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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #212128
Title: Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) herbivory changes dominance in desertified Chihuahuan Desert ecosystems.

Author
item ROTH, G. - BAR-ILAN UNIV
item WHITFORD, W. - NMSU JORNADA EXPT. RANGE
item STEINBERGER, Y - BAR-ILAN UNIV

Submitted to: Journal of Arid Environments
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/29/2007
Publication Date: 3/23/2007
Citation: Roth, G.A., Whitford, W.G., Steinberger, Y. 2007. Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) herbivory changes dominance in desertified Chihuahuan Desert ecosystems. Journal of Arid Environments. 70:418-426.

Interpretive Summary: This study was conducted on landscape units with creosotebush as the dominant shrub mixed with tarbush as subdominant. These sites were compared with an area dominated by tarbush inessentially a monoculture on a run-on area with clay-loam soils.

Technical Abstract: This study addressed the question: can herbivory by a medium size herbivore, black-tail jackrabbits (Lepus californicus), change dominance in desertified ecosystems dominated by two species of shrubs. Shrubs that were pruned by jackrabbits in plant communities dominated by creosotebush (Larrea tridentate) and tarbush (Flourensia cernua) were compared to shrubs not browsed by the rabbits. In the missed shrub area, herbivory on F. cernua resulted in death of 46.6% of the shrubs, compared to only 4.8% of L. tridentate shrubs. There was no evidence of jackrabbit browsing of dead F. cernua in a tarbush monoculture area. The canopy volumes of F. cernua plants that survived repeated browsing were significantly smaller than predicted based on unbrowsed plants with the same basal stem areas. Jackrabbit browsing resulted in increased canopy volume of creosotebush shrubs. Creosotebush average canopy volume significantly exceeded predicted values because of compensatory growth of stems from nodes below the severed point. Close spatial association of lightly browsed creosotebush with heavily browsed tarbush may be a factor contributing to low utilization of creosotebush stems by jackrabbits. Differential browsing by the rabbits is shifting thee ecosystems toward an L. tridentate monoculture.