Scholarship & Research
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Item Interrelationships of precipitation, soil moisture and spring wheat production in northern Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1954) Aasheim, Torlief S.Item Agricultural implications of weather control(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1954) Pavelis, George A.Item Analysis and prediction of streamflow and precipitation data(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 1971) Cunningham, Alfred BenjaminItem The effect of unit weight and rainfall intensity on the erosion of unprotected slopes(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 1968) Rowlison, Dale LeroyItem The relationships among precipitation, range vegetation and range cattle production in the plains region of Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1973) Ballard, William GlenItem A rainfall simulator study of soil erodibility in the Gallatin National Forest, southwest Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1988) Schmid, Ginger LeeItem Frequency of peak flows predicted from rainfall frequencies(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 1968) Robinson, LeeItem Predicting dominant species on grasslands at the National Bison Range, Moiese, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2014) Garcia Neto, Narciso; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Clayton B. MarlowUnder ecologically sustainable conditions, a landscape should retain representative climax vegetation. Thus, a method to predict the climax species component of a functioning vegetation community is an important tool for restoration projects. Based on descriptions of the Palouse Prairie grassland the National Bison Range managers selected bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue, and rough fescue as target species for management and restoration objectives. An indicator called Relative Effective Annual Precipitation (REAP) was created by Montana Natural Conservation Service (NRCS) to express the amount of water available to the plants, at a specific location, taking into account precipitation, slope and aspect, and soil properties. Using Geographic Information System (GIS) and REAP as the predictor variable, a map to predict the occurrence of species within grassland communities was developed to guide restoration and management efforts on the USFWS National Bison Range. REAP values were calculated for sample sites from three earlier rangeland assessments and related to actual field measures of the target species. Classes of REAP intervals were defined to bracket the range in value for each species. Classes were also created for target groups (bluebunch and fescue) sorted by genus. REAP values for sites dominated by bluebunch wheatgrass were significantly different from values for sites dominated by Idaho fescue and rough fescue (P < 0.0001). However, there were no statistical differences between REAP values for Idaho fescue and rough fescue (P=0.989).The mean probability of the REAP model to accurately predict the occurrence individual target species was 0.55 and for the target group was 0.64. NBR and should be dominated by grasses, but there were patches of conifer forest. The values of REAP related to the forest patches were compared against REAP values for grassland areas to learn if the model could differentiate between the two major cover classes. The REAP values for the forest patches were higher than values predicted for grasslands (P=0.0026). So, prediction of areas dominated by grasslands was different from forest sites. However, the discrimination between Idaho and rough fescue was not successful.Item Evaluation of native grass sod for stabilization of steep slopes(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2004) Stone, Kenley Michelle; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Douglas J. Dollhopf.The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the ability of native grass sod to establish on several different steep slope environments. Specific objectives were to (i) measure plant growth characteristics on slopes with native grass sod treatments compared to other plant establishment methods, (ii) compare runoff, sediment yield, and infiltration rates on slopes with native grass sod to other plant establishment methods for a peak 10 year 24 hour storm event, (iii) model sediment yield on native grass sodded slopes compared to other plant establishment methods using RUSLE version 2.0, and (iv) evaluate the economic cost of using native sod compared to other plant establishment methods. The sites selected were a highway fill site with a 40 % slope, a ski slope with a 35 % slope, and abandoned mine waste with a 70 % slope. Treatments included native grass sod, redtop sod, broadcast seed, broadcast seed with a straw blanket installed in 2003 and 2001, and broadcast seed with hydromulch. During the 2003 growing season, mean perennial grass production of native grass sod was significantly greater (14 to 190 fold) than the other treatments on all three sites. Mean basal and canopy cover were significantly greater for native grass sod than the other treatments during both the 2003 and 2004 growing seasons on all three sites. In 2004, mean perennial grass production of native grass sod was significantly greater (7 fold) than the other treatments on the highway fill site. On the mine waste site in 2004, mean perennial grass production of native grass sod was significantly greater (6 fold) than the broadcast seed with the straw blanket installed in 2003. When a peak 10 year 24 hour precipitation event was applied on the highway fill site, native grass sod and the broadcast seed with the straw blanket treatments had significantly less runoff and sediment loss than the broadcast seed with hydromulch treatment. RUSLE2 estimated sediment loss for native sod (4929 kg/ha/yr) to be four to five times less than the other treatments. A cost analysis indicated that native sod would cost two to eight times more than the other treatments. However, native sod provided complete and immediate erosion control where the other treatments could not.