Shrub Reestablishment Following Fire in the Mountain Big Sagebrush (Artemisia Tridentata Nutt. Ssp. Vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle) Alliance PDF Download
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Author: Lori L. Ziegenhagen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Prescribed burning
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
Currently, the of lack information on shrub reestablishment following fire and the wide variability in rates of recovery have lead to uncertainty in using prescribed burning as a management tool in the mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle) alliance. This study examined the recovery of shrub density and percent canopy cover of mountain big sagebrush and other associated shrub species across 16 large fires, with between 4-49 years of recovery, in southeastern Oregon, northwestern Nevada, and northeastern California. Sagebrush recovery within the interior of these large (400 to 4000 ha each), uniform burns resulted from existing soil seed pools and in the absence of seed rain from adjacent unburned plants. We sampled 175 sites with over 31 km of line intercept and 6.3 ha of shrub density plots. On four of the fires, Badger Mountain (6 years since fire), Miller Canyon (10 yrs), Kiger (15 yrs) and Murdock (41 yrs) we further explored the chronosequence of shrub reestablishment by harvesting over 1400 mountain big sagebrush and 450 bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata (Pursh) D.C.) plants from interior locations where post-fire seed sources were limited to soil seed pools and unclaimed rodent seed caches. Shrub crowns were prepared in the lab and aged by at least two separate technicians using binocular dissecting microscopes. In our study area, the median % live canopy cover of mountain big sagebrush returned to 20-25% within 32-36 years after the fire event. Linear regression analysis showed that median % live canopy cover increased 3.429 times (3.932 to 2.990, 90% CI, p-value 0.001) with doubling of years since fire. Similarly, mean sagebrush densities increased 0.227 shrubs / m2 (0.267 to 0.188, 90% CI, p-value 0.001) with each doubling of years since fire. Years since fire explained 57% to 36% of the cover and density variation respectively and variation increased as recovery time increased. Shrub chronology suggests that where seed is limited to surviving soil seed pools, shrub reestablishment following fire occurred in three phases: Phase One) the opportunity for immediate shrub establishment from surviving soil seed pools, Phase Two) a lull in seedling establishment resulting from depleted soil seed pools, and Phase Three) the beginning of modal establishment from newly established on-site seed sources. The success or failure of soil seed pools to establish shrub densities during Phase One probably explains some of the variability in the formulas describing the rate of % shrub cover and density recovery following fire. Both regression analysis and the chronology data emphasize the importance of shrub reestablishment in the first 3-4 years following the fire (Phase One) in influencing the rate of shrub recovery. It would appear that quantifying sagebrush density and % cover after the first 3-4 years following fire will aid land managers in developing long-term, landscape level fire management plans by estimating future shrub recovery.
Author: Lori L. Ziegenhagen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Prescribed burning
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
Currently, the of lack information on shrub reestablishment following fire and the wide variability in rates of recovery have lead to uncertainty in using prescribed burning as a management tool in the mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle) alliance. This study examined the recovery of shrub density and percent canopy cover of mountain big sagebrush and other associated shrub species across 16 large fires, with between 4-49 years of recovery, in southeastern Oregon, northwestern Nevada, and northeastern California. Sagebrush recovery within the interior of these large (400 to 4000 ha each), uniform burns resulted from existing soil seed pools and in the absence of seed rain from adjacent unburned plants. We sampled 175 sites with over 31 km of line intercept and 6.3 ha of shrub density plots. On four of the fires, Badger Mountain (6 years since fire), Miller Canyon (10 yrs), Kiger (15 yrs) and Murdock (41 yrs) we further explored the chronosequence of shrub reestablishment by harvesting over 1400 mountain big sagebrush and 450 bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata (Pursh) D.C.) plants from interior locations where post-fire seed sources were limited to soil seed pools and unclaimed rodent seed caches. Shrub crowns were prepared in the lab and aged by at least two separate technicians using binocular dissecting microscopes. In our study area, the median % live canopy cover of mountain big sagebrush returned to 20-25% within 32-36 years after the fire event. Linear regression analysis showed that median % live canopy cover increased 3.429 times (3.932 to 2.990, 90% CI, p-value 0.001) with doubling of years since fire. Similarly, mean sagebrush densities increased 0.227 shrubs / m2 (0.267 to 0.188, 90% CI, p-value 0.001) with each doubling of years since fire. Years since fire explained 57% to 36% of the cover and density variation respectively and variation increased as recovery time increased. Shrub chronology suggests that where seed is limited to surviving soil seed pools, shrub reestablishment following fire occurred in three phases: Phase One) the opportunity for immediate shrub establishment from surviving soil seed pools, Phase Two) a lull in seedling establishment resulting from depleted soil seed pools, and Phase Three) the beginning of modal establishment from newly established on-site seed sources. The success or failure of soil seed pools to establish shrub densities during Phase One probably explains some of the variability in the formulas describing the rate of % shrub cover and density recovery following fire. Both regression analysis and the chronology data emphasize the importance of shrub reestablishment in the first 3-4 years following the fire (Phase One) in influencing the rate of shrub recovery. It would appear that quantifying sagebrush density and % cover after the first 3-4 years following fire will aid land managers in developing long-term, landscape level fire management plans by estimating future shrub recovery.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 330
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Book Description
Author: Neil G. Sugihara
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520246055
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 613
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Book Description
Focusing on California and issues specific to fire ecology and management in the state's bioregions, this work provides scientific information for use in land restoration and other management decisions made in the field. It introduces the basics of fire ecology, and includes an overview of fire, vegetation and climate in California; and more.
