Chad R Kluender
I am an Ecologist at the USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
I work on a team that is researching landscape recovery in sagebrush-steppe ecosystems
Education and Certifications
B.S., Environmental Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (2019)
B.S., Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (2019)
Science and Products
Ocular field estimates of exotic annual and perennial grass cover across the Soda Wildfire
Data includes functional group cover of exotic annual grasses and deep rooted perennial grasses within the first five years after the 2015 Soda wildfire across different post-fire restoration treatments. Additional landscape and restoration treatment covariates hypothesized to influence post-fire invasive annual grass and perennial grass cover are included.
Cover, basal diameter, height, and density of deep-rooted perennial grasses, and cover of exotic annual grasses and Poa secunda over the first five years following post-fire drill-seeding on the Soda Wildfire
Data includes functional group cover of exotic annual grasses, shallow rooted perennial grasses, and cover, basal diameter, height, and density of deep-rooted perennial grasses within the first five years after the 2015 Soda wildfire across post-fire drill-seeding treatments.
Vegetation and soil cover data in response to indaziflam and imazapic herbicide applications within Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho, USA
Eighty-one monitoring plots within the Minidoka National Wildlife refuge on the Snake River Plain in south-central Idaho were surveyed in July-August from 2020 to 2023 to evaluate the effects of herbicides on the vegetation-community across areas that varied in both burn history and background cheatgrass abundance. Surveys consisted of line-point intercept measurements along two 6m or...
Cover of exotic annual and perennial grasses across post-fire restoration treatments on the Soda Wildfire
Data includes functional group cover of exotic annual grasses, deep rooted perennial grasses, and shallow rooted perennial grasses within the first five years after the 2015 Soda wildfire across different post-fire restoration treatments. Additional landscape and weather covariates hypothesized to influence treatment effectiveness are included.
Vegetation and soil cover data for long-term monitoring plots within Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, USA
Sixty-eight monitoring plots within the Browns Park National Wildlife refuge in Northwest Colorado were surveyed in the Summer of 2007 and 2021 for vegetation-community changes after grazing cessation in 1986. Surveys consisted of line-point intercept measurements at 0.5m intervals along three 15-m transects arranged in a spoke around plot center at each plot location.
Patchy response of cheatgrass and nontarget vegetation to indaziflam and imazapic applied after wildfire in sagebrush steppe
Control of nonnative grasses is needed where they are altering fire regimes and degrading rangelands, such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion of perennial sagebrush-steppe communities. Aerial broadcast of the pre-emergent and postemergent herbicide imazapic has been used for decades over vast areas to control cheatgrass after fire. Recent small-scale studies indicate that the pre...
Authors
Chad Raymond Kluender, Matthew Germino, Brynne Lazarus, Ty W. Matthews
Multiple plant-community traits improve predictions of later-stage outcomes of restoration drill seedings: Implications for metrics of success
Success of ecological restoration is often only knowable if treatments meet criteria defined by biotic thresholds, but analytical frameworks to determine metrics of success and their underlying thresholds are needed. Early indicators of longer-term recovery trajectories are particularly critical where re-treatments may be required, such as in harsh climates or where repeated disturbances...
Authors
Chad Raymond Kluender, Matthew Germino, Cara Applestein
Propensity score matching mitigates risk of faulty inferences in observational studies of effectiveness of restoration trials
Determining effectiveness of restoration treatments is an important requirement of adaptive management, but it can be non-trivial where only portions of large and heterogeneous landscapes of concern can be treated and sampled. Bias and non-randomness in the spatial deployment of treatment and thus sampling is nearly unavoidable in the data available for large-scale management trials, and...
Authors
Chad Raymond Kluender, Matthew Germino, Christopher R. Anthony
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...
Authors
Chad Raymond Kluender, Matthew Germino
Plant 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...
Authors
Matthew Germino, Chad Raymond Kluender, Christopher R. Anthony
Relationship of greater sage-grouse to natural and assisted recovery of key vegetation types following wildfire: Insights from scat
Megafires are creating severe conservation problems worldwide for wildlife that have obligate dependencies on plant species that are foundational but fire-intolerant. Wildfire-induced loss of native perennials and increases in exotic annual grasses threaten greater sage-grouse (GRSG, Centrocercus urophasianus) in its sagebrush steppe habitat in western North America. Post-fire...
