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Supplementary materials: Monitoring recovery of overgrazed lichen communities on Hagemeister Island, southwestern Alaska Walsh, Patrick; Goward, Trevor

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Abstract

Understanding the recovery rate of overgrazed lichen communities has value to mangers of lands in northern regions. We describe lichen community composition and present recovery rate measurements for a 12-year period following overgrazing by reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) on Hagemeister Island, Alaska. Reindeer were removed from the island in 1993 following overgrazing and average total lichen biomass increased from 504.2 kg/ha (SD 205.4) in 2003 to 795.3 (SD 489.6) in 2015. We estimate time to recovery with three competing growth curves which estimate grazeable biomass may be reached in 34-41 years. However, estimates of full recovery to climax biomass varied among the models, ranging from 71 to 400 years. In 2015, lichen communities were composed of various mixtures of at least 78 lichen taxa, and were dominated by Cladina stygia and other important reindeer forage species. While reindeer overgrazing diminished forage quantity, it did not extirpate preferred forage taxa.

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Title	Supplementary materials: Monitoring recovery of overgrazed lichen communities on Hagemeister Island, southwestern Alaska
Creator	Walsh, Patrick; Goward, Trevor
Date Issued	2021-05-20
Description	<b>Abstract</b><br/> Understanding the recovery rate of overgrazed lichen communities has value to mangers of lands in northern regions. We describe lichen community composition and present recovery rate measurements for a 12-year period following overgrazing by reindeer (<i>Rangifer tarandus</i>) on Hagemeister Island, Alaska. Reindeer were removed from the island in 1993 following overgrazing and average total lichen biomass increased from 504.2 kg/ha (SD 205.4) in 2003 to 795.3 (SD 489.6) in 2015. We estimate time to recovery with three competing growth curves which estimate grazeable biomass may be reached in 34-41 years. However, estimates of full recovery to climax biomass varied among the models, ranging from 71 to 400 years. In 2015, lichen communities were composed of various mixtures of at least 78 lichen taxa, and were dominated by <i>Cladina stygia</i> and other important reindeer forage species. While reindeer overgrazing diminished forage quantity, it did not extirpate preferred forage taxa.</p>
Subject	Other
Type	Dataset
Notes	Dryad version number: 2</p> Version status: submitted</p> Dryad curation status: Published</p> Sharing link: https://datadryad.org/stash/share/z7Zz9tVi_7uF7wpFFXAtVwmn4ALaY9qFO7jS6DNZ-kc</p> Storage size: 129125</p> Visibility: public</p>
Date Available	2020-12-23
Provider	University of British Columbia Library
License	CC0 1.0
DOI	10.14288/1.0398105
URI	https://doi.org/10.5683/SP2/U09A3S
Publisher DOI	https://doi.org/10.5683/SP2/U09A3S; https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2v6wwpzm2
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0
Aggregated Source Repository	Dataverse

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CC0 1.0