie (Ph.D. diss.). Fort Collins: Colorado State Univ.
Birney, E. C, W. E. Grant, and D. D. Baird. 1976. Importance of vegetative cover to cycles of Microtus populations. Ecology 57:1043–1051.
Dodd, J. L. and W. K. Lauenroth. 1975. Responses of Opuntia polyacantha to water and nitrogen perturbations in the shortgrass prairie. In M. K. Wali (ed.), Prairie: A Multiple View, pp. 229–40. Grand Forks: University of North Dakota Press.
Esch, G. W., J. W. Gibbons, and J. E. Bourque. 1975. An analysis of the relationship between stress and parasitism. Am. Midl. Nat. 93:339–352.
Grant, W. E., N. R. French, and D. M. Swift. 1977. Response of a small mammal community to water and nitrogen treatments in a shortgrass prairie ecosystem. J. Mammal. 58:637–652.
Hyder, D. N., R. E. Bernent, E. E. Remmenga, and D. F. Hervey. 1975. Ecological responses of native plants and guidelines for management of shortgrass range, Agric. Res. Serv., USDA Tech. Bull. No. 503. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Kirchner, T. B. 1977. The effects of resource enrichment on the diversity of plants and arthropods in a shortgrass prairie. Ecology 58:1334–1344.
Leetham, J. W. 1975. A summary of field collecting and laboratory processing equipment and procedures for sampling arthropods at Pawnee Site, US/IBP Grassland Biome Tech. Rep. No. 284, Fort Collins: Colorado State Univ.
Sims, P. L., J. S. Singh, and W. K. Lauenroth. 1978. The structure and function of ten western North American grasslands. I. Abiotic and vegetational characteristics. J. Ecol. 66:251–285.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1979 Spriger-Verlag New York Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dodd, J.L., Lauenroth, W.K. (1979). Analysis of the Response of a Grassland Ecosystem to Stress. In: French, N.R. (eds) Perspectives in Grassland Ecology. Ecological Studies, vol 32. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-6182-7_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-6182-7_4
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-6184-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-6182-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive