A review of fire effects on vegetation and soils in the Great Basin Region: response and ecological site characteristics

Miller, Richard F.; Chambers, Jeanne C.; Pyke, David A.; Pierson, Frederick B.; Williams, Christopher J.

doi:10.2737/rmrs-gtr-308

Cited by 131 publications

(341 citation statements)

References 90 publications

(258 reference statements)

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“…Whereas intact bunchgrass stands may be relatively resilient to fires, ruderal annual grasses often respond vigorously to fire because of increased resource availability and reduced uptake of resources from slowly recovering native species (Miller et al 2013). This is particularly apparent in Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems (Chambers et al 2014).…”

Section: Predictor Variablesmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We found abiotic factors, namely topography, to be the strongest predictor of abundance patterns for the five modeled species. The Monument is entirely within the Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystem zone, which is generally understood to exhibit low resilience to disturbances like fire and low resistance to weed invasion (Miller et al 2013, Chambers et al 2014. However, our models provided compelv www.esajournals.org Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tall tussock-type bunchgrasses like bluebunch wheatgrass seem to effectively reduce dispersal of medusahead seeds, and therefore robust stands of these bunchgrasses may contain incipient infestations (Davies 2008). Collectively, the aforementioned studies suggest that abundances of large stature bunchgrasses and bluebunch wheatgrass, in particular, can be used as a proxy indication of v www.esajournals.org potential resilience to disturbance and resistance to invasion (e.g., Miller et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our primary focus was on bluebunch wheatgrass because of its ecological dominance and iconic status in the Monument. Bluebunch wheatgrass is widely used in sagebrush steppe restoration (St. Clair et al 2013) and is widely understood to confer ecological resilience and invasion resistance to steppe communities (Miller et al 2013). Also, the Monument provides an important historic interpretive theme to visitors involving settlement-era (circa 1890s) ranching culture, during which time it is thought that robust stands of bluebunch wheatgrass were the dominant feature of the landscape (Beckham and Lentz 2000).…”

Section: Landscape Prioritizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fire has emerged as a major influence on steppe invasibility (Miller et al 2013). Whereas intact bunchgrass stands may be relatively resilient to fires, ruderal annual grasses often respond vigorously to fire because of increased resource availability and reduced uptake of resources from slowly recovering native species (Miller et al 2013).…”

Section: Predictor Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predicting foundation bunchgrass species abundances: model‐assisted decision‐making in protected‐area sagebrush steppe

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Foundation species are structurally dominant members of ecological communities that can stabilize ecological processes and influence resilience to disturbance and resistance to invasion. Being common, they are often overlooked for conservation but are increasingly threatened from land use change, biological invasions, and over-exploitation. The pattern of foundation species abundances over space and time may be used to guide decision-making, particularly in protected areas for which they are iconic. We used ordinal logistic regression to identify the important environmental influences on the abundance patterns of bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Thurber's needlegrass (Achnatherum thurberianum), and Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda) in protected-area sagebrush steppe. We then predicted bunchgrass abundances along gradients of topography, disturbance, and invasive annual grass abundance. We used model predictions to prioritize the landscape for implementation of a management and restoration decision-support tool. Models were fit to categorical estimates of grass cover obtained from an extensive ground-based monitoring dataset. We found that remnant stands of abundant wheatgrass and bluegrass were associated with steep north-facing slopes in higher and more remote portions of the landscape outside of recently burned areas where invasive annual grasses were less abundant. These areas represented only 25% of the landscape and were prioritized for protection efforts. Needlegrass was associated with south-facing slopes, but in low abundance and in association with invasive cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Abundances of all three species were strongly negatively correlated with occurrence of another invasive annual grass, medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae). The rarity of priority bunchgrass stands underscored the extent of degradation and the need for prioritization. We found no evidence that insularity reduced invasibility; annual grass invasion represents a serious threat to protected-area bunchgrass communities. Our study area was entirely within the Wyoming big sagebrush ecological zone, understood to have inherently low resilience to disturbance and resistance to weed invasion. However, our study revealed important variation in abundance of the foundation species associated with resilience and resistance along the topographic-soil moisture gradient within this zone, providing an important foothold for conservation decision-making in these steppe ecosystems. We found the foundation species focus a parsimonious strategy linking monitoring to decision-making via biogeographic modeling.

