Barbwire Russian thistle dominated a degraded plant community in the Carson Desert of northwestern Nevada and completely excluded Russian thistle in the course of the study. In seeding trials barbwire Russian thistle became established at low levels under arid conditions of the desert while Russian thistle failed to become established. Under semiarid conditions, seedling establishment of Russian thistle was five time greater than that of barbwire Russian thistle. Adaptations of barbwire Russian thistle that apparently favor seedling establishment under arid desert environments include earlier maturation and seed dispersal, seed dispersal beneath the parent plant, and less specific afterripening requirements than Russian thistle. These adaptations would permit germination and seedling establishment in the relatively wet periods of late winter and early spring in this arid ecosystem. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020
Scholarly peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol. 1, 1948 up to 5 years from the current year. Formerly Journal of Range Management (JRM). More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.