USGS Open File Report 02-208

Ecological Evaluation of the Abundance and Effect of Elk Herbivory in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 1994-1999

 

Cover
Table of Contents
Introduction
Executive Summary

Part I - Empirical Findings

Chapter One: Dynamics of Interacting Elk Populations Within and Adjacent to Rocky Mountain National Park

Chapter Two: Long-Term Changes in Willow Distribution on the Winter Range of Rocky Mountain National Park

Chapter Three: Vegetation Responses to Natural Regulation of Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park

Chapter Four: Factors Influencing Plant Productivity in Shrub Communities on Elk Winter Range of Rocky Mountain National Park: Experiments on Elk Herbivory, Water Availability and Burning

Chapter Five: Changes Induced by Elk Herbivory in the Aboveground Biomass Production and Distribution of Willow (Salix monticola Bebb): Their Relationship with Plant Water, Carbon, and Nitrogen Dynamics

Chapter Six: Effects of Herbivory and Proximity to Surface Water on C and N Dynamics on the Elk Winter Range in Rocky Mountain National Park

Chapter Seven: Carbon and Water Relations of Salix monticola in Response to Winter Browsing and Changes in Surface Water Hydrology: An Isotopic Study Using ´13C and ´18O

Chapter Eight: Isotopic Evidence of the Effects of Herbivory and Landscape Position on Plant Nitrogen Sources in a Riparian Ecosystem

Chapter Nine: Response of Tannins and Phenolics of Willows to Simulated Herbivory, Water Dynamics, and Ambient Elk Herbivory on the Elk Winter Range of Rocky Mountain National Park

Chapter Ten: Influence of Elk Grazing on Soil and Nutrients in Rocky Mountain National Park

Chapter Eleven: Sustainability of Vegetation Communties Grazed by Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park

Chapter Twelve: Ecological Evaluation of Potential Overabundance of Ungulates in U.S. National Parks: A Case Study

Part II - Modeling

Executive Summary of Model-Based Assessment of Elk in the Rocky Mountain National Park Ecosystem

Acknowledgements