Fire behavior characteristics of buffelgrass-fueled fires and native plant community composition in invaded patches

McDonald, Christopher J.; McPherson, Guy R.

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2011.04.024

Cited by 64 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Therefore, incorporating pyric herbivory into rangeland management practices has potential to reduce the occurrence and impacts of high‐severity wildfires which can cause changes in dominant vegetation types, sometimes allowing increases in exotic species (Forrestel et al. , McDonald and McPherson , Ghermandi et al. , Guthrie et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recoupling fire and grazing reduces wildland fuel loads on rangelands

et al. 2019

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Fire suppression and exclusion, the historically dominant paradigm of fire management, has resulted in major modifications of fire-dependent ecosystems worldwide. These changes are partially credited with a recent increase in wildfire number and extent, as well as more extreme fire behavior. Fire and herbivory historically interacted, and research has shown that the interaction creates a unique mosaic of vegetation heterogeneity that each disturbance alone does not create. Because fire and grazing have largely been decoupled in modern times, the degree to which the interaction affects fuels and fire regimes has not yet been quantified. We evaluated effects of fire-only and pyric herbivory on rangeland fuels and fire behavior simulated using BehavePlus at four sites across the southern Great Plains. We predicted patches managed via pyric herbivory would maintain lower fuel loads, and less intense simulated fire behavior than fire alone. We found that time since fire was a significant predictor of fuel loads and simulated fire behavior characteristics at all sites. Fuel loads and simulated fire behavior characteristics (flame length and rate of spread) increased with increasing time since fire in all simulated weather scenarios. Pyric herbivory mediated fuel accumulation at all sites. Mean fuel loads in fire-only treatments exceeded 5000 kg/ha within 24 months, but pyric herbivory treatments remained below 5000 kg/ha for approximately 36 months. Simulated flame lengths in fire-only treatments were consistently higher (up to 3 9 ) than in pyric herbivory treatments. Similarly, fire spread rates were higher in fire-only than in pyric herbivory treatments in all simulated weather conditions. Although all sites had potential to burn in the most extreme weather conditions, pyric herbivory reduced fuel accumulations, flame lengths, and rates of spread across all weather patterns simulated. These reductions extended the amount of time standard wildland firefighting techniques remain effective. Therefore, incorporating pyric herbivory into fuel management practices, in areas of high herbaceous productivity, increases the effectiveness of fuel treatments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recoupling fire and grazing reduces wildland fuel loads on rangelands

et al. 2019

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“…The grass was introduced to Australia and South, Central and North America, including the Sonoran Desert region, in the 1940s to provide livestock forage and mitigate soil erosion (Hanselka ). Since then, buffelgrass has aggressively spread into areas historically occupied by sparse native vegetation (McDonald and McPherson ; Olsson et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive buffelgrass detection using high‐resolution satellite and UAV imagery on Google Earth Engine

Elkind

Sankey

Munson

et al. 2019

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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Methods to detect and monitor the spread of invasive grasses are critical to avoid ecosystem transformations and large economic costs. The rapid spread of non‐native buffelgrass(Pennisetum ciliare) has intensified fire risk and is replacing fire intolerant native vegetation in the Sonoran Desert of the southwestern US. Coarse‐resolution satellite imagery has had limited success in detecting small patches of buffelgrass, whereas ground‐based and aerial survey methods are often cost prohibitive. To improve detection, we trained 2 m resolution DigitalGlobe WorldView‐2 satellite imagery with 12 cm resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and classified buffelgrass on Google Earth Engine, a cloud computing platform, using Random Forest (RF) models in Saguaro National Park, Arizona, USA. Our classification models had an average overall accuracy of 93% and producer's accuracies of 94–96% for buffelgrass, although user's accuracies were low. We detected a 2.92 km2 area of buffelgrass in the eastern Rincon Mountain District (1.07% of the total area) and a 0.46 km2 area (0.46% of the total area) in the western Tucson Mountain District of Saguaro National Park. Buffelgrass cover was significantly greater in the Sonoran Paloverde‐Mixed Cacti Desert Scrub vegetation type, on poorly developed Entisols and Inceptisol soils and on south‐facing topographic aspects compared to other areas. Our results demonstrate that high‐resolution imagery improve on previous attempts to detect and classify buffelgrass and indicate potential areas where the invasive grass might spread. The methods demonstrated in this study could be employed by land managers as a low‐cost strategy to identify priority areas for control efforts and continued monitoring.

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“…Both species have been documented to directly and indirectly reduce both floral and faunal diversity in the arid lands. The former occur because these species grow rapidly under favorable conditions and generate fire regimes that kill native plant species in the Sonoran Desert (Esque et al ; McDonald & McPherson , ) and in Australia (Butler & Fairfax ); this can transform rich desert scrub to depauperate grassland in the absence of any change in fire regimes (Olsson et al ) and is associated with reduced growth by native species in Australia (Clarke et al ). Direct impacts on wildlife vary but include changes in density of various avian foraging guilds, variable impacts on reproductive success by grassland birds, changes in composition and relative abundances (but not total abundance) of small mammals, and reduced body condition in adult desert tortoises (summarized by Steidl et al ).…”

Section: Discussion—what Is the Restorative Role Of Revegetation?mentioning

confidence: 99%

To what extent can and should revegetation serve as restoration?

Kelt¹,

Meserve

2016

Restoration Ecology

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Desertification and climate change are degrading large areas of arid and semiarid habitat in many regions. In response, many countries have implemented revegetation programs, commonly using Atriplex nummularia, native to Australia. Although not intrinsically targeted at habitat restoration, these programs aim to restore (stabilize) erosional processes and provide livestock forage (usually goats, sheep). Few investigators have assessed the utility of these novel habitats for native fauna. In a recent, extensive survey of small mammal communities in lands revegetated with A. nummularia in north‐central Chile, we captured a single animal, the marsupial (Thylamys elegans). We also captured no birds in our live traps and saw numerous darkling beetles in traps. These striking results contrasted with data from a nearby ungrazed park with natural vegetation where 10 small mammal species are known with total abundances ranging from 15 to 80 animals in similar sampling efforts. These revegetated lands provide poor habitat for native mammals, and we argue that revegetation efforts should include proactive risk assessment and cost‐benefit analyses in a structured decision‐making framework. In addition, managers should target increased plant species diversity to support broader biological diversity in addition to the need to control erosion. Although our work has focused on revegetation with Atriplex, numerous other plant species have been intentionally introduced to arid lands, usually for economic reasons; many of these, like Atriplex, have unintended consequences for native biota.

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Fire behavior characteristics of buffelgrass-fueled fires and native plant community composition in invaded patches

Cited by 64 publications

References 43 publications

Recoupling fire and grazing reduces wildland fuel loads on rangelands

Recoupling fire and grazing reduces wildland fuel loads on rangelands

Invasive buffelgrass detection using high‐resolution satellite and UAV imagery on Google Earth Engine

To what extent can and should revegetation serve as restoration?

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