Change in the vegetation mosaic of central Arizona USA between 1940 and 1989

The landscape of central Arizona U.S.A. is characterized by a patchy distribution of three major vegetation types: chaparral, woodland and grassland. Disturbance is common in the landscape, primarily livestock grazing, fire and conversion (i.e., removal of woody plants to increase forage for livesto...

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Published inPlant ecology Vol. 144; no. 1; pp. 83 - 91
Main Authors Huebner, C.D, Vankat, J.L, Renwick, W.H
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Kluwer Publishers 01.09.1999
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Aerial photography
Chaparral
disturbed soils
fires
Forest ecology
Forest service
Grasses
Grasslands
grazing
history
land clearance
Land use
Landscape ecology
Landscapes
Livestock
Plant ecology
prediction
spatial distribution
USA, Arizona
Vegetation
Woodland grasslands
Woodlands
Woody plants
Arizona
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Summary:The landscape of central Arizona U.S.A. is characterized by a patchy distribution of three major vegetation types: chaparral, woodland and grassland. Disturbance is common in the landscape, primarily livestock grazing, fire and conversion (i.e., removal of woody plants to increase forage for livestock). The purposes of this research were to determine chances in the landscape mosaic of central Arizona between 1940 and 1989 and to predict future changes. Using aerial photographs from 1940, 1968 and 1989 and digital overlays followed by transition matrix analysis, we found that chaparral and its adjacent grassland had changed less than woodland and its grassland. However, both had nearly equal projected stabilization times. Moreover, disturbance increased time for stabilization and some results were scale-dependent.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:1385-0237
1573-5052
DOI:10.1023/A:1009892126986