Fahnestock and Detling measured the combined effects of selective grass grazing and irrigation in a water limited plant community and fertilization in a nutrient limited plant community on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. The results of the study suggest that plant regrowth after defoliation is limited by water availability in the low, arid regions while nutrient availability did not limit regrowth in the upland regions as was expected. Selective defoliation of graminoids in both the lower and upland regions of the horse range increased the nitrogen concentration of grasses while forb N concentrations remained the same. The authors concluded that the grass species on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range were able to naturally recover from grazing, under normal moisture levels without additional resource inputs, and that the available graminoid species actually increased in quantity and quality because of selective grazing pressure from the wild horses at this site.
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