Big sagebrush: A sea fragmented into lakes, ponds, and puddles

Welch, Bruce L.

doi:10.2737/rmrs-gtr-144

Cited by 70 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 306 publications

(375 reference statements)

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“…In contrast to terrain topography, the current distribution of sagebrush has been modified through development and land conversion (Davies et al., 2011; Welch, 2005). Thus, many resistance features have likely been created or modified since human settlement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying functional connectivity: The role of breeding habitat, abundance, and landscape features on range‐wide gene flow in sage‐grouse

Row

Doherty

Cross

et al. 2018

Evolutionary Applications

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Functional connectivity, quantified using landscape genetics, can inform conservation through the identification of factors linking genetic structure to landscape mechanisms. We used breeding habitat metrics, landscape attributes, and indices of grouse abundance, to compare fit between structural connectivity and genetic differentiation within five long‐established Sage‐Grouse Management Zones (MZ) I‐V using microsatellite genotypes from 6,844 greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) collected across their 10.7 million‐km2 range. We estimated structural connectivity using a circuit theory‐based approach where we built resistance surfaces using thresholds dividing the landscape into “habitat” and “nonhabitat” and nodes were clusters of sage‐grouse leks (where feather samples were collected using noninvasive techniques). As hypothesized, MZ‐specific habitat metrics were the best predictors of differentiation. To our surprise, inclusion of grouse abundance‐corrected indices did not greatly improve model fit in most MZs. Functional connectivity of breeding habitat was reduced when probability of lek occurrence dropped below 0.25 (MZs I, IV) and 0.5 (II), thresholds lower than those previously identified as required for the formation of breeding leks, which suggests that individuals are willing to travel through undesirable habitat. The individual MZ landscape results suggested terrain roughness and steepness shaped functional connectivity across all MZs. Across respective MZs, sagebrush availability (<10%–30%; II, IV, V), tree canopy cover (>10%; I, II, IV), and cultivation (>25%; I, II, IV, V) each reduced movement beyond their respective thresholds. Model validations confirmed variation in predictive ability across MZs with top resistance surfaces better predicting gene flow than geographic distance alone, especially in cases of low and high differentiation among lek groups. The resultant resistance maps we produced spatially depict the strength and redundancy of range‐wide gene flow and can help direct conservation actions to maintain and restore functional connectivity for sage‐grouse.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying functional connectivity: The role of breeding habitat, abundance, and landscape features on range‐wide gene flow in sage‐grouse

Row

Doherty

Cross

et al. 2018

Evolutionary Applications

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“…Soil pH tends to range between slightly acidic to slightly alkaline with some strongly alkaline soils derived from calcareous parent materials (Johnson 2000). Mountain big sagebrush occurs across a wide range of soil textures but is most often found on loams or sandy-loams with high amounts of coarse fragments (35-70%) (Welch 2005). Mountain big sagebrush occurs on a variety of substrate types, including granite, rhyolite, andesite, argillite, basalt, greenstone, sandstone, limestone, shale, siltstone, dolomite, granodiorite, gneiss, mixed glacial till, and mixed alluvium Svalberg 1997;Tweit and Houston 1980).…”

Section: Limber Pine Series Wyoming Tree-tip Sagebrush Seriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mountain big sagebrush is most successful on deep, well-drained, medium-to coarse-textured soils with low concentrations of salts (Welch 2005). Soil pH tends to range between slightly acidic to slightly alkaline with some strongly alkaline soils derived from calcareous parent materials (Johnson 2000).…”

Section: Limber Pine Series Wyoming Tree-tip Sagebrush Seriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mountain big sagebrush is killed by even light severity fires and will not resprout from the root crown if the above ground portion of the plant is completely killed (Welch 2005). Antelope bitterbrush is highly susceptible to fire kill and is often killed by summer or fall fire (Zlatnik 1999a).…”

Section: Management Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Variety spiciformis, considered by some a form of variety vaseyana (A. tridentata var. vaseyana f. spiciformis), occupies the highest elevation range (2800-3250 m) of the big sagebrush varieties and is known to occur on high mountain slopes in British Columbia and all western states except Oregon, Arizona, and New Mexico (Shultz 2006;Welch 2005). Across the study area, variety vaseyana is the most common variety of big sagebrush, and the remainder of the discussion will include specific information regarding Artemisia tridentata var.…”

Section: Similar Ecological Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological types of the eastern slope of the Wind River Range, Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming

Wells¹,

Boettinger²,

Houston³

et al. 2015

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This guide presents a classification of the Ecological Types of the eastern slope of the Wind River Range (WRR) on the Shoshone National Forest in westcentral Wyoming. Ecological Types integrate vegetation and environmental characteristics, including climate, geology, landform, and soils, into a comprehensive ecosystem classification. The three objectives are: (1) complete field data collection, (2) simultaneously develop soil map unit components and Ecological Types, and (3) publish the ecological type classification such that it is compatible with the National Cooperative Soil Survey spatial and tabular data. Fifty-eight Ecological Types were organized into 3 ecosystems, 3 physiognomic groups, and 12 vegetation series.

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Adaptive variation, including local adaptation, requires decades to become evident in common gardens

Germino

Moser

Sands³

2019

Ecological Applications

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Population‐level adaptation to spatial variation in factors such as climate and soils is critical for climate‐vulnerability assessments, restoration seeding, and other ecological applications in species management, and the underlying information is typically based on common‐garden studies that are short duration. Here, we show >20 yr were required for adaptive differences to emerge among 13 populations of a widespread shrub (sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata ssp wyomingensis) collected from around the western United States and planted into common gardens. Additionally, >10 yr were required for greater survival of local populations, that is, local adaptation, to become evident. Variation in survival was best explained by the combination of populations’ home ecoregion combined with grouping of minimum temperature and aridity. Additional reductions in survival were explained by ungrouped (i.e., continuous) measures of garden‐to‐population‐origin separation in geographic distance (5% decrease in survival per 100 km increase in separation; R2 = 0.22) and especially in minimum temperature in younger plants (−4% per + °C difference, R2 = 0.56 vs. 0.29 in the 14th vs. 27th post‐planting years, respectively). Longer‐term common garden studies are needed. While we await them, uncertainty in adaptive variation resulting from short‐term observations could be quantitatively estimated and reported with seed‐transfer guidelines to reduce risks of introducing maladapted provenances in restoration.

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Big sagebrush: A sea fragmented into lakes, ponds, and puddles

Cited by 70 publications

References 306 publications

Quantifying functional connectivity: The role of breeding habitat, abundance, and landscape features on range‐wide gene flow in sage‐grouse

Quantifying functional connectivity: The role of breeding habitat, abundance, and landscape features on range‐wide gene flow in sage‐grouse

Ecological types of the eastern slope of the Wind River Range, Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming

Adaptive variation, including local adaptation, requires decades to become evident in common gardens

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