A nontarget, disturbance-resilient native species influences post-fire recovery and multiphasic herbicide-seeding outcomes in drylands threatened by exotic annual grasses

Native species that are abundant and persistent across disturbance-succession cycles can affect recovery and restoration of plant communities, especially in drylands. In the sagebrush-steppe deserts of North America, restoring deep-rooted perennial bunchgrasses (DRPBGs) is key to the strategy for breaking an increasingly problematic cycle of wildfire promoted by exotic annual grasses (EAGs) and displacement of perennials by post-fire increases in EAGs. We asked how Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda, POSE)—a common native grass that shares traits with EAGs such as resilience to disturbance and rapid, shallow-rooted, early season growth—(1) recovered after wildfire, (2) responded to different combinations of native-plant seedings of DRPBGs and EAG-targeting herbicides; and (3) in turn, related to DRPBG recovery. In repeated sampling of up to approximately 2,000 plots spanning 113,000 burned hectares, POSE was initially more abundant than DRPBGs until POSE began to decline 5 years post-fire, and POSE was marginally affected or unaffected by restoration treatments targeting DRPBGs or EAGs. In comparison, EAG cover decreased 8–16% where preemergent herbicide was sprayed and DRPBG cover increased 3–9% where they were drill-seeded, and the greatest EAG reductions and DRPBG increases were seen where seeding and herbicides were combined in a time-staggered fashion. Treatments had less target effects where POSE cover was high (>18%), which is also where EAG cover was scarcer and DRPBG cover greater, regardless of post-fire interventions. Consideration of the ecological role of disturbance-resilient species with ruderal characteristics that match traits of key invaders may improve the efficiency and effectiveness of restoration interventions.