Challenges of Establishing Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) in Rangeland Restoration: Effects of Herbicide, Mowing, Whole-Community Seeding, and Sagebrush Seed Sources

Brabec, Martha M.; Germino, Matthew J.; Shinneman, Douglas J.; Pilliod, David S.; McIlroy, Susan K.; Arkle, Robert S.

doi:10.1016/j.rama.2015.07.001

Cited by 50 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In much of the affected area, seeding rarely leads to appreciable recovery of sagebrush cover and density, and this has meant that goals of sage‐grouse habitat recovery have largely not been achieved (Arkle et al., ; Knutson et al., ). When sagebrush does germinate, survival through the first year seems to be particularly limiting (Brabec et al., ). There are still considerable knowledge gaps about how climate and other variables influence establishment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adapting management to a changing world: Warm temperatures, dry soil, and interannual variability limit restoration success of a dominant woody shrub in temperate drylands

Shriver

Andrews

Pilliod

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

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131

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Restoration and rehabilitation of native vegetation in dryland ecosystems, which encompass over 40% of terrestrial ecosystems, is a common challenge that continues to grow as wildfire and biological invasions transform dryland plant communities. The difficulty in part stems from low and variable precipitation, combined with limited understanding about how weather conditions influence restoration outcomes, and increasing recognition that one-time seeding approaches can fail if they do not occur during appropriate plant establishment conditions. The sagebrush biome, which once covered over 620,000 km of western North America, is a prime example of a pressing dryland restoration challenge for which restoration success has been variable. We analyzed field data on Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush) restoration collected at 771 plots in 177 wildfire sites across its western range, and used process-based ecohydrological modeling to identify factors leading to its establishment. Our results indicate big sagebrush occurrence is most strongly associated with relatively cool temperatures and wet soils in the first spring after seeding. In particular, the amount of winter snowpack, but not total precipitation, helped explain the availability of spring soil moisture and restoration success. We also find considerable interannual variability in the probability of sagebrush establishment. Adaptive management strategies that target seeding during cool, wet years or mitigate effects of variability through repeated seeding may improve the likelihood of successful restoration in dryland ecosystems. Given consistent projections of increasing temperatures, declining snowpack, and increasing weather variability throughout midlatitude drylands, weather-centric adaptive management approaches to restoration will be increasingly important for dryland restoration success.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adapting management to a changing world: Warm temperatures, dry soil, and interannual variability limit restoration success of a dominant woody shrub in temperate drylands

Shriver

Andrews

Pilliod

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

131

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“…These studies have linked factors to greater sagebrush reestablishment and canopy structure growth including greater annual precipitation, more favorable topographic positions, coarser soil textures, greater soil depths, and specific soil surface conditions (e.g., Knutson et al 2014, Nelson et al 2014, Shriver et al 2018. Additionally, initial seedling establishment can be influenced by factors independent of the treatment area (e.g., dissimilarities in climate between where seeds were harvested and where they were applied), potentially leading to complete failure of seedling establishment following treatment (Brabec et al 2015). However, there has been a little effort to focus sampling specifically onto established stands to identify underlying landscape factors driving gradients in canopy structure growth (e.g., canopy height, cover, and plant density).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil characteristics are associated with gradients of big sagebrush canopy structure after disturbance

et al. 2019

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Reestablishing shrub canopy cover after disturbance in semi‐arid ecosystems, such as sagebrush steppe, is essential to provide wildlife habitat and restore ecosystem functioning. While several studies have explored the effects of landscape and climate factors on the success or failure of sagebrush seeding, the influence of soil properties on gradients of shrub canopy structure in successfully seeded areas remains largely unexplored. In this study, we evaluated associations between soil properties and gradients in sagebrush canopy structure in stands that had successfully reestablished after fire and subsequent seeding treatments. Using a dataset collected across the Great Basin, USA, of sagebrush stands that had burned and reestablished between 1986 and 2013, we tested soil depth and texture, soil surface classification, biological soil crusts plus mean historical precipitation, solar heatload, and fire history as modeling variables to explore gradients in sagebrush canopy structure growth in terms of cover, height, and density. Deeper soils were associated with greater sagebrush canopy structure development in terms of plant density and percent cover, coarser textured soils were associated with greater sagebrush cover and density, and more clayey soils were typically associated with greater height. Biological crust presence was also positively associated with enhanced sagebrush canopy growth, but adding more demographically or morphologically explicit descriptions of biocrust communities did not improve explanatory power. Increasing heatload had a negative effect on sagebrush canopy structure growth, and increased mean annual precipitation was only associated with greater sagebrush height. Given that conservation and restoration of the sagebrush steppe ecosystems has become a priority for land managers, the associations we identify between gradients in post‐fire sagebrush canopy structure growth and field‐identifiable soil characteristics may improve planning of land treatments for sagebrush restoration and the understanding of semi‐arid ecosystem functioning and post‐disturbance dynamics.

