Title | Vegetational changes on a semidesert range from 1858 to 1963 |
Publication Type | Thesis |
Year of Publication | 1964 |
Authors | Buffington L.C. |
Number of Pages | 93 |
Date Published | 1964 |
University | New Mexico State University |
City | Las Cruces, New Mexico |
Thesis Type | M.S. Thesispp |
Call Number | 00026 |
Keywords | creosotebush, SEE <LARREA>, dissertation, dissertations, Flourensia,encroachment, grassland, shrub encroachment, history,vegetation changes, Larrea,encroachment, mesquite, SEE <PROSOPIS>, Prosopis,encroachment, shrub, encroachment, succession, tarbush,SEE <FLOURENSIA>, theses, thesis, vegetation,shrub encroachment |
Abstract | The purpose of this study was to show the degree of encroachment of brush and also to study the nature of the invasion on the various soil types. Vegetation surveys of 1858, 1915, 1928, and 1963, formed the basis for comparisons. Factors possibly responsible for changes in vegetation were examined. The study was conducted on 144,475 acres of the Jornada Experimental Range, located 23 miles northeast of Las Cruces, New Mexico....Climatic change was not considered a major factor in brush invasion; however, periodic drought had some effect on brush invasion. Selective grazing by livestock also aided in the establishment of brush. Livestock are important in the dispersion of mesquite seeds. Early-day fires were not considered to be a factor in the maintenance of brush-free range, since no fires were reported by early travelers on the Jornada plain. |