Effects of Short-Term Cattle Exclusion on Plant Community Composition: Prairie Dog and Ecological Site Influences

Aaron Field, Kevin Sedivec, John Hendrickson, Patricia Johnson, Benjamin Geaumont, Lan Xu, Roger Gates, Ryan Limb

Abstract


• Maintaining cattle and prairie dogs on rangelands is important ecologically, economically, and culturally. However, competition between these species, both actual and perceived, has led to conflict.
• We explored the effects of short-term (2-year) cattle exclusion on plant communities both on and off prairie dog towns and among three common ecological sites.
• Plant communities were different between on-town and off-town plots and among ecological sites but were similar between cattle-excluded and nonexcluded plots.
• Plant community composition did not differ between rangeland targeted for moderate forage utilization and that in which cattle had been excluded for 2 years.

Keywords: prairie dogs, cattle, grazing, plant communities,
ecological sites.


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