Thickets of California sagebrush support large populations of small mammals which eliminate grassland vegetation from the vicinity of the shrubs. The effect of the shrubs is density dependent, with greatest effect at more than 50% canopy coverage and virtually no effect at 25% cover and less. The amount of grassland exclusion diminishes rapidly with distance from the shrub stands, but extends beyond the well-defined border zone as rabbit trails. Although scattered shrubs do not exclude grassland vegetation, they apparently protect the grass under their canopies from grazing by cattle. The extent of the bare areas fluctuates greatly over periods of years. The areas denuded by small mammals are populated by diminutive species which do not live in the unbroken grassland, and show a greater species diversity than unbroken grassland. 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.