Mammal mounds have been found to have diverse effects on vegetation. The area around yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) burrows was examined for different morphospecies and plant cover to find if diversity decreased near a burrow. Morphospecies were identified to family to look for trends in species composition. The number of morphospecies was found to decrease nearer to a burrow and plant cover was significantly lower immediately next to a burrow. Of the 13 plant families found, the number of morphospecies within Poaceae and Fabaceae experienced a moderately significant decrease near the burrow, and Asteracae experienced a significant decrease. This may be due to herbivory or because marmots like to excavate burrows where plants with more structural support grow to help maintain the solidarity of the burrow.
Knowledge graph centered on The Effects of Distance From a Yellow-Bellied Marm with 32 nodes and 73 connections. Top connected: Marmota flaviventris, Delphinium, Asteraceae, Rushes, Delphinium barbeyi.
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