Topoedaphic Variability and Patch Burning in Sand Sagebrush Shrubland

Winter, Stephen L.; Fuhlendorf, Samuel D.; Goad, Carla L.; Davis, Craig A.; Hickman, Karen R.

doi:10.2111/rem-d-11-00068.1

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 61 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Heterogeneity within a plant community or ecosystem can be driven by disturbances and stochastic events such as fire, herbivory, plant disease, droughts, and floods (Turner et al ). Although disturbance such as fire and grazing are primary contributors to heterogeneity in grassland‐dominated landscapes, so too are inherent properties such as variation in soil and topography (Limb et al , Winter et al ). The combined effects of climate and microclimate, topoedaphic factors, and disturbance contribute to form the landscape heterogeneity that affects the biological diversity on a site (Briggs and Knapp , Reed et al , Godfree et al ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of the thermal environment for terrestrial wildlife management

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How organisms respond to and are influenced by temperature is one of the most fundamental aspects of ecology. Temperature affects animal physiology, behavior, survival, and reproduction. At broader spatial and temporal scales, temperature affects animal distributions, speciation, and evolution. Although entire textbooks have been devoted to how temperature is related to various aspects of basic animal ecology, applied ecologists have only recently begun to address thermal ecology in wildlife research. New investigations of thermal conditions relative to specific wildlife species have generally found tremendous variation within landscapes. Consequently, multiple species have been shown to respond in predictive ways to thermal variation. Variation in temperature can be due to both topoedaphic features inherent in the landscape as well as differences in vegetation structure and composition resulting from management actions. Although consideration of the thermal environment has received consideration for exothermic species, new evidence indicates that it has major implications to endotherms and may become even more critical under novel climate conditions. Rarely does management consider thermal cover explicitly or in a spatiotemporally dynamic way; in our view, this is a major short-coming of current conservation planning and management actions. We argue that thermal environments should be foundational in the understanding of the habitat concept. Furthermore, restoration and management efforts should specifically consider thermal refuge and pinch points-the discrete time or event when thermal conditions experienced by an organism deviate to extreme values relative to average conditions and limit vital rates and space use of that organism. We suggest that future research on thermal environments work at scales relevant to organisms so that management can adequately address the full extent of a species' habitat. Ó 2017 The Authors. Wildlife Society Bulletin published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Wildlife Society.KEY WORDS habitat selection, microclimate, operative temperature, space use, thermal environment, thermal refuge.How organisms respond to, and are influenced by, temperature is one of the most fundamental aspects of ecology (Begon et al. 2006). In a proximate sense, temperature affects animal physiology, behavior, survival, and reproduction. Ultimately, temperature affects animal distributions, speciation, and evolution. Entire textbooks have been devoted to how temperature is related to various aspects of animal ecology (Feder 1987, Angilletta 2009, Cossins 2012, Deeming and Reynolds 2015. Despite this basic understanding of the importance of temperature to organisms, empirical evidence on how specific management actions influence thermal environments and how species respond to thermal conditions is largely lacking. As a result, thermal environments are rarely considered in management actions for wildlife, which creates a barrier between understanding how temperature influences species ...

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of the thermal environment for terrestrial wildlife management

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We also considered the influence of topographic variation in our analyses, because topography is well known to influence cattle foraging behaviour (Senft, Rittenhouse & Woodmansee ) and can influence animal responses to patch burning (Winter et al . ). Our approach allowed us to measure temporal variability in grazer response to burns, and to quantitatively compare findings with studies that used similar methods in mesic grassland (Allred et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We measured the amount of time that cattle spent grazing on burned and unburned patches using GPS collars and associated activity sensors, and the rate at which cattle gained weight with vs. without access to burned patches. We also considered the influence of topographic variation in our analyses, because topography is well known to influence cattle foraging behaviour (Senft, Rittenhouse & Woodmansee 1985) and can influence animal responses to patch burning (Winter et al 2011). Our approach allowed us to measure temporal variability in grazer response to burns, and to quantitatively compare findings with studies that used similar methods in mesic grassland Limb et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controls over the strength and timing of fire–grazer interactions in a semi‐arid rangeland

