Weiss examined the role of livestock in maintaining nutrient-poor serpentine soil grasslands in California as suitable habitat for the threatened bay checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas cditya baycnsis). After 5 years of exclusion, reintroduction of moderate grazing successfully reduced invasion by annual grasses. Grass cover was reduced from 75% to 45% over 3 years of grazing, increasing the density of plantain (Plantago spp.) and other butterfly host forbs. While some serpentine grasslands remain intact, in areas of high atmospheric nitrogen deposition, moderate grazing appears to reduce invasion of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) and oatgrass (Avena spp.) species.
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