Author: Stephen V. Cooper
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Sagebrush is a widespread habitat throughout our study area and a number of species including Greater Sage-grouse, pronghorn, Brewers Sparrow, Sage Sparrow, Sage Thrasher and sagebrush vole are sagebrush dependent, at least at some stage of their life cycles. Fire constitutes an important driver in structuring sagebrush ecosystems; past investigations have established that the response of the big sagebrush component (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) varies according to subspecies. In an earlier study in southwestern Montana we statistically determined that recovery of mountain big sagebrush (A. t. ssp. vaseyana [Rydb.] Beetle) cover occurred in slightly more than 30 years, however the minimal data for Wyoming big sagebrush (A. t. ssp. wyomingensis Beetle & Young), indicated a much longer recovery period (Lesica et al. 2005). In this study we used the same sampling protocol at 24 burned-unburned paired sites in central and southeastern Montana where Wyoming Big Sagebrush is the dominant big sagebrush taxon and the accompanying flora is more closely allied with the Great Plains than the Intermountain West. Prescribed burns and wildfires typically result in the complete mortality of Wyoming big sagebrush. We found that Wyoming big sagebrush recovers very slowly from both types of burns at all sites, even those with relatively moist conditions. Full recovery to pre-burn sagebrush canopy cover conditions will take well over 100 years. The median time since fire was 22 years and ranged from 4 to 67 years. We found no Wyoming big sagebrush canopy cover recovery for 17 of the 24 sites after burning had occurred and the oldest burn was only 8% recovered. Livestock grazing does not seem to be casual as the only site without livestock grazing for the entire period after burning had no canopy recovery in 25 years. Burned plots were located near unburned areas to ensure that a seed source was relatively available since Wyoming big sage is known to lack a soil seed bank. Perennial and annual grass cover increased after burning, however virtually all of the 11% increase in annual grass is from field brome (Bromus arvensis, formerly Japanese brome, Bromus japonicus), regarded as a weed with negative habitat and livestock value. Perennial grass cover increased 27% and 20% followed prescribed fi re and wildfire, respectively. Western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii) increased by 17% and accounted for most of the perennial grass increase. These increases did not decline with time since burning, which may be explained by the lack of the competitive influence of sagebrush recovery. There was no change after burning in overall forb cover or the numbers of forbs of the Cichorieae Tribe of the Asteraceae family. The Cichorieae tribe forbs are important for successful Greater Sage-grouse brood rearing. Plant species richness significantly declined in burned plots compared to their unburned control plots. Our findings of extremely slow Wyoming big sagebrush recovery after fire are similar to the other research in the area (Eichhorn and Watts 1984) and also supports findings by Baker (2007) that fire rotations for this subspecies are about 100 to 240 years. The slow Wyoming big sagebrush recovery and the increase in the weedy annual grass field brome suggests that managers concerned about Greater Sage-grouse and other sage-dependent species should be extremely cautious with prescribed burns and wildfires in this region. Burns may essentially eliminate sagebrush habitat, increase weedy annual grass cover, reduce species richness, and could take a century or more for recovery to pre-burn sagebrush cover conditions.
