Land use and unintentional (e.g., wildfire) disturbances are increasingly dominant factors affecting land-use planning and management of semiarid landscapes, particularly in sagebrush steppe rangelands. In the last 10-20 years, wildfires are occurring more frequently and increasingly in very large burn patches.
Major conservation investments are often directed towards stabilizing soils and promoting native or desirable perennial plant communities that support wildlife and sustain livestock values under current and future conditions. My research group is evaluating risks of soil erosion and exotic-plant invasions, and approaches for increasing the effectiveness of post-fire seeding, herbicide applications, and also effects of grazing-resumption timing. Our activities contribute to the information base needed by managers to preserve or restore resistance and resilience to burned rangeland landscapes. Research sub-topics include:
Post-fire seeding, planting, and herbicide spraying effectiveness; finding ways to improve success
Seed-source effects, determined from actual seedings and through common-garden studies
Post-fire wind erosion: causes, consequences, and management implications
Developing monitoring approaches for post-fire landscapes
Assessing bunchgrass maturity and readiness for grazing
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Plant-Soil-Environment Laboratory (FRESC)
If you are unable to access or download a data file online, we can provide it to you via other means. Please send an email to fresc_outreach@usgs.gov and include the citation for the publication of interest.
Survival data of transplanted sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata) seedlings in relation to vegetative, organismal, and topographic conditions after megafire
Exotic and perennial grass cover for pastures in the Soda Fire (2016)
If a publication is not available online, we may be able to provide you with a reprint by request. Please send an email to fresc_outreach@usgs.gov and include the citation for the publication of interest.
Plant community trajectories following livestock exclusion for conservation vary and hinge on initial invasion and soil-biocrust conditions in shrub steppe
Post-fire seed dispersal of a wind-dispersed shrub declined with distance to seed source, yet had high levels of unexplained variation
Modeling of fire spread in sagebrush steppe using FARSITE: An approach to improving input data and simulation accuracy
Intra-site sources of restoration variability in severely invaded rangeland: Strong temporal effects of herbicide-weather interactions; weak spatial effects of plant-community patch type and litter
Predictive models of selective cattle use of large, burned landscapes in semiarid sagebrush-steppe
Greater sage-grouse respond positively to intensive post-fire restoration treatments
Monitoring for adaptive management of burned sagebrush-steppe rangelands: addressing variability and uncertainty on the 2015 Soda Megafire
Patterns of post-fire invasion of semiarid shrub-steppe reveals a diversity of invasion niches within an exotic annual grass community
Weather affects post‐fire recovery of sagebrush‐steppe communities and model transferability among sites
Post-fire management targeting invasive annual grasses may have inadvertently released the exotic perennial forb Chondrilla juncea and suppressed its biocontrol agent
A chemical and bio‐herbicide mixture increased exotic invaders, both targeted and non‐targeted, across a diversely invaded landscape after fire
Detecting shrub recovery in sagebrush steppe: Comparing Landsat-derived maps with field data on historical wildfires
- Overview
Land use and unintentional (e.g., wildfire) disturbances are increasingly dominant factors affecting land-use planning and management of semiarid landscapes, particularly in sagebrush steppe rangelands. In the last 10-20 years, wildfires are occurring more frequently and increasingly in very large burn patches.
Major conservation investments are often directed towards stabilizing soils and promoting native or desirable perennial plant communities that support wildlife and sustain livestock values under current and future conditions. My research group is evaluating risks of soil erosion and exotic-plant invasions, and approaches for increasing the effectiveness of post-fire seeding, herbicide applications, and also effects of grazing-resumption timing. Our activities contribute to the information base needed by managers to preserve or restore resistance and resilience to burned rangeland landscapes. Research sub-topics include:
Post-fire seeding, planting, and herbicide spraying effectiveness; finding ways to improve success
Seed-source effects, determined from actual seedings and through common-garden studies
Post-fire wind erosion: causes, consequences, and management implications
Developing monitoring approaches for post-fire landscapes
Assessing bunchgrass maturity and readiness for grazing
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Plant-Soil-Environment Laboratory (FRESC)
We produce basic and applied science needed to manage landscapes in ways that make them resistant and resilient to stressors such as wildfire, exotic plant invasions, drought, and temperature extremes. These stressors impact ecosystem productivity and functioning and pose costly risks to human health and safety in the western United States. We team with other state and federal agencies to find... - Data
If you are unable to access or download a data file online, we can provide it to you via other means. Please send an email to fresc_outreach@usgs.gov and include the citation for the publication of interest.
Survival data of transplanted sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata) seedlings in relation to vegetative, organismal, and topographic conditions after megafire
This dataset contains information on the survival of individual sagebrush seedlings, stands of seedlings and the vegetative and topographic conditions in which they were planted.Exotic and perennial grass cover for pastures in the Soda Fire (2016)
The point data file ("Soda Fire Point and Pasture Data (2016).Point Data.csv") includes 2016 vegetative cover values of exotic annual grass and perennial grass measured within three different types of plots for 75 pastures in the Soda Fire, which burned in 2015: 6m2 plot using a grid-point intercept photo software, SamplePoint (Booth et al. 2006), 1m2 quadrat using an unguided rapid ocular estimat - Publications
If a publication is not available online, we may be able to provide you with a reprint by request. Please send an email to fresc_outreach@usgs.gov and include the citation for the publication of interest.
