AN EARLY STAGE IN THE PLANT RECOLONIZATION OF A NUCLEAR TARGET AREA
Vegetational analyses were conducted three years postdetonation in a nuclear target area in a Grayia spinosa-Lycium andersonii community in Yucca Fiat, Nevada. Annual plants dominated the early stage of recolonization and were quantitatively more abundant in the disturbed areas than in an adjacent undisturbed shrub community. Ment zelia albicaulis and Chaenactis steviodes occurred in both disturbed and undisturbed areas, however; Mentzelia was more abundant in disturbed areas while Chaenactis was more abundant in the undisturbed community. Salsola kali was confined to disturbed areas while Phacelia vallismortae was more often encountered in the undisturbed community. The plant recolonization of a mechanically disturbed area was quantitatively and qualitatively more like that of the interior zone of the nuclear target area than less disturbed habitats. These data support a conclusion that soil displacement presents a more rigorous habitat for plant recolonization than disturbances created by the wider ranging destructive components of a nuclear detonation. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- General Electric Co., Richland, Wash.
- NSA Number:
- NSA-17-023145
- OSTI ID:
- 4725835
- Journal Information:
- Radiation Botany, Vol. Vol: 3; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-63
- Country of Publication:
- Country unknown/Code not available
- Language:
- English
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