Summer habitat relationships and foraging ecology of the Delta bison herd

• Main Author: Berger, Maria
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 1996
• Subjects: American bison; Ecology; Delta Junction; Alaska; Bison bison bison; Plains Bison
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11122/14655

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1996 Investigations of habitat use, diet composition and diet selection of introduced plains bison (Bison bison bison) in interior Alaska in summer were conducted during 1989 through 1991. Bison used early- and mid-successional plant communities on the floodplain of the Delta River and wetlands above the floodplain. Grasses predominated in summer diets of bison, but substantial amounts of willow (Saiix) were included. Other shrubs were used much less than available, as were sedges. The role of sedges in bison diets may be changing as bison increasingly have exploited sedge-dominated wetland habitats. Experimental studies of the effects of bison grazing on forage productivity, forage quality and plant species composition were conducted in the mid-successional graminoid meadow, the traditional summer range of Delta bison. Bison grazing had no effect on productivity but did increase nitrogen concentration of graminoids. Changes in plant species composition occurred in response to protection from grazing for 9 years.