Project Number: 5428-21000-006-08
Project Type: Specific C/A

Start Date: Sep 30, 2004
End Date: Oct 31, 2006

Objective:
ARS is identifying appropriate plant materials and contributing seeds for the six trials. These plant material are used to implement the restoration treatments. The Univ. of California (Div. of Agriculture and Natural Resources) is digging soil pits, sampling and characterizing soils, conducting soil laboratory analysis, and summarizing and statistically analyzing data. The objectives are (1) to monitor quantity changes in soil organic matter fractions known to respond quickly to changes in soil carbon processes; and 92) to quantify restoration treatment effects on free light fraction and intra-aggregate (protected) particulate organic matter on cheatgrass-invaded rangelands at six sites in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.

Approach:
Plant species vary in both the quality of surface and rhizosphere materials they contribute to the soil and in the degree of aggregation they develop. This procedure will help to identify restoration species and strategies that most effectively begin the soil-building process. Carbon and nitrogen pools in light and heavy (aggregate) soil fractions will be analyzed by combustion/gas chromatography. The results will be used to address differences in carbon and nitrogen stabilization in different soil organic matter fractions. The research is composed of three parts: (1) a comparison of soil profiles of cheatgrass-dominated and nearby native shrub-steppe vegetation at the six sites; (2) impact of restoration treatment on soil organic matter change at a single site; and (3) impact of perennial species establishment on soil organic matter change.

Project Team

Jones, Thomas Jay Norton - Cooperative Extension 435-797-3082

Related National Programs

Rangeland, Pasture, and Forages (205)   Plant, Microbial & Insect Genetic Res., Genomics, & Genetic Improv. I (301)