Loeser et al. looked at the effects of removing cattle grazing on canopy cover, as it relates to pronghorn fawning habitat and forb abundance. The authors found no difference in the amount of cover or the abundance of forbs between grazed and ungrazed plots. They proposed three possibilities for their findings: 1) forbs increase in richness due to ground disturbances, 2) the grassland community may be relatively stable in response to this type of grazing, and 3) that livestock grazing, over the past century, has altered the grassland to what it is today and it may take more that 5 years to see a response.
Citations and enhanced abstracts for journals articles and documents focused on rangeland ecology and management. RSIS is a collaboration between Montana State University, University of Idaho, and University of Wyoming.