Blackbrush biology: Insights after three years of a long-term study
Pendleton BK, Meyer SE, Pendleton RL. 1995. Blackbrush biology: Insights after three years of a long-term study. Pages 223-227. In Roundy BA, McArthur ED, Haley JS, Mann DK (ed): Proceedings: Wildland Shrub and Arid Land Restoration Symposium. Las Vegas, NV. October 19-21, 1993. U.S. Department of Agriculture: Forest Service--Intermountain Research Station. Ogden, UT. General Technical Report INT-GTR-315
Authors began a series of long-term studies of blackbrush biology, establishing study sites across a large portion of the shrub's range, in the 1991 to 1993 growing seasons. Blackbrush reproduction and recruitment was examined through studies of factors influencing flowering and fruit set, seed germination, and seedling emergence, survival and growth rates. Other studies looked at population size and structure, and community relationships. Seeds were collected from 30 locations from southeastern Nevada to eastern Utah. Fifteen long-term sites were used for studies of flowering, fruiting and community structure. Seedling caches were examined at four locations (two each in the Mojave Desert and on the Colorado Plateau), and two of the locations were used for seedling emergence and survival studies. Pollination biology was examined at three sites. Results show that blackbrush flowering is induced by moderate to heavy winter precipitation; the flowers are wind-pollinated and plants do not self-pollinate; blackbrush is a mast fruiting species with size of fruit crop a function of available stored resources, not just precipitation history; seed dormancy seems to be reduced by summer and fall rains and completely ended by winter chilling; blackbrush has evolved ecotypes, at least for germination and establishment ecology, determined by a seedling experiment at Arches National Park and a site at Hurricane, Utah; many seeds sprout from rodent caches; seedlings are more likely to survive outside of a mature blackbrush stand, indicating that mature stands limit available resources; and blackbrush rarely reestablishes after fire.
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Pendleton, Burton; Meyer, Susan; Pendleton, Rosemary
- Units
- ARCH , CANY , DEVA
- Keywords
- Absence (Biodiversity), Abundance (Biodiversity), biology, Coleogyne ramosissima (blackbrush ), Distribution (Biodiversity), Exotic Species, Fire Ecology, Germination, IAR, Land, Plant Ecology, Plant Studies, Population Dynamics, Presence (Biodiversity), Reproduction, Resources Management, Restoration, shrub, Taxa Links To Datasets, Taxa Links To References