Invasive Species

Climate change-induced warming can alter plant phenology and disrupt ecosystems like the sagebrush steppe in western North America. The invasive annual grass cheatgrass can thrive under these altered conditions, exacerbating wildfires and threatening wildlife habitat, carbon storage, and other important ecosystem services. We are studying how different densities of cheatgrass respond to increased...

This project analyzes on-the-ground plant monitoring data across sagebrush and rangeland ecosystems to examine how fire, climate, topography, and plant communities influence the success of invasive annual grasses after fires.

City of Rocks National Reserve and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve are lands managed by the National Park Service that contain ecologically valuable stands of sagebrush and unique forest communities that are at risk due to wildfire and invasion by exotic annual grasses. We are working to determine the extent of invasion and to provide park managers with wildfire risk assessments...

Climate forecasts provide a unique tool to researchers and wildlife managers, allowing for a look into potential future climate conditions. Climate models provide multiple scenarios that assume different mitigation polices implemented by governments. By using these data in a statistical model to estimate soil-climate conditions, we can investigate the connection between future climate and...

We are investigating ecosystem transitions and thresholds in the sagebrush steppe, studying factors influencing the shift from native to invaded plant communities after disturbances like fire. Our research tests region-wide resistance and resilience models, focusing on real-world recovery patterns, pre-fire conditions, plant succession, and land management treatments.

We are using existing datasets that span broad spatial and temporal extents to model the efficacy of invasive annual grass treatments across the sagebrush biome and the influence of environmental factors on their success. The models we develop will be used to generate maps of predicted treatment efficacy across the biome, which will be integrated into the Land Treatment Exploration Tool for land...

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey are reviewing, summarizing, and analyzing what is currently known about changes happening in pinyon-juniper ecosystems in the western U.S. in response to tree removal treatments. Although tree removal can help restore sagebrush ecosystems, these treatments also impact wildlife, wildfire fuels, and invasive plants. This project will help identify key...

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey are developing a strategic framework for assessing and monitoring the impacts of fuel breaks in sagebrush ecosystems of the western U.S. Fuel breaks are increasingly being used to reduce the threat of wildfire, but more information on their efficacy and impacts on wildlife habitat and exotic annual grass invasion is needed.

We are studying how herbicides sprayed onto soil to prevent the establishment of exotic annual grasses such as cheatgrass may impact the health, growth resources and microbiota of soils in sagebrush-steppe, where herbicide use is an important and common tool. Our findings will help make herbicide applications more successful.

Pre-emergent herbicides applied to soil are a primary tool for reducing exotic annual grasses, such as cheatgrass, in sagebrush steppe rangelands. Effective herbicide application can allow existing perennials to grow and spread to outcompete cheatgrass, preventing reinvasion, but most perennials are slow-growing and require more years of relief from annual-grass competition than standard...

In order to break the annual grass fire-cycle in the sagebrush steppe, land managers use pre-emergent herbicides to reduce annual grass populations and seeding to increase fire-tolerant perennials. These tools must be applied to the same soils in ways that are not counterproductive, and their application must therefore be staggered in time, which we refer to as layering. Livestock grazing can also...

Management partners have identified a major need to understand the short and long-term consequences of altered wildfire patterns, vegetation change, climate, and management actions for the carbon cycle. This project aims to quantify carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions in sagebrush rangelands. Researchers will link findings to the Sagebrush Conservation Design Framework and provide...