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“…The greatest invasion and fire issues are in A.t. wyomingensis sites, where effects of competition from exotic herbs and frequent unfavourable weather on seedling survival can compound seed limitations (e.g. Brabec et al 2015). 'Exotic' subspecies are often seeded onto burn areas (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate adaption and post‐fire restoration of a foundational perennial in cold desert: insights from intraspecific variation in response to weather

Brabec

Germino

Richardson

2016

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Summary The loss of foundational but fire‐intolerant perennials such as sagebrush due to increases in fire size and frequency in semi‐arid regions has motivated efforts to restore them, often with mixed or even no success. Seeds of sagebrush Artemisia tridentata and related species must be moved considerable distances from seed source to planting sites, but such transfers have not been guided by an understanding of local climate adaptation. Initial seedling establishment and its response to weather are a key demographic bottleneck that likely varies among subspecies and populations of sagebrush. We assessed differences in survival, growth and physiological responses of sagebrush seedlings to weather among eleven seed sources that varied in subspecies, cytotype and climates‐of‐origin over 18 months following outplanting. Diploid or polyploid populations of mountain, Wyoming and basin big sagebrush (A. tridentata ssp. vaseyana, A. tridentata ssp. wyomingensis and A. tridentata ssp. tridentata, respectively) were planted onto five burned sites that normally support A.t. wyomingensis with some A.t. tridentata. A.t. wyomingensis had the most growth and survival, and tetraploid populations had greater survival and height than diploids. Seasonal timing of mortality varied among the subspecies/cytotypes and was more closely related to minimum temperatures than water deficit. Temperatures required to induce ice formation were up to 6 °C more negative in 4n‐A.t. tridentata and A.t. wyomingensis than in other subspecies/cytotypes, indicating greater freezing avoidance. In contrast, freezing resistance of photosynthesis varied only 1 °C among subspecies/cytotypes, being greatest in A.t. wyomingensis and least in the subspecies normally considered most cold‐adapted, A.t. vaseyana. A large spectrum of reliance on freezing avoidance vs. freezing tolerance was observed and corresponded to differences in post‐fire survivorship among subspecies/cytotypes. Differences in water deficit responses among subspecies/cytotypes were not as strong and did not relate to survival patterns. Synthesis and applications. Low‐temperature responses are a key axis defining climate adaptation in young sagebrush seedlings and vary more with cytotype than with subspecies, which contrasts with the traditional emphases on (i) water limitations to explain establishment in these deserts, and (ii) subspecies in selecting restoration seedings. These important and novel insights on climate adaptation are critical for seed selection and parameterizing seed transfer zones, and were made possible by incorporating weather data with survival statistics. The survival/weather statistics used here could be applied to any restoration planting or seeding to help elucidate factors contributing to success and enable adaptive management.

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Challenges of Establishing Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) in Rangeland Restoration: Effects of Herbicide, Mowing, Whole-Community Seeding, and Sagebrush Seed Sources

Cited by 50 publications

References 16 publications

Adapting management to a changing world: Warm temperatures, dry soil, and interannual variability limit restoration success of a dominant woody shrub in temperate drylands

Adapting management to a changing world: Warm temperatures, dry soil, and interannual variability limit restoration success of a dominant woody shrub in temperate drylands

Soil characteristics are associated with gradients of big sagebrush canopy structure after disturbance

Climate adaption and post‐fire restoration of a foundational perennial in cold desert: insights from intraspecific variation in response to weather

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