Abundance, cover, and root measurements of perennial bunchgrasses in the Owyhee Mountains, USA

Invasion of exotic annual grasses (EAG) and increased wildfire have led to an emphasis on managing rangeland plant communities for resistance to invasion and resilience to disturbances. In sagebrush steppe and similar rangelands, perennial bunchgrasses and particularly their roots are hypothesized to be primary contributors to the resistance and resilience. We asked how bunchgrass root abundance relates to annual grass invasion and aboveground indicators of bunchgrass vigor that are more readily measured, such as plant height. We used a standardized USDA protocol for root measurement in 445 excavations made in 2016-2018 across a topographically and ecologically varied region of sagebrush steppe burned in the 2015 Soda fire in the Northern Great Basin USA.