The Influence of Soil Texture on the Vegetation of a Grazed, Short-Grass Prairie in Colorado

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Abstract
A semiarid, prairie township in south-central El Paso County, Colorado, was dominated by blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and several cactus species. Within the township the cacti achieved highest densities on clayey soils, and soil texture apparently played a determining role in the distribution of other plants as well. An ordination of plots by vegetation correlated strongly with the clay content of the plot soils, and 35 of the more common plants were assigned index numbers for soil texture. The plots on sandy soil were species rich and often shrubby and contained silvery wormwood (Artmisia filifolia), rabbit-brush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) and Spanish bayonet (Yucca glauca). The plots on clayey soils had abundant cacti, particularly plains pricklypear (Opuntia polyacantha) and walking-stick cholla (O. imbricata), but were generally nonshrubby and poorer in species composition. Four grasses provided 95% of the 51% canopy cover. They were blue grama (82% of the relative cover); galleta-grass (Hilaria jamesii) (7%); ring muhly (Muhlenbergia torreyi) (3%) and sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) (3%). The total canopy cover was fairly constant and not significantly affected by soil texture.

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