Title	Plant community structure
Publication Type	Conference Proceedings
Year of Publication	1971
Authors	Risser P.G
Editor	French NR
Conference Name	Preliminary Analysis of Structure and Function in Grasslands: Proceedings of Symposium Entitled "The Grassland Biome: Analysis and synthesis of First Year Data"
Series Title	Range Science Department Science Series 10
Pagination	41-58
Date Published	September 1, 197
Publisher	Colorado State University
Conference Location	Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
Keywords	abstract, abstracts, biomass,grassland, conference, conference proceedings, conferences, grassland community, structure, proceeding, proceedings
Abstract	The 1970 field season data show that 65% of the aboveground plant biomass on the Grassland Biome study sites was composed of grasses and that the tribes Andropogoneae and Chlorideae and the family Compositeae contribute well over half the total live biomass. The Hays, Osage, Bison, and Bridger Network Sites have bunchgrasses as the dominant growth form, while Jornada, Pantex, and Pawnee have mostly sod grasses. Dickinson and Cottonwood have a substantial representation of both growth forms. If the Network Sites are ordinated by either floral or vegetational similarities, the resulting configurations are very similar and closely approximate a site ordination based on environmental variables. There appears to be a general increase in phenological diversity with an increase in the amount of live standing crop. The concepts of pattern, species diversity, and aerial cover were evaluated on only a few sites, so biome wide comparisons were not possible. Phenology was measured throughout the 1970 growing season, but the interpretation of these data has proved difficult. Certain elementary characteristics such as height of vegetation, and proportion of warm and cool season grasses, showed a consistent relationship across the network. However, one of the most interesting aspects of the grassland structural data is the fact that many characteristics do not show a uniform response, indicating the multitude of adaptive strategies employed within the grassland ecosystem.
Custom 1	Fort Collins, Colorado