COS 206-3 - CANCELLED - Effects of cattle grazing on richness, structure, and stability of high elevation meadow communities in the Golden Trout Wilderness

Background/Question/Methods

High elevation wet meadows play important roles in carbon storage, regulating water supply, and providing critical habitat for wildlife, yet they are increasingly subject to novel disturbances, including cattle grazing. While grazing is likely to alter plant community composition and associated ecosystem functions, it remains largely unknown how grazing affects species richness, community stability, and rooting and water saturation depth (relevant to carbon storage, hydrology, and aquatic wildlife), especially considering interactions with other factors such as climate warming. Here, we leverage twenty years of monitoring data from the Golden Trout Wilderness to test effects of cattle grazing and interannual climate variability on meadow species richness and community trajectories, and investigate trends across plant functional groups.

Results/Conclusions

Preliminary results indicate significant differences in meadow vegetation richness and community trajectories through time. Additionally, grazing has significant impacts on ground cover, NDVI, rooting depth, and depth to ground water. Collectively, our results demonstrate significant effects of cattle grazing in this high elevation meadow system, particularly under warming and drying conditions, however these effects appear mediated by abiotic conditions across sites. These results will be used to guide policy makers about the long-term consequences of livestock grazing in the Golden Trout Wilderness, a key habitat area for the endangered California golden trout habitat, and more broadly, shed light on high elevation meadow resilience to further perturbations in the Anthropocene.