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Section: Predictor Variablesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Landscape Prioritizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Predictor Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predicting foundation bunchgrass species abundances: model‐assisted decision‐making in protected‐area sagebrush steppe

et al. 2014

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Long‐term biocrust responses to wildfires in Washington, USA

Root,

Chan,

Ponzetti

et al. 2023

American J of Botany

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PremiseDryland ecosystems in the western United States are affected by invasive species, wildfires, livestock grazing, and climate change in ways that are difficult to distinguish. Biocrusts perform important ecological roles in these systems and are sensitive to all of these pressures.MethodsWe revisited a Washington, USA, site sampled for biocrusts in 1999 to focus on effects of exotic annual grass invasion and wildfires in the absence of livestock grazing. We examined changes between 1999 and 2020 using a Bayesian directed acyclic graph (DAG) to interpret direct and indirect causal impacts of wildfire on perennial bunchgrasses, exotic annual grasses, and biocrusts.ResultsBetween 1999 and 2020, exotic annual grass cover increased in all plots and in unburned plots by 16% and 18%, respectively, bunchgrass cover decreased by 21% and 25%, and biocrust cover decreased by 8.9% and 9.8%. Our DAG suggested that decreases in bunchgrass increased exotic annual grass, which reduced biocrust cover. Wildfires did not directly influence changes in bunchgrass, exotic annual grass, or biocrust cover. Areas dominated by exotic annual grass had less abundant and diverse biocrusts than areas with less exotic annual grass.ConclusionsBiocrust community changes were more strongly related to increasing exotic annual grasses than to wildfires. Changes may relate to other soil disturbances or broad‐scale changes in climate or air quality. The minimal influence of wildfire on exotic annual grass and biocrusts suggests that apparent negative impacts of wildfire at other sites may be due to exacerbation by livestock grazing or other surface disturbance.

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A conservation planning tool for Greater Sage‐grouse using indices of species distribution, resilience, and resistance

Ricca

Coates

Gustafson

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

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Managers require quantitative yet tractable tools that identify areas for restoration yielding effective benefits for targeted wildlife species and the ecosystems they inhabit. As a contemporary example of high national significance for conservation, the persistence of Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in the Great Basin is compromised by strongly interacting stressors of conifer expansion, annual grass invasion, and more frequent wildfires occurring in sagebrush ecosystems. Associated restoration treatments to a sagebrush-dominated state are often costly and may yield relatively little ecological benefit to sage-grouse if implemented without estimating how Sage-grouse may respond to treatments, or do not consider underlying processes influencing sagebrush ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to invasive species. Here, we describe example applications of a spatially explicit conservation planning tool (CPT) to inform prioritization of: (1) removal of conifers (i.e., pinyon-juniper); and (2) wildfire restoration aimed at improving habitat conditions for the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment of Sage-grouse along the California-Nevada state line. The CPT measures ecological benefits to sage-grouse for a given management action through a composite index comprised of resource selection functions and estimates of abundance and space use. For pinyon-juniper removal, we simulated changes in land-cover composition following the removal of sparse trees with intact understories, and ranked treatments on the basis of changes in ecological benefits per dollar-unit of cost. For wildfire restoration, we formulated a conditional model to simulate scenarios for land cover changes (e.g., sagebrush to annual grass) given estimated fire severity and underlying ecosystem processes influencing resilience to disturbance and resistance to invasion by annual grasses. For both applications, we compared CPT rankings to land cover changes along with sagebrush resistance and resilience metrics. Model results demonstrated how the CPT can be an important step in identifying management projects that yield the highest quantifiable benefit to Sage-grouse while avoiding costly misallocation of resources, and highlight the importance of considering changes in sage-grouse ecological response and factors influencing sagebrush ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to invasion. This unique framework can be adopted to help inform other management questions aimed at improving habitat for other species across sagebrush and other ecosystems.

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A review of fire effects on vegetation and soils in the Great Basin Region: response and ecological site characteristics

Cited by 131 publications

References 90 publications

Predicting foundation bunchgrass species abundances: model‐assisted decision‐making in protected‐area sagebrush steppe

Predicting foundation bunchgrass species abundances: model‐assisted decision‐making in protected‐area sagebrush steppe

Long‐term biocrust responses to wildfires in Washington, USA

A conservation planning tool for Greater Sage‐grouse using indices of species distribution, resilience, and resistance

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