Effect of repeated burning on plant and soil carbon and nitrogen in cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) dominated ecosystems

Jones, Rachel O.; Chambers, Jeanne C.; Johnson, Dale W.; Blank, Robert R.; Board, David I.

doi:10.1007/s11104-014-2242-2

Cited by 30 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Surface soil temperatures during burns never exceeded 708C and flame temperatures never exceeded 1808C on either litter intact or litter removed plots. Although higher fire temperatures and more short-term N mobilization and volatilization can occur in sagebrush ecosystems with woody fuels (Johnson et al 2011), fire temperatures in our study were typical of those in annual grass dominated systems (Brooks 2002), and were likely too cool to result in complete or even partial volatilization of N (volatilization temperature of 2008C; Raison et al 1985) from mineral soils or aboveground biomass (Jones et al 2015).…”

Section: Repeated Burning Effectsmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Due to cool fire temperatures that do not volatilize biomass N and only partially consume litter mats (Jones et al 2015), repeated burning is unlikely to decrease soil N availability in cheatgrass-dominated systems. In fact, cool wildfire temperatures that have minor effects on soils but increase N availability in cheatgrass-dominated systems may provide further explanation for the success of cheatgrass invasions.…”

Section: Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A successful integrated restoration approach may include reducing litter through repeated burning (Jones et al 2015) or through prescribed grazing (Frost and Launchbaugh 2003), seeding with sterile cover crops like common wheat to decrease cheatgrass reproduction and, thus, seed banks, and then seeding the desired native perennial species. Monitoring treatment outcomes is an important component of an integrated restoration strategy in semi-arid ecosystems, and on sites with low and variable precipitation, more than one intervention may be needed to achieve restoration success.…”

Section: Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The role of resource limitation in restoration of sagebrush ecosystems dominated by cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum)

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Success of invasive annual grasses is often linked to increases in resources, and restoration ecologists have suggested that decreasing nitrogen (N) availability and restoring more conservative N cycles with lower N turnover should decrease the competitive advantage of these invaders and facilitate establishment of native perennials. We developed a multivariate conceptual model of the likely effects of environmental factors (precipitation and temperature) and potential management treatments (repeated burning, litter manipulation, and seeding an annual competitor) on soil N availability and success of cheatgrass, the most widespread invader in the western United States. We examined effects of the treatments in a five year field study in a cold desert shrubland. We used generalized linear mixed-effects models to examine differences among treatments over time, and structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate component hypotheses of the conceptual model. We hypothesized that burning would result in a pulse in soil available N due to heat-induced soil organic matter denaturation, but that subsequent fires would volatilize soil and biomass N resulting in progressive N deficiency. However, soil available N in burned plots was never lower than pre-burn levels, likely because burn temperatures were too cool to volatilize N from soils or aboveground biomass. Repeated burning decreased litter biomass, but there were generally no differences in soil available N between litter intact and litter removed plots. Litter removal had a negative effect on cheatgrass success likely due to effects on seed entrapment and plant establishment rather than N mineralization. Plots seeded with wheat generally had the lowest cheatgrass success, but available N was similar to other treatments, and decreased cheatgrass success was likely due to competition for other soil nutrients or water and reduced litter. In this semi-arid shrubland, long-term trends in available soil N and cheatgrass success were most strongly associated with precipitation and winter minimum temperatures. Treatments did not result in longer-term decreases in soil N, but indicated that integrated restoration approaches that reduce litter and seed banks and increase competitive interactions may be effective at reducing cheatgrass success and facilitating establishment of natives.

show abstract

Section: Repeated Burning Effectsmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The role of resource limitation in restoration of sagebrush ecosystems dominated by cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum)

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As this biomass senesces and dries, it accumulates as litter, which can persist over several years. Litter helps entrap the next generation of annual plant seed and can further promote annual plant establishment (Jones, Chambers, Johnson, Blank, & Board, 2015). Consequently, high cheatgrass biomass has been observed 2 years after an unusually wet winter and spring (Bradley & Mustard, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Refining the cheatgrass–fire cycle in the Great Basin: Precipitation timing and fine fuel composition predict wildfire trends

