Plant tissue nitrogen: Effects of Deer and Pocket Gophers on Vegetation and Soils

The goal of this experiment is to determine the effects of pocket gophers and deer on succesesional changes and the development of heterogeneity in soils and vegetation in an old-field. This is a long-term experiment and will be sampled through the year 2000.

Major herbivores are excluded from fifteen 12m x 12m plots in a newly abandoned old field. Main treatments include gopher removals, all large vertebrate removals, and controls. Smaller (3m x 12m) grasshopper removals are nested within main treatments. Gopher disturbance will be quantified throughout the summer season. Soils ( including N mineralization) and vegetation will be sampled regularly on 100-point grids within each plot. For a list of treatments, see the treatment layouts in file Link==>e064/treatment trmte64.