Forage growth and nutrient cycle of aspen forest communities in Alberta's lower foothills subregion

Willoughby, Michael; Lane, Cam T.; Alberta.,

doi:10.5962/bhl.title.113896

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…As heavy grazing continued and became severe, they found that native plant species declined in cover and were replaced by Kentucky bluegrass, dandelion and clover species, to form the Aspen/Kentucky bluegrass/Clover community t)q)e. The species composition changes caused by increased grazing pressure severely affects the plant community's ability to create primary production. Willoughby and Lane (2004) found that forage growth and production was 25-40% lower in the Aspen/Rose/Clover community compared to the Aspen/Rose/Tall forb community and in this study there was over a 54% drop in forage production between the Aspen/Rose-Low bush cranberry/Tall forb and Aspen/Rose/Clover community t}q)es. Maintaining these aspen dominated communities at higher ecological status scores maintains plant species diversity and forage production creating a stable community that will sustain livestock, wildlife and timber production.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 44%

Long-term monitoring of rangeland health in the lower foothills region of Alberta /

Willoughby¹,

Alberta.²

2005

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The Rangeland Reference Area program administered by the Public Lands and Forests Division was established to assess range health and monitor trend on rangelands throughout the province of Alberta. Over 1 83 fenced and unfenced reference areas have been established throughout the province. These reference areas include permanently marked grazed and ungrazed transects. Species composition data has been recorded on these transects since 1953 when many of the sites were established. Recently, the Alberta Rangeland Health Protocol was developed as a means for assessing the health of Alberta's rangelands (Alberta Rangeland Health Task Group 1999). Rangeland health assessments are utilized to make a rapid determination of the ecological status of rangeland. Unfortunately, there was not enough historical data from the reference areas to do a detailed rangeland health assessment for each year within a site. Therefore only the ecological integrity and status score of the rangeland health form was used to rate the health of each year within a reference site. The community type within a reference area was assigned an integrity and ecological health status score of 18, 12, 6 or 0 to each year within the group. The historic integrity and ecological status scores determined were then compared to recent rangeland health assessments where all the rangeland health ecological functions were assessed and these trends were plotted for each reference area. Over 75% of the sites that represent the low-bush cranberry ecological site in the Lower Foothills subregion exhibit stable or improving trends in rangeland health.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 44%

Long-term monitoring of rangeland health in the lower foothills region of Alberta /

Willoughby¹,

Alberta.²

2005

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“…Crude protein content is an important variable for evaluating forage quality. Other studies have reported a >8% crude protein content (Table 1) during the growing season, as in this study, in common forage species such as Calamagrostis canadensis, Leymus innovatus (hairy wild rye), and Chamerion angustifolium, with subsequently lower values during the non-growing season ($5% content - Johnston and Bezeau, 1961;Corns and Schraa, 1962;Prescott et al, 1989;Larter and Gates, 1991;Willoughby and Lane, 2004). The ability of bison to digest high fiber, low crude protein forage (Peden et al, 1974;Hawley, 1987) may help to compensate for the poor quality of nongrowing season forage.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Suitability of boreal mixedwood clearcuts as wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) foraging habitat in north-central Alberta, Canada

Redburn

Strong

Gates

2008

Forest Ecology and Management

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Range Constraints for Introduced Elk in Southwest Yukon, Canada

Strong¹,

Chambers²,

Jung³

2013

ARCTIC

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Forage availability, snow depths, and winter temperatures were assessed to determine if they might impose range constraints on introduced elk (Cervus elaphus) that voluntarily colonized a 95 km 2 area of southwest Yukon (Canada) in 1959. Parkland-like vegetation of stunted aspen (Populus tremuloides) and nonforest upland plant communities, which is atypical vegetation for a boreal forest environment, composed 30% of the colonized area. About 95% of the area produced less than 300 kg/ha of forage, which represents poor productivity compared to more southern elk ranges. In the remaining 5%, indigenous graminoid communities produced (average ± SD) 408 ± 131 kg/ha of forage, exceeded only by nonindigenous roadside vegetation with 652 ± 115 kg/ha. Data from radio-collared animals indicated that most elk occurrences (38% year-round) were associated with parkland-like vegetation, and fecal pellet groups were six times as frequent in indigenous graminoid vegetation as in forest vegetation. Late February 2011 snow depths of 41 ± 7 cm, during a year with a belownormal snowfall, suggested a potential for reduced winter access to forage. Meteorological data from 1981-2010 indicate that one-third of winter daily minima in the study area were likely lower than −20˚C, a threshold below which the metabolism of an elk calf must increase to maintain its body temperature. Each assessed habitat variable was unfavorable to elk compared with other western North American winter ranges, which may have limited the development of a more robust population in the southwestern Yukon.

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Forage growth and nutrient cycle of aspen forest communities in Alberta's lower foothills subregion

Cited by 3 publications

References 4 publications

Long-term monitoring of rangeland health in the lower foothills region of Alberta /

Long-term monitoring of rangeland health in the lower foothills region of Alberta /

Suitability of boreal mixedwood clearcuts as wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) foraging habitat in north-central Alberta, Canada

Range Constraints for Introduced Elk in Southwest Yukon, Canada

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