A closer look at when grasses need a drink: soils, precipitation, and desert grasses
Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory and Monitoring Program. 2017. A closer look at when grasses need a drink: soils, precipitation, and desert grasses. National Park Service
This brief summarizes a study that may help land managers to prioritize grassland conservation and restoration efforts. Ecologists at the Northern Colorado Plateau Network (NCPN) examined changes in grass cover (the area covered by plants in a series of sample plots) over time at sites in five NCPN parks. They related the plant-cover data to climate factors, such as temperature, precipitation, and measures of water that are important to plants: soil moisture, drought, and evapotranspiration - the amount of water leaving the soil, either directly (evaporation) or through plants (transpiration). They also looked at the timing of climate patterns and plant growth. One of the findings is that cool-season grasses showed more resilience to drought and unusual wetness than warm-season grasses. Warm-season grasses at steep, rocky sites that couldn’t store much water in their soils were most affected by drought.
- Type
- Brochure
- Authors
- Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory and Monitoring Program
- Date of Issue
- 2017-12
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- ARCH , CANY , CARE , CURE , DINO , NCPN
- Keywords
- climate, grasses, NCPN Climate Brief, NCPN Information Brief, NCPN resource brief, NCPN Uplands Brief, plant studies, vegetation