Ecological evaluation of the abundance and effects of elk herbivory in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 1994-1999

doi:10.3133/ofr02208

USGS · ofr02208

Ecological evaluation of the abundance and effects of elk herbivory in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 1994-1999

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Abstract

Several National Park Service units in the Intermountain region possess a number of closely related management needs relative to the abundance of wild ungulates and their herbivory effects on plants and ecosystem processes. In 1993, the then National Biological Service (NBS) - now U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Discipline (USGS, BRD) initiated a series of research studies in four park units in the Intermountain West., into the abundance and effects of ungulates on park ecosystems. Each of these parks received a number of similar research study elements including: (a) a number of new ungulate grazing exclosures (n = 12-21 exclosures per park); (b) aerial survey sightability models to estimate population sizes of ungulates; (e) measures of biomass production and consumption rates near the exclosures and across the landscape; (d) studies of the effects of the grazing on plant abundance, species diversity, and ecosystem effects; and (e) computer model simulations (SAVANNA) of the effects on the ecosystem and plant resources of different ungulate management scenarios. One park unit, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, received funding from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS, BRD) and parallel funding from NPS for an intensive research study of the effects of elk on the park ecosystems.

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Source-reported bounding extent: 40.158067° to 40.553787° latitude; -105.913714° to -105.493583° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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2002. Ecological evaluation of the abundance and effects of elk herbivory in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 1994-1999. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr02208

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