Ecology and Management of Sand Shinnery Communities: a Literature Review
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United States Department of Agriculture Ecology and Management of Forest Service Rocky Mountain Sand Shinnery Communities: Research Station Fort Collins, Colorado 80526 A Literature Review General Technical Report RMRS–GTR–16 Roger S. Peterson and Chad S. Boyd D2 D2 H Abstract Peterson, Roger and Chad S. Boyd. Ecology and management of sand shinnery communities: a literature review. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-16. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 44 p. Sand shinnery is codominated by oak shrubs and mid and tallgrasses; the grasses are usually taller than the oaks. The shrubs are the small, visible shoots of massive underground stem systems, which are hundreds or thousands of years old. Sand shinnery occupies 5 to 7 M acres in western Oklahoma, western Texas, and southeastern New Mexico. This area is a decrease from the original due to land clearing for agriculture and eradication of oak to improve livestock-grazing. Oak control is controversial because it can open sandy soils to wind erosion and can conflict with wildlife-habitat quality. Of special concern are the lesser prairie-chicken and the sand dune lizard, which are heavily dependent on shinnery vegetation. This review of climate, soils, vegetation, ecosystem dynamics (including responses to drought and fire), wildlife and hunting, livestock grazing, and oak control in the sand shinnery provides managers with a knowledge-base for decision-making and points to areas where research is needed. Keywords: sand shinnery, Quercus havardii, drought, fire, livestock grazing, brush control, wildlife, lesser prairie-chicken, sand dune lizard The Authors Roger Peterson is a retired ecologist who worked for the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. Chad Boyd is a doctoral candidate in range ecology at Oklahoma State University. Publisher Rocky Mountain Research Station Fort Collins, Colorado August 1998 You may order additional copies of this publication by sending your mailing information in label form through one of the following media. Please send the publication title and number. Telephone (970) 498-1719 E-mail rschneider/[email protected] FAX (970) 498-1660 Mailing Address Publications Distribution Rocky Mountain Research Station 3825 E. Mulberry Street Fort Collins, CO 80524-8597 Ecology and Management of Sand Shinnery Communities: A Literature Review Roger S. Peterson and Chad S. Boyd Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Ecology ........................................................................................................... 1 Historical Accounts ..................................................................................... 1 Geographical Distribution ........................................................................... 1 Plant Composition....................................................................................... 2 Ecological Classification ............................................................................. 3 Shin-oak and Its Hybrids ............................................................................ 4 Soils ............................................................................................................ 6 Climate ........................................................................................................ 8 Phenology ................................................................................................... 8 Autoecology of Shin-oak............................................................................. 9 Vegetation Dynamics and Water Relations ................................................ 10 Organic Matter and Decomposition ............................................................ 12 Nutrient Cycling .......................................................................................... 13 Drought ....................................................................................................... 14 Fire .............................................................................................................. 14 Wildlife Species .......................................................................................... 15 Mule Deer ............................................................................................... 15 White-tailed Deer .................................................................................... 15 Pronghorn Antelope ............................................................................... 15 Peccary (Javelina) .................................................................................. 15 Barbary Sheep ....................................................................................... 16 Lagomorphs ........................................................................................... 16 Rodents .................................................................................................. 16 Insectivores ............................................................................................ 17 Contents (Cont’d.) Lesser prairie-chicken ............................................................................ 17 Quail ....................................................................................................... 19 Turkey .................................................................................................... 19 Mourning Doves ..................................................................................... 19 Perching Birds ........................................................................................ 20 Predators (Mammals and Birds) ............................................................ 20 Reptiles .................................................................................................. 20 Invertebrates .......................................................................................... 21 Management ................................................................................................... 22 Hunting ....................................................................................................... 22 Livestock Grazing ....................................................................................... 23 Management of Shin-oak ........................................................................... 26 Mechanical Means ................................................................................. 26 Fire ......................................................................................................... 26 Herbivory ................................................................................................ 27 Herbicides .............................................................................................. 27 Conclusions .................................................................................................... 30 Literature Cited ............................................................................................... 30 Appendix ......................................................................................................... 39 Acknowledgments Two longtime shinnery researchers helpfully shared their knowledge: E. P. McIlvain, retired supervisor of research, Southern Great Plains Field Station, Agricultural Research Service (Woodward, OK), and R. D. Pettit, retired professor of range management, Texas Tech University (Lubbock). James Zimmerman, research ento- mologist retired from The Smithsonian Institution provided information on shin-oak gall insects. W. A. Dick-Peddie, professor of biology at New Mexico State University, provided information on historical surveys of shinnery distribution. Calvin Smith, director of the Strecker Museum, Baylor University (Waco, TX) gave information on the New Mexico shinnery and provided figures 6 and 13. The New Mexico Depart- ment of Game and Fish provided figures 11 and 14. D. A. Swepston, district leader of the Wildlife Division, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (Canyon, TX), provided information on mammals and hunting in Texas. Gesina (Niki) Threlkeld kindly created the drawings. The authors are also grateful to T. G. Bidwell (Oklahoma State University) and D. G. Brockway (Rocky Mountain Research Station) for review comments that improved the manuscript, and to Dale Brockway and Deborah Finch (Rocky Mountain Research Station) for facilitating publication of the review. seldom thicker than oat-straws, and frequently not a foot high. We also met with the same in Introduction many other places on the Prairies. In 1845, Lt. J. W. Abert (1846) recorded along the Sand shinnery communities comprise the nation’s larg- Washita that “...the uplands were thickly spread over by est stand of oak and occupy 5 to 7 M acres of the southern diminutive species of oak commonly called shin-oak, not Great Plains, extending from northern Texas and western exceeding 2 ft in height. We occasionally saw clumps of Oklahoma southward into Chihuahuan Desert scrubland. oak of greater size.” In 1854, R. B. Marcy described a The stand is made up of ancient plants, most of them landscape encountered in present-day Beckham County, hundreds or thousands of years old. Oklahoma: This oak forest is only 1 to 4 ft tall. The visible shrubs are ...the country we traversed was exceedingly mostly the short-lived twigs of massive underground monotonous and uninteresting being a con- stem systems, which slowly spread under