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<font size=3>Craig and friends:<br><br>
Since I can't find my original message, I don't remember what kind of
contusion to which I jumped, but at least now there is no confusion on my
part. <br><br>
Since this trip was primarily for my wife's entertainment, I had no time
for more than casual observations. I am also unfamiliar with many of the
grasses in that region, so would have to key them out (always a laborious
task for me as a non-taxonomist, but a very fussy guy about
intra-specific variation and actual species distinctions).
<br><br>
While I do agree that indigenous grasses are a good indicator of
ecosystem health, I think cryptobiotic/cryptogamic associations are an
even more profound, if impractical one. I saw many stands in
various states of "preservation" or "recovery," but
as microscopy was my Achilles' heel in botany, I couldn't get much past
"some kinda cyanobacterium or moss or lichen" and perhaps some
kinda algae." As some of the keys almost require a dissecting
microscope and destructive collecting even for the grasses, I reckon the
best I can do is to get a book with picchurs and hope I don't Agropyron
the Leymus or vice-versa. <br><br>
I hope to get up to Oregon this winter and suppose I could paw through
the snow for what hay may be left, I reckon I'll have to wait 'till early
spring and a planned trip to Alaska. Again, my observations will be
casual and ecological. I hope to at least be able to tell aliens
from indigenous species and photograph some. <br><br>
On your observations regarding grasses as at least a component of the
"understory," I consider some grasslands to be a
"phase" within a range of ecosystem changes due to
environmental influences such as fire and other
"disturbances." It seems to me that grading, for example,
tends to favor alien species, while fire favors indigenous species.
It has been suggested (forgot the reference) that resistance to invasion
is one of the key characteristics of an ecosystem in dynamic equilibrium,
and, as such, is a measure of the success of an ecosystem restoration
project. I have used that as a standard in my own work at least,
for the past 35 years or so, first unwittingly, then
"wittingly." Of course, little things like species
diversity are important too, but I have found that when the alien species
diminish to near zero on a restoration project, diversity will be at its
peak, at least for the site conditions remaining following disturbance
and "restoration" activity. Smoke came out of my ears
whilst passing by some large signs proclaiming mine spoil
"restoration" on my recent trip through the intermountain west
and southwest. <br><br>
Best,<br>
WT <br><br>
At 02:22 PM 9/28/2006, Craig Dremann wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Dear Wayne and All,<br><br>
I don't want you, or other readers of my 1997 Western Megatransect
data,<br>
to misunderstand that I believe that there were originally solid<br>
grasslands everywhere, or that solid grasslands should be replanted<br>
everywhere.<br><br>
I used the native perennial grasses for my western Megatransect
survey,<br>
for at least for two reasons: <br><br>
1.) Within nearly every north American native ecosystem, from deserts
to<br>
forests, there were originally species of native grasses that formed
a<br>
portion of those ecosystems' understories--native perennial grasses
are<br>
a common-denominator for non-riparian ecosystems nation-wide in the<br>
lower 48 States.<br><br>
Areas that have a high percentage of those original native grasses and
a<br>
low percentage of introduced grasses and other weeds, could be<br>
considered by most ecologists, botanists, and ecological
restorationists<br>
as high quality ecosystems--you could perhaps even call them
"pristine".<br><br>
These "pristine" areas have great ecological value, in that
there's only<br>
a few percentage of the roadsides of each State, where you can still<br>
find these relatively intact examples of original ecosystems.
<br><br>
"Pristine" areas, if protected and preserved, could be studied
as models<br>
for future restoration projects, and also provide the local native
seed<br>
sources, for a program like the Iowa DOT roadside native replanting
or<br>
"Ecotype Project.".<br><br>
2.) When conducting any roadside ecosystem-quality survey---and<br>
especially if you are going to attempt a 3,400 mile-by-mile<br>
survey---it's always a really good idea to pick a type of plant that<br>
stands out! Fortunately, most of the native grasses of North
America do<br>
that job very well. <br><br>
I'm currently working on the 1997 Megatransect data for Colorado,
South<br>
Dakota and Wyoming, and while I reading the notebooks, I'm
remembering<br>
the herds of pronghorns I saw in Wyoming and South Dakota, and the<br>
unfenced family of bison along the roadside in South Dakota.<br><br>
And one afternoon, as I crossed the Wyoming/South Dakota border on
the<br>
way to Hot Springs SD (which is the easternmost point of the
transect),<br>
I drove through a 3 mile wide swarm of dragonflies and millions of
moths<br>
that were flying over the grasslands there.<br><br>
I hope Wayne and everyone else who travels, and goes and looks at
the<br>
native plants along the roadsides, has many fun adventures, like I
did<br>
doing the 1997 Western and 2005 Mojave Megatransects.<br><br>
Sincerely, Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333</font></blockquote></body>
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