Modification of Plant Communities by Bison in Riding Mountain National Park
Plains bison (Bison bison bison) are suspected to have played an important role in maintaining and structuring the plant communities throughout the Aspen Parkland. We examine the effects of a fenced bison herd on grassland plant communities in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, Canada. We focu...
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Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval
2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2020.1850622 |
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ftbioone:10.1080/11956860.2020.1850622 2024-06-02T08:15:58+00:00 Modification of Plant Communities by Bison in Riding Mountain National Park Peter Tarleton Eric G. Lamb Peter Tarleton Eric G. Lamb world 2021-03-25 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2020.1850622 en eng Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval doi:10.1080/11956860.2020.1850622 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2020.1850622 Text 2021 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2020.1850622 2024-05-07T00:51:19Z Plains bison (Bison bison bison) are suspected to have played an important role in maintaining and structuring the plant communities throughout the Aspen Parkland. We examine the effects of a fenced bison herd on grassland plant communities in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, Canada. We focus on the relationship between bison and woody plant encroachment along the forest-grassland ecotone, and on the effects that short- and long-term occupation by bison have on Festuca hallii grassland communities including the effects of bison reintroduction to a grassland area ungrazed by bison for 165 years. We found limited impacts of bison on the shrub community at the forest grassland edge. Bison rarely entered areas with dense, tall shrub understories, and thus bison cannot be a major factor controlling the ecotone. Shrub stem mortality due to fire may be a necessary precursor to bison effectively mitigating woody encroachment in the Aspen Parkland. We found limited short-term impacts of bison on grassland communities, with reduced sward heights but no change in composition. The long-term (>80 year) presence of bison was associated with greater species richness, reduced litter accumulation, and a distinct plant community composition compared to areas without bison impacts. Text Bison bison bison Plains Bison BioOne Online Journals Canada Parkland ENVELOPE(-120.570,-120.570,55.917,55.917) Écoscience 28 1 67 80 |
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BioOne Online Journals |
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ftbioone |
language |
English |
description |
Plains bison (Bison bison bison) are suspected to have played an important role in maintaining and structuring the plant communities throughout the Aspen Parkland. We examine the effects of a fenced bison herd on grassland plant communities in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, Canada. We focus on the relationship between bison and woody plant encroachment along the forest-grassland ecotone, and on the effects that short- and long-term occupation by bison have on Festuca hallii grassland communities including the effects of bison reintroduction to a grassland area ungrazed by bison for 165 years. We found limited impacts of bison on the shrub community at the forest grassland edge. Bison rarely entered areas with dense, tall shrub understories, and thus bison cannot be a major factor controlling the ecotone. Shrub stem mortality due to fire may be a necessary precursor to bison effectively mitigating woody encroachment in the Aspen Parkland. We found limited short-term impacts of bison on grassland communities, with reduced sward heights but no change in composition. The long-term (>80 year) presence of bison was associated with greater species richness, reduced litter accumulation, and a distinct plant community composition compared to areas without bison impacts. |
author2 |
Peter Tarleton Eric G. Lamb |
format |
Text |
author |
Peter Tarleton Eric G. Lamb |
spellingShingle |
Peter Tarleton Eric G. Lamb Modification of Plant Communities by Bison in Riding Mountain National Park |
author_facet |
Peter Tarleton Eric G. Lamb |
author_sort |
Peter Tarleton |
title |
Modification of Plant Communities by Bison in Riding Mountain National Park |
title_short |
Modification of Plant Communities by Bison in Riding Mountain National Park |
title_full |
Modification of Plant Communities by Bison in Riding Mountain National Park |
title_fullStr |
Modification of Plant Communities by Bison in Riding Mountain National Park |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modification of Plant Communities by Bison in Riding Mountain National Park |
title_sort |
modification of plant communities by bison in riding mountain national park |
publisher |
Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2020.1850622 |
op_coverage |
world |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-120.570,-120.570,55.917,55.917) |
geographic |
Canada Parkland |
geographic_facet |
Canada Parkland |
genre |
Bison bison bison Plains Bison |
genre_facet |
Bison bison bison Plains Bison |
op_source |
https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2020.1850622 |
op_relation |
doi:10.1080/11956860.2020.1850622 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2020.1850622 |
container_title |
Écoscience |
container_volume |
28 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
67 |
op_container_end_page |
80 |
_version_ |
1800740300235210752 |