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- Title
Weather effects on herbaceous yields: Wyoming big sagebrush steppe, southeastern Oregon.
- Authors
BATES, JONATHAN D.; COPELAND, STELLA M.; HARDEGREE, STUART P.; MOFFET, COREY A.; DAVIES, KIRK W.
- Abstract
Describing relationships among weather variables and herbage yield is important for planning livestock grazing, assessing wildlife habitat, and evaluating short- and long-term vegetation dynamics. We investigated the effects of weather on herbage yields from 44 Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata subsp. wyomingensis Beetle & Young) steppe sites across eastern Oregon from 2003 to 2012. We used linear and multiple linear regression to relate herbaceous total and functional group yields to monthly and seasonal precipitation, reference evapotranspiration (RET), and temperature. Functional groups were large perennial bunchgrasses, Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda J. Presl.), perennial forbs, annual forbs, and annual grasses. Yields and weather variables were normalized prior to regression analysis to account for differences in site characteristics. Normalized variables were obtained by dividing yield and weather variables by their 10-year means. Fall-through-spring (e.g., October--May, September-May) and spring precipitation and RET all contributed to significant predictive models for both functional groups and total herbage. Spring precipitation provided the strongest predictor of perennial bunchgrasses (March-May and June; R² = 0.91), perennial forbs (May; R² = 0.79), annual grasses (March; R² = 0.79), and total herbage (March-May; R² = 0.83) yields. Yields of Sandberg bluegrass and annual forbs were most strongly associated with RET for October-May (R² = 0.86) and October--April (R² = 0.79), respectively. Overall, we found a greater influence of late-winter and spring precipitation than that of models developed several decades ago where crop-year (September-June) precipitation provided more accurate herbage biomass estimates.
- Subjects
WYOMING; OREGON; SAGEBRUSH; STEPPES; WEATHER; SPRING; VEGETATION dynamics
- Publication
Western North American Naturalist, 2024, Vol 84, Issue 1, p89
- ISSN
1527-0904
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3398/064.084.0108