Long-term patterns of wild and domestic ungulate effects on rangeland plant communities of the Colorado Plateau, Kyle Nehring USU
1. Long-term patterns of wild and domestic
ungulate effects on rangeland plant
communities of the Colorado Plateau
Kyle Nehring
PhD Student Utah State University
Advisor: Kari Veblen
21. Plant Community
Composition and
Structure Surveys
• Nested Plant Frequency
Frames
• Line Point Intercept
• Basal Gap
• Canopy Intercept
• Shrub Belt Transects
• Grass Belt Transects
22. Ungulate Use
Surveys
• Graze and Browse Damage
Assessments
• Pellet Counts
• Ungulate Diet Composition:
Laboratory microhistological
tests
• Wildlife Cameras:
Ungulate exclosure use and
possible habitat selection
23. Soil Surveys and
Other
• Cryptobiotic Soil Cover
and Composition
• Soil Pedon
Characterization and
Classification
• Historical Vegetation
Cover: Aerial Photographs
and BLM/USFS Survey Data
• Climate Data
25. Mean Big Sagebrush Counts in Big Sage Sites
o No large compositional changes
o Structural Differences:
• Smaller sage outside exclosures (recruitment or grazed shrubs?)
• Large shrubs inside total exclosure
32. Utah Department of Agriculture and Food:
Cap Ferry Grant
Utah Agriculture Experimental Station
USU Ecology Center: 2013-2014 Graduate
Student Research Support Award and
Conference Travel Award
USU Wildland Resource Department
Research Collaborators: Jane Zelikova,
Eugene Schupp, Colby Brungard, April Darger
Moab USGS: Mike Duniway and Jayne Belnap
The Veblen Lab
Canyonlands Research Center and
Supporting Partners
Field Technicians: Hope Braithwaite, Corey
Sample, Andrew Tredennick, Antra Boca
My Committee: Kari Veblen, Janis Boettinger,
and Juan Villalba