Soil seed banks associated with individual broom snakeweed plants

TitleSoil seed banks associated with individual broom snakeweed plants
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1987
AuthorsOsman A, Pieper, Rex D., McDaniel K.C
JournalJournal of Range Management
Volume40
Pagination441-443
Date Published1987
Call Number00244
Keywordsarticle, articles, Gutierrezia, effects on forbs and grasses, Gutierrezia,seed bank associations, Gutierrezia,vegetational zonation, journal, journals, seed bank,Gutierrezia association, soil, Gutierrezia, soil, seed banks, vegetational zonation,Gutierrezia
AbstractThe influence of individual broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae [Push] Britt. & Rushby) plants on the distribution of buried viable seed and the distribution of plants in the field was studied in a desert grassland in southern New Mexico. Surface soil samples collected at 3 distances from a central broom snakeweed plant were watered in pots in a greenhouse and numbers of each specie emerging were counted. Densities of each species were also determined in the field. Some species (Sporobolus flexuosus [Thrub.] Rybd., S. contractus Hitche., Descurainia pinnata [Walt.] Britton, and Dithyre wislizenii Engelm.) emerged in greatest numbers from soil collected in the zones closest and at the greatest distances from the broom snakeweed. Emergence of other species declined in relation to distance from the central snakeweed plant. In the field, grasses generally increased in relation to distance from the central broom snakeweed plant while the pattern for forbs was not consistent.