Authors
Matthew Germino, Christopher R. Anthony, Chad Raymond Kluender, Ethan A. Ellsworth, Ann M. Moser, Cara Applestein, Matthew Fisk
Science and Products
Ocular field estimates of exotic annual and perennial grass cover across the Soda Wildfire
Data includes functional group cover of exotic annual grasses and deep rooted perennial grasses within the first five years after the 2015 Soda wildfire across different post-fire restoration treatments. Additional landscape and restoration treatment covariates hypothesized to influence post-fire invasive annual grass and perennial grass cover are included.
Cover, basal diameter, height, and density of deep-rooted perennial grasses, and cover of exotic annual grasses and Poa secunda over the first five years following post-fire drill-seeding on the Soda Wildfire
Data includes functional group cover of exotic annual grasses, shallow rooted perennial grasses, and cover, basal diameter, height, and density of deep-rooted perennial grasses within the first five years after the 2015 Soda wildfire across post-fire drill-seeding treatments.
Vegetation and soil cover data in response to indaziflam and imazapic herbicide applications within Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho, USA
Eighty-one monitoring plots within the Minidoka National Wildlife refuge on the Snake River Plain in south-central Idaho were surveyed in July-August from 2020 to 2023 to evaluate the effects of herbicides on the vegetation-community across areas that varied in both burn history and background cheatgrass abundance. Surveys consisted of line-point intercept measurements along two 6m or...
Cover of exotic annual and perennial grasses across post-fire restoration treatments on the Soda Wildfire
Data includes functional group cover of exotic annual grasses, deep rooted perennial grasses, and shallow rooted perennial grasses within the first five years after the 2015 Soda wildfire across different post-fire restoration treatments. Additional landscape and weather covariates hypothesized to influence treatment effectiveness are included.
Vegetation and soil cover data for long-term monitoring plots within Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, USA
Sixty-eight monitoring plots within the Browns Park National Wildlife refuge in Northwest Colorado were surveyed in the Summer of 2007 and 2021 for vegetation-community changes after grazing cessation in 1986. Surveys consisted of line-point intercept measurements at 0.5m intervals along three 15-m transects arranged in a spoke around plot center at each plot location.
Patchy response of cheatgrass and nontarget vegetation to indaziflam and imazapic applied after wildfire in sagebrush steppe
Control of nonnative grasses is needed where they are altering fire regimes and degrading rangelands, such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion of perennial sagebrush-steppe communities. Aerial broadcast of the pre-emergent and postemergent herbicide imazapic has been used for decades over vast areas to control cheatgrass after fire. Recent small-scale studies indicate that the pre...
Authors
Chad Raymond Kluender, Matthew Germino, Brynne Lazarus, Ty W. Matthews
Multiple plant-community traits improve predictions of later-stage outcomes of restoration drill seedings: Implications for metrics of success
Success of ecological restoration is often only knowable if treatments meet criteria defined by biotic thresholds, but analytical frameworks to determine metrics of success and their underlying thresholds are needed. Early indicators of longer-term recovery trajectories are particularly critical where re-treatments may be required, such as in harsh climates or where repeated disturbances...
Authors
Chad Raymond Kluender, Matthew Germino, Cara Applestein
Propensity score matching mitigates risk of faulty inferences in observational studies of effectiveness of restoration trials
Determining effectiveness of restoration treatments is an important requirement of adaptive management, but it can be non-trivial where only portions of large and heterogeneous landscapes of concern can be treated and sampled. Bias and non-randomness in the spatial deployment of treatment and thus sampling is nearly unavoidable in the data available for large-scale management trials, and...
Authors
Chad Raymond Kluender, Matthew Germino, Christopher R. Anthony
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...
Authors
Chad Raymond Kluender, Matthew Germino
Plant 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...
Authors
Matthew Germino, Chad Raymond Kluender, Christopher R. Anthony
Relationship of greater sage-grouse to natural and assisted recovery of key vegetation types following wildfire: Insights from scat
Megafires are creating severe conservation problems worldwide for wildlife that have obligate dependencies on plant species that are foundational but fire-intolerant. Wildfire-induced loss of native perennials and increases in exotic annual grasses threaten greater sage-grouse (GRSG, Centrocercus urophasianus) in its sagebrush steppe habitat in western North America. Post-fire...
Authors
Matthew Germino, Christopher R. Anthony, Chad Raymond Kluender, Ethan A. Ellsworth, Ann M. Moser, Cara Applestein, Matthew Fisk