Filter Total Items: 26Plant community trajectories following livestock exclusion for conservation vary and hinge on initial invasion and soil-biocrust conditions in shrub steppe
Adjustments or complete withdrawal of livestock grazing are among the most common conservation actions in semiarid uplands, but outcomes can vary considerably with ecological context. Invasion by exotic annual grasses and the excessive wildfire they promote are increasing threats to semiarid shrub-steppe, and plant-community response to livestock exclusion in these areas may be complicated by thePost-fire seed dispersal of a wind-dispersed shrub declined with distance to seed source, yet had high levels of unexplained variation
Plant-population recovery across large disturbance areas is often seed-limited. An understanding of seed dispersal patterns is fundamental for determining natural-regeneration potential. However, forecasting seed dispersal rates across heterogeneous landscapes remains a challenge. Our objectives were to determine (i) the landscape patterning of post-disturbance seed dispersal, and underlying sourcModeling of fire spread in sagebrush steppe using FARSITE: An approach to improving input data and simulation accuracy
Background: Model simulations of wildfire spread and assessments of their accuracy are needed for understanding and managing altered fire regimes in semiarid regions. The accuracy of wildfire spread simulations can be evaluated from post hoc comparisons of simulated and actual wildfire perimeters, but this requires information on pre-fire vegetation fuels that is typically not available. We assessIntra-site sources of restoration variability in severely invaded rangeland: Strong temporal effects of herbicide-weather interactions; weak spatial effects of plant-community patch type and litter
Invasions by exotic annual grasses (EAGs) are replacing native perennials in semiarid areas globally, including the vast sagebrush-steppe rangelands of western North America. Efforts to eradicate EAGs and restore perennials have had mixed success, especially in relatively warm and dry areas where EAGs had high dominance prior to intervention. Greater consideration of the ecological sources of variPredictive models of selective cattle use of large, burned landscapes in semiarid sagebrush-steppe
The fire-exotic annual grass cycle is a severe threat to shrub-steppe rangelands, and a greater understanding of how livestock grazing relates to the problem is needed to guide effective management interventions. Grazing effects vary throughout shrub-steppe rangelands because livestock are selective in their use within pastures. Thus, knowing where cattle are located and concentrate their use in aGreater sage-grouse respond positively to intensive post-fire restoration treatments
Habitat loss is the most prevalent threat to biodiversity in North America. One of the most threatened landscapes in the United States is the sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem, much of which has been fragmented or converted to non-native grasslands via the cheatgrass-fire cycle. Like many sagebrush obligates, greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) depend upon sagebrush for food and covMonitoring for adaptive management of burned sagebrush-steppe rangelands: addressing variability and uncertainty on the 2015 Soda Megafire
• Use of adaptive management supported by robust monitoring is vital to solving severe rangeland problems, such as the exotic annual grass invasion and fire cycle in sagebrush-steppe rangelands.• Uncertainty in post-fire plant-community composition and plant response to treatments poses a challenge to land management and research but can be addressed with a high density of observations over shortPatterns of post-fire invasion of semiarid shrub-steppe reveals a diversity of invasion niches within an exotic annual grass community
Disturbances such as fire provide an opportunity for invasive plant species to exploit newly created niche space. Whether initial invaders facilitate, compete with, or do not affect later invaders is important to determine in communities affected by multiple invaders. This analysis focuses on the newer invaders Taeniatherum caput-medusae (medusahead) and Ventenata dubia (ventenata) in sagebrush-stWeather affects post‐fire recovery of sagebrush‐steppe communities and model transferability among sites
Altered climate, including weather extremes, can cause major shifts in vegetative recovery after disturbances. Predictive models that can identify the separate and combined temporal effects of disturbance and weather on plant communities and that are transferable among sites are needed to guide vulnerability assessments and management interventions. We asked how functional group abundance respondePost-fire management targeting invasive annual grasses may have inadvertently released the exotic perennial forb Chondrilla juncea and suppressed its biocontrol agent
Top-down and bottom-up factors affecting invasive populations are rarely considered simultaneously, yet their interactive responses to disturbances and management interventions can be essential to understanding invasion patterns. We evaluated post-fire responses of the exotic perennial forb Chondrilla juncea (rush skeletonweed) and its biocontrol agents to landscape factors and a post-fire combineA chemical and bio‐herbicide mixture increased exotic invaders, both targeted and non‐targeted, across a diversely invaded landscape after fire
QuestionsInvasive‐plant treatments often target a single or few species, but many landscapes are diversely invaded. Exotic annual grasses (EAGs) increase wildfires and degrade native perennial plant communities in cold‐desert rangelands, and herbicides are thus sprayed to inhibit EAG germination and establishment. We asked how EAG target and non‐target species responded to an herbicide mixture sprDetecting shrub recovery in sagebrush steppe: Comparing Landsat-derived maps with field data on historical wildfires
BackgroundThe need for basic information on spatial distribution and abundance of plant species for research and management in semiarid ecosystems is frequently unmet. This need is particularly acute in the large areas impacted by megafires in sagebrush steppe ecosystems, which require frequently updated information about increases in exotic annual invaders or recovery of desirable perennials. Rem