Invasive Species
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In this report, we review the ecohydrology of southwestern streams and share results from our study sites along the Middle Rio Grande to describe effects of hydrological changes, wildfire, and invasions on plant communities and riparian-nesting birds. We also examine climate change projections and output from population models to gauge the future of aridland riparian ecosystems in an increasingly arid Southwest.
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This meta-analysis was conducted to determine if there were consistent responses of understory vegetation to fire and thinning treatments in North American forests that historically experienced frequent surface fire regimes (<20 year fire-return interval, FRI). The most consistent effect of the treatments was the increase in non-native species following mechanical thinning and reduction in shrub cover following a burn. These differences suggest the two treatments may not be surrogates in the short-term (less than 5 years). Prescribed fire and thinning treatments can be used successfully to restore understory species richness and cover, but they can create different conditions and these potentially different outcomes need to be considered in the planning of a fuels reduction treatment.
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This study compared spring and fall prescribed fires at three sites (native-dominated, Bromus tectorum-dominated, and Juniperus occidentalis-dominated). There were higher plant survival rates following fall fires and native-dominated sites than in spring burns or where exotics dominated. These results show that burn season and prefire condition are important considerations when evaluating management alternatives in Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana ecosystems.
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These abstracts of recent papers on range management in the West were compiled by Charlie Clements, Rangeland Scientist, USDA Agricultural Research Service.
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The USGS developed a dataset that estimates 2017 herbaceous annual percent cover predicted on May 1st with an emphasis on annual grasses. These data were developed to provide land managers and researchers with early-season, near-real-time predictions of spatially explicit percent cover predictions of herbaceous annual vegetation in the study area.
This data comes with several caveats. First, as an early-season dataset, it will not reflect the end-of-season estimated percent cover of annual grass in many areas. In fact, some areas with annual grass cover will reflect no cover at this early date. Second, these estimates should be viewed as relative abundances. Third, each pixel in the dataset represent 250-meters and can include a geolocation error of up to 125 meters. Comparing this dataset to similar datasets with different spatial resolutions can lead to substantial differences between datasets. Fourth, this dataset represents annual herbaceous for 2017 forecast on May 1. This dataset is a forecast, and mapping could improve with later map development dates (e.g., July 1). This forecast is considered accurate and reasonable given this early season of mapping.
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This dataset provides an estimate of 2015 cheatgrass percent cover in the northern Great Basin at 250 meter spatial resolution. The information is designed to provide a near-real-time estimate of cheatgrass in the northern Great Basin for 2015 to optimize land management efforts to control cheatgrass, preserve critical greater sage-grouse habitat, and inform fire control and prevention. Timely maps of dynamic cheatgrass percent cover are needed in early summer for these purposes. Research shows that cheatgrass percent cover is spatially and temporally highly variable in arid and semiarid environments because cheatgrass germination and growth is highly sensitive to annual weather, especially precipitation totals and timing. Precipitation totals and timing are also spatially and temporally highly variable in these environments; therefore, this dataset is only representative of cheatgrass percent cover during 2015 and does not represent any other time period.
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This dataset provides an estimate of 2016 cheatgrass percent cover in the northern Great Basin at 250 meter spatial resolution. The information is designed to provide a near-real-time estimate of cheatgrass in the northern Great Basin for 2016 to optimize land management efforts to control cheatgrass, preserve critical greater sage-grouse habitat, and inform fire control and prevention. Timely maps of dynamic cheatgrass percent cover are needed in early summer for these purposes. Research shows that cheatgrass percent cover is spatially and temporally highly variable in arid and semiarid environments because cheatgrass germination and growth is highly sensitive to annual weather, especially precipitation totals and timing. Precipitation totals and timing are also spatially and temporally highly variable in these environments; therefore, this dataset is only representative of cheatgrass percent cover during 2016 and does not represent any other time period.
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This dataset contains a time series (2000-2013) of cheatgrass percent cover maps covering the western and central areas of the northern Great Basin. The time series of cheatgrass percent cover maps was developed for two primary reasons: To better understand cheatgrass percent cover dynamics in the northern Great Basin and to develop a dataset that can be used as proxy for annual actual cheatgrass production thereby serving as the dependent variable in the cheatgrass dieoff model.
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In this study, researchers examined nitrogen cycling rates in sagebrush and cheatgrass-invaded soils over a 100 mile range in the northern Great Basin, adding antibiotics to study the roles that soil fungi and bacteria play in nitrogen transformations. Results point to the important role fungi play in nitrogen dynamics in native sagebrush steppe and suggest that cheatgrass’s alteration of the microbial community may make nitrogen more available further benefiting the establishment and growth of this invasive grass.
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These abstracts summarize rangeland management topics in the West.