Authors
Danelle M Larson, Bartosz P Grudzinski, Walter K Dodds, Melinda D Daniels, Adam Skibbe, Anthony Joern
Publication date
2013/9
Journal
Freshwater Science
Volume
32
Issue
3
Pages
779-791
Publisher
The University of Chicago Press
Description
Fire and grazers (such as Bison bison) were historically among the most important agents for maintaining and managing tallgrass prairie, but we know little about their influences on water-quality dynamics in streams. We analyzed 2 y of data on total suspended solids (TSS), total N (TN), and total P (TP) (3 samples per week per stream during flow) in 3 prairie streams with fire and bison grazing treatments at Konza Prairie Biological Station, Kansas (USA), to assess whether fire and bison increase the concentrations of these water-quality variables. We quantified the spatial and temporal locations of bison (∼0.21 animal units/ha) with Global Positioning System collars and documented bison trails, paw patches, wallows, and naturally exposed sediment patches within riparian buffers. Three weeks post-fire, TN and TP decreased (t-test, p < 0.001), but TSS did not change. Bison spent <6% of their time within 10 m of the …
Total citations
20132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202415443732152
Scholar articles