Pilliod

Welty

Arkle

2017

Ecology and Evolution

141

153

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Larger, more frequent wildfires in arid and semi‐arid ecosystems have been associated with invasion by non‐native annual grasses, yet a complete understanding of fine fuel development and subsequent wildfire trends is lacking. We investigated the complex relationships among weather, fine fuels, and fire in the Great Basin, USA. We first modeled the annual and time‐lagged effects of precipitation and temperature on herbaceous vegetation cover and litter accumulation over a 26‐year period in the northern Great Basin. We then modeled how these fine fuels and weather patterns influence subsequent wildfires. We found that cheatgrass cover increased in years with higher precipitation and especially when one of the previous 3 years also was particularly wet. Cover of non‐native forbs and native herbs also increased in wet years, but only after several dry years. The area burned by wildfire in a given year was mostly associated with native herb and non‐native forb cover, whereas cheatgrass mainly influenced area burned in the form of litter derived from previous years’ growth. Consequently, multiyear weather patterns, including precipitation in the previous 1–3 years, was a strong predictor of wildfire in a given year because of the time needed to develop these fine fuel loads. The strong relationship between precipitation and wildfire allowed us to expand our inference to 10,162 wildfires across the entire Great Basin over a 35‐year period from 1980 to 2014. Our results suggest that the region's precipitation pattern of consecutive wet years followed by consecutive dry years results in a cycle of fuel accumulation followed by weather conditions that increase the probability of wildfire events in the year when the cycle transitions from wet to dry. These patterns varied regionally but were strong enough to allow us to model annual wildfire risk across the Great Basin based on precipitation alone.

show abstract

“…Bromus tectorum L. and other ruderal and weedy plant species benefit from self-perpetuating nutrient cycles, particularly excess nitrogen (Sperry et al, 2006). Scientists continue to explore management actions that will reduce labile soil nutrients in efforts to reduce B. tectorum (Jones et al, 2015). The restoration of biocrusts could be considered in these efforts as biocrusts fix carbon (Evans and Lange, 2003) and carbon additions increase the carbon/nitrogen ratio, reducing the amount of nitrogen that is available for uptake by vegetation (Mazzola et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Components and Predictors of Biological Soil Crusts Vary at the Regional vs. Plant Community Scales

Condon

Pyke

2020

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although biological soil crusts (biocrusts) occur globally in arid and semi-arid environments, most of our knowledge of biocrust cover and ecology is from a relatively small number of locations worldwide. Some plant communities are known to have high cover of biocrusts, but the abundance of biocrusts is largely undocumented in most plant communities. Using a data driven approach, we identified 16 plant communities based on plant cover from the Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring Strategy data from the Bureau of Land Management (AIM, 5,200 plots). We found that abundance of lichens and mosses varies among communities, but that both components of biocrusts are present in all plant communities. Biocrusts are indicators of two of these communities: one that is defined by high cover of mosses and basin big sagebrush and one that is defined by high cover of lichens and shadscale saltbush. Using non-parametric multiplicative regression, we evaluated a suite of abiotic and disturbance variables to assess the degree to which climate and soils are associated with the abundance of lichens and mosses at the regional scale. At the regional scale, soil depth and maximum vapor pressure deficit were found to be strongly associated with the abundance of lichens and January minimum temperature dictated the abundance of mosses. At the scale of plant communities, community specific metrics of soils and climate were better able to explain the abundance of biocrusts. Our demonstration of the presence of biocrusts across the western US suggests that studies on ecosystem function could include these organisms because they are present in all plant communities, maintain arguably stronger associations with climatic variation, are directly associated with soils, and contribute to ecosystem functions that are not solely maintained by vascular plants.

show abstract

Effect of repeated burning on plant and soil carbon and nitrogen in cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) dominated ecosystems

Cited by 30 publications

References 60 publications

The role of resource limitation in restoration of sagebrush ecosystems dominated by cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum)

The role of resource limitation in restoration of sagebrush ecosystems dominated by cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum)

Refining the cheatgrass–fire cycle in the Great Basin: Precipitation timing and fine fuel composition predict wildfire trends

Components and Predictors of Biological Soil Crusts Vary at the Regional vs. Plant Community Scales

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About