Long-term Protection from Heavy Livestock Grazing Affects Ponderosa Pine Understory Composition and Functional Traits

Making accurate predictions of plant community responses to grazing management is a major objective of rangeland ecology. Metrics such as species composition are site specific, whereas others such as functional groups and functional traits can be generalized across different rangeland types. We analyzed long-term (1912–1941) shifts in the understory community at five sites in a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa P. & C. Lawson var. scopulorum...