Floristic and soil factors on 60 sites in the shadscale and sagebrush zone in Hot Creek Valley, Nevada were sampled to derive one or more equations for estimating production on those sites. The factors were analyzed by an all possible correlation followed by stepwise regression with production as the dependent variable. Many of the factors correlated significantly with production, but widths of growth rings of shrubs accounted for most of the variation in production. Thus, ring widths of big sagebrush, bud sagebrush, shadscale, common winterfat, and spiny hopsage were used to derive regression equations to estimate forage production. Big sagebrush and shadscale ring widths varied exponentially with production, while a linear relationship expressed the regression of production on ring widths for the other shrubs. The linear regression probably represents only a portion of the complete curve. The methods of collection and analysis of shrub rings to derive production estimation equations could probably be extended to other areas within the Great Basin. 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.