Vegetation response of a mesquite-mixed brush community to aeration

Abstract

Responses of plant communities to mechanical treatments such as aeration on semiarid rangelands are not clearly understood. Our objective was to compare woody and herbaceous plant cover, density, and diversity on aerated and nontreated rangelands. Five rangeland sites that were aerated with a double /tandem drum aerator during summer 1998 and 5 sites of nontreated rangeland were selected for study on the Chaparral Wildlife Management Area, La Salle County, Tex. Woody plant cover was estimated using the line -intercept method, and stem density was estimated in 30 x 1.5 m plots in 1999 and 2000. Forb and grass cover and density were estimated in 20 x 50 cm quadrats during spring and fall 1999. Woody and herbaceous plant diversity did not differ between treatments. On aerated sites percent woody plant cover was 4 -fold less 1 -year after aeration and increased 89% from the first to the second growing-season post treatment. Canopy cover of honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa