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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Reno, Nevada » Great Basin Rangelands Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #385889

Research Project: Management and Restoration of Rangeland Ecosystems

Location: Great Basin Rangelands Research

Title: Changes in meadow phenology in response to grazing management at multiple scales of measurement

Author
item RICHARDSON, WILLIAM - University Of Nevada
item STRINGHAM, TAMZEN - University Of Nevada
item LIEURANCE, WADE - University Of Nevada
item Snyder, Keirith

Submitted to: Remote Sensing
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/3/2021
Publication Date: 10/9/2021
Citation: Richardson, W., Stringham, T., Lieurance, W., Snyder, K.A. 2021. Changes in meadow phenology in response to grazing management at multiple scales of measurement. Remote Sensing. 13(20). Article 4028. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13204028.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13204028

Interpretive Summary: This research is a replicated grazing experiment that addresses how changes in grazing management of domestic livestock and feral horses affects plant community phenology. This research was designed to answer stakeholder questions in response to the Bureau of Land Management's Outcome-Based Grazing Program. In this manuscript, we examine the first two years of data to analyze significant patterns and determine new questions to address in the larger six-year study. Our objective is to determine appropriate management of groundwater dependent meadow systems for both livestock forage and wildlife habitat.

Technical Abstract: Riparian and ground-water dependent ecosystems found in the Great Basin of North America are heavily utilized by livestock and wildlife throughout the year. Due to this constant pressure, grazing can be a major influence on many groundwater dependent resources. It is important for land managers to understand how intensity and timing of grazing affect the temporal availability of these commodities (i.e., biodiversity, water filtration, forage, habitat). Shifts in forage or water availability could potentially be harmful for fauna that rely on them at specific times of the year. Seven meadow communities, each consisting of three distinct vegetative communities, were grazed at three intensities to determine the relationship between grazing management and phenological timing of vegetation. The agreement of on-the-ground measurements, near-surface digital cameras(phenocams), and satellite-based indices of greenness was examined for a two-year period (2019–2020)over these grazing and vegetative community gradients. Field determined phenology, phenocam Green Chromatic Coordinate (GCC), and Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)were all highly correlated and the relationship did not change across the treatments. Timing of growth varied in these ecosystems depending on yearly precipitation and vegetative type. Communities dominated by mesic sedges had growing seasons which stopped earlier in the year. Heavier grazing regimes, however, did not equate to significant changes in growing season. Ultimately, shifts in phenology occurred and were successfully monitored at various spatial and temporal scales.