Master's Theses

Department

Biology

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

The drought of the last seven years with its disastrous dust storms has damaged vast areas of the native prairie as well as much of the cultivated land. Deficient rainfall has caused crop failures over large areas, leaving the fields without a protective covering. Due to these conditions, wind erosion started the dry, loose soil to drifting. Large amounts of the soil settled on the grassland and destroyed much of the native plant cover. Where t e native vegetation was weakened or destroyed, the soil was invaded by such weedy annuals as lambsquarter (Chenopodium sp. ) , Russian thistle (Salsola pestifer), pig weed (Amaranthus sp .) , and sunflower (Helianthus annuus) . The severe competition of these ruderals further weakened the native vegetation to the point where, in many cases, it was completely destroyed. These conditions have brought about an increased activity in the field of range research. Until recently there has been relatively little research work done on the revegetation of cultivated land. The greater part of the experimental work, prior to the drought, was carried out with the intention of using domestic forage plants to revegetate the depleted ranges. The present needs in range research are more experimental data on native forage plants and the methods of handling them on revegetation areas. It is more practical to obtain t h is information on small experimental plots than on large revegetation areas where improper methods might prove too costly. To provide a part of this needed information, an experiment was set up at Hays, Kansas, in the spring of 1939 to determine the effect of clipping and weed competition on the spread of pasture grass seedlings.

Keywords

Range management, Dust Bowl, Soil conservation, Grasslands, Weeds, Seeds

Advisor

Dr. Fred W. Albertson

Date of Award

Summer 1940

Document Type

Thesis

Rights

© The Author(s)

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