Using Resilience and Resistance Concepts to Manage Persistent Threats to Sagebrush Ecosystems and Greater Sage-grouse

Chambers, Jeanne C.; Maestas, Jeremy D.; Pyke, David A.; Boyd, Chad S.; Pellant, Mike; Wuenschel, Amarina

doi:10.1016/j.rama.2016.08.005

Cited by 99 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…Our results generally support the soil temperature/moisture model of sagebrush steppe ecosystem resilience and resistance proposed by Chambers et al (2014a), supported by Chambers et al (2014b), and established into a management framework by Miller et al (2014a), Chambers et al (2017b), and Pyke et al (2017). This model associates cooler soil temperature and wetter soil moisture regimes with greater resilience and resistance of sagebrush ecosystems.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Resilience and resistance in sagebrush ecosystems are associated with seasonal soil temperature and water availability

et al. 2018

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Invasion and dominance of exotic grasses and increased fire frequency threaten native ecosystems worldwide. In the Great Basin region of the western United States, woody and herbaceous fuel treatments are implemented to decrease the effects of wildfire and increase sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to exotic annual grasses. High cover of the exotic annual cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) after treatments increases fine fuels, which in turn increases the risk of passing over a biotic threshold to a state of increased wildfire frequency and conversion to cheatgrass dominance. Sagebrush ecosystem resilience to wildfire and resistance to cheatgrass depend on climatic conditions and abundance of perennial herbaceous species that compete with cheatgrass. In this study, we used longer‐term data to evaluate the relationships among soil climate conditions, perennial herbaceous cover, and cheatgrass cover following fuel management treatments across the environmental gradients that characterize sagebrush ecosystems in the Great Basin. We examined the effects of woody and herbaceous fuel treatments on soil temperature, soil water availability (13–30 and 50 cm depths), and native and exotic plant cover on six sagebrush sites lacking piñon (Pinus spp.) or juniper (Juniperus spp.) tree expansion and 11 sagebrush sites with tree expansion. Both prescribed fire and mechanical treatments increased soil water availability on woodland sites and perennial herbaceous cover on some woodland and sagebrush sites. Prescribed fire also slightly increased soil temperatures and especially increased cheatgrass cover compared to no treatment and mechanical treatments on most sites. Non‐metric dimensional scaling ordination and decision tree partition analysis indicated that sites with warmer late springs and warmer and wetter falls had higher cover of cheatgrass. Sites with wetter winters and early springs (March–April) had higher cover of perennial herbs. Our findings suggest that site resistance to cheatgrass after fire and fuel control treatments decreases with a warmer and drier climate. This emphasizes the need for management actions to maintain and enhance perennial herb cover, such as implementing appropriate grazing management, and revegetating sites that have low abundance of perennial herbs in conjunction with fuel control treatments.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Resilience and resistance in sagebrush ecosystems are associated with seasonal soil temperature and water availability

et al. 2018

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“…This demand has manifest land cover changes in the form of cultivation for crops (Smith et al 2016), energy development (Allred et al 2015), and altered fire regimes (Miller et al 2013). These changes, coupled with drought, climate effects (Huang et al 2017), and changes in species composition (particularly from non-native invasive plants or encroachment of native woody plants), are affecting rangeland resilience and resistance with cascading effects on ecosystem services (Brooks et al 2016, Maestas et al 2016, Chambers et al 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation in rangeland monitoring: annual, 30 m, plant functional type percent cover maps for U.S. rangelands, 1984–2017

et al. 2018

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Innovations in machine learning and cloud‐based computing were merged with historical remote sensing and field data to provide the first moderate resolution, annual, percent cover maps of plant functional types across rangeland ecosystems to effectively and efficiently respond to pressing challenges facing conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. We utilized the historical Landsat satellite record, gridded meteorology, abiotic land surface data, and over 30,000 field plots within a Random Forests model to predict per‐pixel percent cover of annual forbs and grasses, perennial forbs and grasses, shrubs, and bare ground over the western United States from 1984 to 2017. Results were validated using three independent collections of plot‐level measurements, and resulting maps display land cover variation in response to changes in climate, disturbance, and management. The maps, which will be updated annually at the end of each year, provide exciting opportunities to expand and improve rangeland conservation, monitoring, and management. The data open new doors for scientific investigation at an unprecedented blend of temporal fidelity, spatial resolution, and geographic scale.

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“…However, species and systems may have low resistance and resilience to future climatic conditions if they are outside of the range to which they have adapted. Therefore, understanding and incorporating resistance and resilience of species and systems are becoming increasingly important to conservation planning and adaptive management strategies, particularly in regard to the management of wildlife and their habitats, to facilitate population persistence in a changing climate (Chambers et al, 2017;Hannah et al, 2002;Lawler, 2009;Mawdsley, O'Malley, & Ojima, 2009;Scheffer, Carpenter, Foley, Folke, & Walker, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive effects of severe drought and grazing on the life history cycle of a bioindicator species

Fritts

Grisham

Cox

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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We used the lesser prairie‐chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), an iconic grouse species that exhibits a boom–bust life history strategy, on the Southern High Plains, USA, as a bioindicator of main and interactive effects of severe drought and grazing. This region experienced the worst drought on record in 2011. We surveyed lesser prairie‐chicken leks (i.e., communal breeding grounds) across 12 years that represented 7 years before the 2011 drought (predrought) and 4 years during and following the 2011 drought (postdrought). Grazing was annually managed with the objective of achieving ≤50% utilization of aboveground vegetation biomass. We used lek (n = 49) count data and covariates of weather and managed grazing to: (a) estimate long‐term lesser prairie‐chicken abundance and compare abundance predrought and postdrought; (b) examine the influence of annual and seasonal drought (modified Palmer drought index), temperature, and precipitation on long‐term lesser prairie‐chicken survival and recruitment; and (c) assess and compare the influence of grazing on lesser prairie‐chicken population predrought and postdrought. Lesser prairie‐chicken abundance was nearly seven times greater predrought than postdrought, and population declines were attributed to decreased survival and recruitment. The number of days with temperature >90th percentile had the greatest effect, particularly on recruitment. The population exhibited a substantial bust during 2011 and 2012 without a boom to recover in four postdrought years. Adaptive grazing positively influenced the population predrought, but had no effects postdrought. Results suggest that the severe drought in 2011 may have been beyond the range of environmental conditions to which lesser prairie‐chickens, and likely other species, have adapted. Land management practices, such as grazing, should remain adaptive to ensure potential negative influences to all species are avoided. Increasing habitat quantity and quality by reducing habitat loss and fragmentation likely will increase resiliency of the ecosystem and individual species.

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Using Resilience and Resistance Concepts to Manage Persistent Threats to Sagebrush Ecosystems and Greater Sage-grouse

Cited by 99 publications

References 92 publications

Resilience and resistance in sagebrush ecosystems are associated with seasonal soil temperature and water availability

Resilience and resistance in sagebrush ecosystems are associated with seasonal soil temperature and water availability

Innovation in rangeland monitoring: annual, 30 m, plant functional type percent cover maps for U.S. rangelands, 1984–2017

Interactive effects of severe drought and grazing on the life history cycle of a bioindicator species

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