Author: Melissa L. Landeen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 72
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Book Description
Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) is the most widespread and common shrub in the sagebrush biome of western North America. Of the three most common subspecies of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), mountain big sagebrush (ssp. vaseyana; MBS) is the most resilient to disturbance, but still requires favorable climactic conditions and a viable post-fire seedbank for successful unassisted recovery. This study was designed to assess MBS seed production throughout post-fire recovery. We performed 2 pilot studies to develop methods for estimating seed production and plant age. The results of the pilot studies and a space-for-time substitution strategy were used to measure seed production on 13 sites ranging from 10-33 years post-fire. We hypothesized that seed rain (mean seeds produced/ m2) would peak before stand density had maximized due to decreasing individual plant fecundity (mean seeds produced/ plant) in high density stands. We measured population density and individual plant fecundity for three size classes of MBS and used forward stepwise regression analysis to identify environmental factors influencing seed production over time. Density for small (basal stem diameter 1 cm) and medium-sized (basal stem diameter=1-3 cm) plants was consistently low and was not affected by time since fire (TSF), while large-sized (basal stem diameter 3 cm) plant density increased steadily with TSF (p=0.0002). Plant fecundity decreased with TSF for all three size classes (p range = 0.019 – 0.0506), with large plants dominating reproductive output. Small and medium-sized plant fecundity was negatively correlated with winter precipitation (p range = 0.0106-0.0174), while large plant fecundity was positively correlated with winter precipitation (p
Author: Bruce Leigh Welch
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Big sagebrush
Languages : en
Pages : 38
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Book Description
This paper examines the scientific merits of eight axioms of range or vegetative management pertaining to big sagebrush. These axioms are: (1) Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp.wyomingensis) does not naturally exceed 10 percent canopy cover and mountain big sagebrush (A.t.ssp.vaseyana) does not naturally exceed 20 percent canopy cover; (2) As big sagebrush canopy cover increases over 12 to15 percent, bare ground increases and perennial grass cover decreases; (3) Removing, controlling, or killing big sagebrush will results in a two or three or more fold increase in perennial grass production; (4) Nothing eats it; (5) Biodiversity increases with removing, controlling, thinning, or killing of big sagebrush; (6) Mountain big sagebrush evolved in an environment with a mean fire interval of 20 to 30 years; (7) Big sagebrush is an agent of allelopathy; and (8) Big sagebrush is a highly competitive, dominating, suppressive plant species.
Author: Katherine M. DiCristina
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Big sagebrush
Languages : en
Pages : 94
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Book Description
In the growing season of 2003, patterns of establishment of Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana were observed after fire in a sagebrush steppe ecosystem in southeastern Idaho. It was examined how A. t. vaseyana seedling establishment was affected by neighboring vegetation and how these effects were modulated by 1) identity (functional group) and proximity of neighboring vegetation, 2) time since burning, and 3) water availability. Manipulative experiments were conducted to further isolate how identity and water affect competitive interactions between seedlings and neighbors and so that the causal relationships between herbs and seedlings could be better substantiated. Patterns of establishment for A. t. vaseyana were detected in addition to interactions between A. t. vaseyana and neighboring herbs that appeared to be modulated by water. Therefore, in the growing season of 2004, it was observed how neighboring herbs and seasonal soil drying affected carbon assimilation and competitive responses of A. t. vaseyana seedlings. This research contributes to land management decisions in sagebrush steppe ecosystems.
Author: Bruce Leigh Welch
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Big sagebrush
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
Pioneers traveling along the Oregon Trail from western Nebraska, through Wyoming and southern Idaho and into eastern Oregon, referred to their travel as an 800 mile journey through a sea of sagebrush, mainly big sagebrush ( Artemisia tridentata). Today approximately 50 percent of the sagebrush sea has given way to agriculture, cities and towns, and other human developments. What remains is further fragmented by range management practices, creeping expansion of woodlands, alien weed species, and the historic view that big sagebrush is a worthless plant. Two ideas are promoted in this report: (1) big sagebrush is a nursing mother to a host of organisms that range from microscopic fungi to large mammals, and (2) many range management practices applied to big sagebrush ecosystems are not science based.
Author: David L. Nelson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Artemisia
Languages : en
Pages : 20
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Book Description
Author: Stephen C. Bunting
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forests and forestry
Languages : en
Pages : 40
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Book Description
Summarizes recent literature on the effects of fire on sagebrush-grass vegetation. Also outlines procedures and considerations for planning and conducting prescribed fires and monitoring effects. Includes a comprehensive annotated bibliography of the fire-sagebrush-grass literature published since 1980.