Augustine

Derner

2013

Journal of Applied Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary1. The degree to which large herbivores select and forage within recently burned areas is a key driver of vegetation heterogeneity in rangeland ecosystems. However, few studies have quantified the strength and timing of herbivore selection for burned areas or examined how selection strength varies among ecosystems differing in precipitation and primary productivity. 2. We conducted a 4-year patch-burning experiment in semi-arid rangeland of Colorado, USA, where 25% of the area available to cattle was burned each year and burned patches were shifted annually. We used GPS collars with activity sensors to quantify the distribution of free-ranging cattle at a high temporal resolution (5-min intervals) during the growing season each year. We used a classification tree model to discriminate between cattle grazing vs. non-grazing locations, which significantly increased precision in quantifying burn selection strength. We fit generalized linear models predicting the frequency of cattle use of a given location within each study area and month, enabling comparisons between the relative influence of burns and topography on grazing distribution. 3. Across multiple growing seasons, cattle selectively spent 31% of grazing time on recently burnt areas, which comprised 25% of the landscape; this selection strength was half as strong as that documented in mesic rangeland. 4. At a monthly temporal scale, strong cattle selection for burned areas occurred during periods of rapid vegetation growth regardless of when during the growing season this greening occurred. Outside these intervals, burn selection strength was inconsistent and cattle grazing distribution was primarily influenced by topography. Thus, the relative importance of fire and topography in controlling grazer distribution was temporally contingent upon the timing and size of precipitation pulses. 5. Synthesis and applications. Spatiotemporal interactions between fire and herbivores are a consistent feature of both semi-arid and mesic rangelands, with interaction strength varying across gradients of precipitation and primary productivity. Management of semi-arid ecosystems to sustain ecological processes should include strategies that allow ungulate herbivores to shift their grazing distribution seasonally in response to fire, topoedaphic variation and precipitation patterns. Combined management of fire and grazing for conservation objectives can be consistent with, and even complementary to, livestock production goals.

show abstract

“…Environmental heterogeneity begets greater diversity across multiple trophic levels (MacArthur and MacArthur, 1961;Tews et al, 2004), causing academics and natural resource professionals to question the appropriateness of grassland practices that seek to promote uniform grassland structure and composition (Fuhlendorf et al, 2012). In grasslands, soil and topographic features contribute to inherent diversity of vegetation due to resource availability and plant species competition (Patten and Ellis, 1995;Fuhlendorf and Engle, 2001;Winter et al, 2011). Grassland species evolved within a dynamic, disturbance-driven spatially, and temporally heterogeneous landscape with specialist niche space for flora and fauna (Biondini et al, 1989;Fuhlendorf and Engle, 2004;Tews et al, 2004;McGranahan et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Application of patch burning in tallgrass, mixedgrass, and shortgrass prairies has increased the diversity of small (Fuhlendorf et al, 2010) and large mammal communities (Meek et al, 2008;Augustine and Derner, 2015), increased desirable invertebrate species (Debinski et al, 2011), and decreased insects harmful to livestock (Scasta et al, 2012;Polito et al, 2013) all while improving cattle production (Fuhlendorf and Engle, 2004;Vermeire et al, 2004;Allred et al, 2011bAllred et al, , 2014Limb et al, 2011), reducing invasive species (Cummings et al, 2007), and contributing to grassland restoration (McGranahan et al, 2014). Although studies have occurred across precipitation, productivity, and topoedaphic gradients (Winter et al, 2011;McGranahan et al, 2012;Augustine and Derner, 2014), few studies have occurred in ecosystems consisting of predominantly sandy soil with lower nutrient, organic matter, and water holding capacities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoring Fire-Grazer Interactions to Pursue Heterogeneity in Sandhills Prairie

Arterburn¹,

Wonkka²,

Schacht³

et al. 2019

Front. Ecol. Evol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Heterogeneity has emerged as a fundamental principle for grassland management and the importance of environmental heterogeneity for biological diversity has raised questions about the appropriateness of grassland practices that seek to promote uniform grassland structure and composition. Principles of uniformity in grassland management reflect a utilitarian target of "managing for the middle" by minimizing both overgrazing and underutilization while avoiding or preventing fire and other disturbances that consume aboveground biomass. We evaluated pioneering efforts to restore fire-grazer interactions via patch burning in an effort to increase spatial heterogeneity at the patch scale in the Nebraska Sandhills, a sandy soil, mixed-grass ecoregion with a long history of "management for the middle." The application of patch burning did not increase heterogeneity of vegetation structure or composition at the patch-level in the Nebraska Sandhills. Instead, grassland structure exhibited greater temporal variability between growing and dormant seasons and smaller scale variability within fire patches. The low stocking rate and the rapid regrowth of live herbaceous vegetation following fire likely constrained the degree of spatial heterogeneity observed in our study and highlights the challenges of balancing forage supply and demand in semi-arid grasslands.

show abstract

Topoedaphic Variability and Patch Burning in Sand Sagebrush Shrubland

Cited by 13 publications

References 61 publications

Implications of the thermal environment for terrestrial wildlife management

Implications of the thermal environment for terrestrial wildlife management

Controls over the strength and timing of fire–grazer interactions in a semi‐arid rangeland

Restoring Fire-Grazer Interactions to Pursue Heterogeneity in Sandhills Prairie

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About