Repeated fires reduce plant diversity in low‐elevation Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems (1984–2014)

Abstract

Sagebrush is one of the most imperiled ecosystems in western North America, having lost about half of its original 62 million hectare extent. Annual grass invasions are known to be increasing wildfire occurrence and burned area, but the lasting effects (greater than five years post‐fire) that the resulting reburns have on these plant communities are unclear. We created a fire history atlas from 31 yr (1984–2014) of Landsat‐derived fire data to sample along a fire frequency gradient (zero to three fires) in an area of northern Nevada that has experienced frequent fire in this time period. Thirty‐two percent of our study area (13,000 km2) burned in large fires (over 404 ha) at least once, 7% burned twice, and 2% burned three or more times. We collected plant abundance data at 28 plots (N = 7 per fire frequency), with an average time since fire of 17 yr. We examined fire's effect on plant diversity using species accumulation curves, alpha diversity (Shannon's dominance, Pielou's evenness, and number of species), and beta diversity (Whittaker, Simpson, and Z indexes). For composition, we used non‐metric multidimensional scaling. We then used PERMANOVA models to examine how disturbance history, temperature, precipitation, and aridity around the time of the fire affected subsequent community composition and diversity. One fire fundamentally changed community composition and reduced species richness, and each subsequent fire reduced richness further. Alpha diversity decreased after one fire. Beta diversity declined after the third fire. Cover of exotics was 10% higher in all burned plots, and native cover was 20% lower than in unburned plots, regardless of frequency. PERMANOVA models showed fire frequency and antecedent precipitation as the strongest predictors of beta diversity, while time since fire and vapor pressure deficit for the year of the fire were the strongest predictors of community composition. Given that a single fire has such a marked effect on species composition, and repeated fires reduce richness and beta diversity, we suggest that in lower elevation big sagebrush systems fire should be minimized as much as possible, perhaps even prescribed fire. Restoration efforts should be focused on timing with wet years on cooler, wetter sites.

Pre‐fire vegetation drives post‐fire outcomes in sagebrush ecosystems: evidence from field and remote sensing data

“…We found strong support for our hypothesis that areas burned by fire since the 1980s experienced greater changes in cover than unburned areas (Table 1, . More generally, these finding are in line with substantial literature documenting fire as a major driver of ecosystem change in the Great Basin (Balch et al 2013, Mahood and Balch 2019. These findings corroborate a recent analysis by Shi et al (2018), which identified fire as the most important predictor of component cover change in a region directly north of our California focal area.…”

Fire and development influences on sagebrush community plant groups across a climate gradient in northern Nevada

“…Our goal was to both extend analyses for sagebrush community susceptibility to non‐native grass invasion mediated by disturbance and include multiple other disturbances in the analyses (such as Bradley et al. , Condon and Pyke , Mahood and Balch ). Results from this study demonstrate that the consequence of disturbances on functional group cover differs by type and combination of disturbances and climate.…”

“…A single fire could result in significant community shifts and slow recovery, especially at warmer, drier, and lower elevation sites (Baker , Knutson et al. , Mahood and Balch , Shriver et al. ).…”

“…). Additional fires further decrease cover and moreover can lead to simplification of communities (Mahood and Balch ).…”

“…The impacts of disturbances on forbs may also be beyond overall cover, such as shifts in composition and diversity, phenological changes, and reproductive allocations from species‐specific responses (Doerr et al. , Pyle and Crawford , Wrobleski and Kauffman , Mahood and Balch ).…”