Importance of belowground herbivory: pocket gophers may limit aspen to rock outcrop refugia

We hypothesized that pocket gophers, Thomomys bottae, represent keystone herbivores in slowing down or preventing aspen, Populus tremuloides, invasion of mountain meadows in northern Arizona. Observations at the edge of three aspen clones bordering meadows showed that where pocket gopher disturbance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology (Durham) 1989-08, Vol.70 (4), p.962-970
Main Authors: Cantor, Lisa F., Whitham, Thomas G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
agentes nocivos
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
arizona
Biological and medical sciences
Demecology
Ecology
facteur nuisible
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
geomyide
gophers
Growing seasons
Herbivores
injurious factors
Meadows
mortalidad
mortalite
Mortality
Outcrops
Plant roots
Plants
Plants and fungi
Populus tremuloides
racine
raices
Refuge habitats
roca
roche
rock
Rodents
roots
Soil depth
supervivencia
survie
survival
taltuza
Thomomys bottae
Tree growth
Trees
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Summary:We hypothesized that pocket gophers, Thomomys bottae, represent keystone herbivores in slowing down or preventing aspen, Populus tremuloides, invasion of mountain meadows in northern Arizona. Observations at the edge of three aspen clones bordering meadows showed that where pocket gopher disturbance was relatively low (0.70 mounds/m^2) aspen mortality was
ISSN:0012-9658
1939-9170
DOI:10.2307/1941363