The Recovery of Microbiotic Crusts Following Post-Fire Rehabilitation on Rangelands of the Western Snake River Plain
Publication Date
11-1997
Type of Culminating Activity
Thesis
Degree Title
Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies, Plant Ecology and Soil Science
Department Filter
Interdisciplinary Studies
Department
Interdisciplinary Studies
Supervisory Committee Chair
Maria C. Wicklow-Howard
Supervisory Committee Member
Robert C. Rychert
Supervisory Committee Member
Mark A. Seyfried
Abstract
Microbiotic crusts occur as a thin layer of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), lichens, microfungi, algae, and cyanobacteria in arid and semiarid plant communities world-wide (St. Clair & Johansen 1993). In Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis Beetle & Young)/bunchgrass associations on the western Snake River Plain in southwestern Idaho, this biotic layer occupies the interspaces between shrubs and bunchgrasses, essentially forming a diminutive community within the confines of the vascular plant complex. In many cases, the microbiotic crust creates a rough, undulating or pedicelled microtopography, contributing to the complexity of the "microcommunity" (Harper & Marble 1988) via creation of numerous microhabitats.
Recommended Citation
Kaltenecker, Julienne Hilty, "The Recovery of Microbiotic Crusts Following Post-Fire Rehabilitation on Rangelands of the Western Snake River Plain" (1997). Boise State University Theses and Dissertations. 1072.
https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/td/1072
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