Soil climate and plant community relationships on some rangelands of northeastern Nevada
Jensen, M.E.
Soil temp. and moisture data were collected in 1983-86 on one forest and eleven sagebrush-dominated rangeland plant community types of the Humboldt National Forest in NE Nevada. Six soil parameters were used to contrast differences between the community types studied: mean annual soil temp., mean summer soil temp., starting date (when soil temperature at 0.5 m depth exceeded 5°C), growing period (number of days when soil temp. and moisture were not limiting to growth), soil degree days (number of days that soil temp. at 0.5 m depth exceeded 5° C), and growing period percentage (i.e., growing period/soil degree days). These soil parameters were effective in discriminating between most plant community types, yet their effectiveness varied considerably among types. Certain community types (e.g. Artemisia tridentata subsp. vaseyana - Agropyron spicatum) occupied a wide range in soil temp. and moisture, which limited their indicator significance for predicting soil climate. Short growing periods of 25-150 d characterized the rangeland plant community types studied. The onset of the growing period (starting date) occurred between 6 March and 1 July. Such information facilitated the determination of rangeland readiness by plant community type in the study area.
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