David A Pyke
Biography
Education
Ph.D. Botany, 1983, Washington State University
M.S. Forest and Range Management, 1977, Washington State University
B.S. Range Management (Wildlife option), 1976, Washington State University
Specialty
Plant ecology, restoration ecology, monitoring and assessments of ecosystem status of rangelands (grassland, shrublands and savannas)
Research Interests
Population ecology of native and invasive plants in the Intermountain West. Monitoring protocols for ecosystem integrity on wild lands. Restoration ecology of native plants on disturbed and invaded lands.
Personal Interests
Skiing, Cycling, Baseball, Softball, Gardening, & Beer Brewing
Background
Former Assistant Center Director of FRESC 1996-1999
Science and Products
The effect of stochiastic technique on estimates of population viability from transition matrix models
Population viability analysis is an important tool for conservation biologists, and matrix models that incorporate stochasticity are commonly used for this purpose. However, stochastic simulations may require assumptions about the distribution of matrix parameters, and modelers often select a statistical distribution that seems reasonable without...
Kaye, T.N.; Pyke, David A.Transitions in rangeland evaluations: A review of the major transitions in rangeland evaluations during the last 25 years and speculation about future evaluations
No abstract available.
Pyke, David A.; Herrick, J.E.Rangeland health attributes and indicators for qualitative assessment
Panels of experts from the Society for Range Management and the National Research Council proposed that status of rangeland ecosystems could be ascertained by evaluating an ecological site's potential to conserve soil resources and by a series of indicators for ecosystem processes and site stability. Using these recommendations as a starting point...
Pyke, David A.; Herrick, J.E.; Pellant, MikeAssessing rangelands
It is important for land managers and technical assistance specialists to be able to assess the health of rangelands in order to know where to focus management efforts. The complexity of ecological processes, and the inherent expense of directly measuring site integrity, suggests a need for an evaluation process that focuses instead on biological...
Pyke, David A.Born of fire - restoring sagebrush steppe
Fire is a natural feature of sagebrush grasslands in the Great Basin. The invasion of exotic annual grasses, such as Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass), has changed the environment in these ecosystems. Invasive annual grasses provide a dense and continuous source of fuel that extends the season for fires and increases the frequency of fires in the...
Pyke, David A.Research plan for lands administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior in the Interior Columbia Basin and Snake River Plateau
This document presents a long-term research strategy designed to address current and future research needs for management of Department of the Interior-administered ecosystems in the Intermountain West. Although the research plan was developed in the context of the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project, the plan addresses many high-...
Beever, Erik A.; Pyke, David A.Strategic plan for the Coordinated Intermountain Restoration Project
In 1982, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Idaho State Office began the Intermountain Greenstripping and Rehabilitation Research Project (IGRRP), or the “Greenstripping Program,” to investigate plant materials and technologies that can reduce wildfire incidence and improve rehabilitation practices. Rehabilitation is normally applied as a...
Pyke, David A.; Pellant, Michael L.Ramet spacing of Elymus lanceolatus (thickspike wheatgrass) in response to neighbor density
Many plants exploit patchy resources through clonal foraging. Plants established in field plots were used to determine if Elymus lanceolatus ssp. lanceolatus (Scribner et J.G. Smith) Gould (thickspike wheatgrass) showed a clonal foraging response to neighbour densities, as it had previously shown to patchy soil nutrients. Neighbours consisted of...
Humphrey, L.D.; Pyke, David A.An enthusiast's guide to agrostology
Book review of: Population Biology of Grasses, edited by G.P. Cheplick; Cambridge University Press, 1998. £50.00/$85.00 hbk (xii +399 pages) ISBN 0 521 57205 3
Pyke, David A.Demographic and growth responses of a guerrilla and a phalanx perennial grass in competitive mixtures
The advantages of guerrilla and phalanx growth for the guerrilla Elymus lanceolatus ssp. lanceolatus and phalanx E. l. ssp. wawawaiensis were evaluated over 2 years in two taxon mixtures with a range of densities of each subspecies and under two levels of watering. Ramet numbers and biomass of the guerrilla subspecies were higher than those of...
Humphrey, L. David; Pyke, David A.Effects of nutrient patches and root systems on the clonal plasticity of a rhizomatous grass
Clonal plant foraging has been examined primarily on individual clones exposed to resource-poor and resource-rich environments. We designed an experiment to examine the clonal foraging behavior of the rhizomatous grass Elymus lanceolatus ssp. lanceolatus under the influence of neighboring plant root systems in a heterogeneous nutrient environment...
Huber-Sannwald, Elisabeth; Pyke, David A.; Caldwell, M.M.; Durham, S.Variability in seed dormancy of three Pacific Northwestern grasses
No abstract available.
Trask, Melinda M.; Pyke, David A.