Chapter 7: Human Alterations to Riparian Areas
Native Wild Ungulates
- Native large ungulates, primarily elk in Arizona, also cause similar problems to domestic livestock.
Figure 7.26. Direct and indirect impacts from excessive grazing.
- Wild ungulates remove vegetation, trample plants and soil, disperse seeds of nonnative plants, and modify the stream channel.
- Wild ungulates browse young seedlings or branches and in many cases they can hinder regeneration, suppress vigor, and even cause mortality.
- Problems with wild ungulates occur when their population explodes because of elimination of their predators and enhancement of their habitat due to human interventions.
- Because of human interferences wild ungulate numbers grow in greater numbers than these areas can support and can cause severe damage to riparian vegetation.
- To avoid problems with wild ungulates it is necessary:
- to know the carrying capacity of the sites they occupy.
- control their population eg. hunting.
Figure 7.27. Elk.
