Billbrough and Richards measured the response of grazing-intolerant Artemisia plants and grazing-tolerant Purshia plants to 3 levels of simulated browsing. Increased use of Artemisia plants resulted in decreased biomass, number of nodes, and number of flowering twigs, while biomass, nodes, and flower production of Purshia plants were not affected or occasionally increased by browsing. The ability of Purshia plants to reallocate stored resources to recover from grazing makes this plant more grazing tolerant, however, it also makes this plant more susceptible to environmental perturbations than Artemisia, as confirmed by the response of Purshia plants to drought in previous studies.
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