Invasive Species
In this webinar, Gene Schupp, Professor of Plant Population Ecology and Restoration Ecology at Utah State University, presented preliminary research findings on plant responses to imazapic and other treatments four years after treatments.
In this webinar, Dave Pyke, USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, discusses results of a study looking at 20 years of post-fire rehabilitation seeding in the Great Basin. See also the article on this topic.
In this webinar, Bruce Roundy, Plant Ecologist at Brigham Young University, discusses vegetation restoration in response to piñon and juniper control treatments.
In this webinar, Kent McAdoo, Rangeland Resources Specialist, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, discusses strategies for increasing native plant diversity in crested wheatgrass seedings.
View paper.
This study found while understory perennial herbaceous plant cover remained low 1 and 2 yr post treatment, it increased by > 700% in all fuel-reduction treatment plots six growing seasons post treatment. Furthermore, while we observed minor increases in invasive annual grass, Bromus tectorum L. (cheatgrass), colonization in 2010 and 2011, there were substantial increases in B. tectorum cover by 2015. B. tectorum cover varied among treatments with the greatest cover in the unseeded mastication plot at nearly 30%. Seeding applications did not increase overall seed mix species cover but enhanced seed mix species richness and, thus, may have increased resistance to B. tectorum invasion in seeded treatment plots.
View paper.
This study investigated the complex relationships among weather, fine fuels, and fire in the Great Basin, USA. It found that cheatgrass cover increased in years with higher precipitation and especially when one of the previous 3 years also was particularly wet. Area burned in a given year was mostly associated with native herb and non-native forb cover, whereas cheatgrass mainly influenced area burned in the form of litter derived from previous years’ growth. Results suggest that the region’s precipitation pattern of consecutive wet years followed by consecutive dry years results in a cycle of fuel accumulation followed by weather conditions that increase the probability of wildfire events in the year when the cycle transitions from wet to dry. These patterns varied regionally but were strong enough to allow us to model annual wildfire risk across the Great Basin based on precipitation alone.
View article.
Results suggest that herbicide protection pods (HPPs) can be used to allow desired species to be seeded simultaneously with imazapic application. This will allow seeded species a longer window to become established before experiencing pressure from exotic annuals and enable a single-entry approach compared with multiple entries currently employed to revegetate annual grass − invaded rangelands. Though further field testing is needed, in particular with multiple species and higher herbicide applications rates, these results suggest that HPPs could improve our ability to restore and revegetate exotic annual grass − invaded rangelands.
View research brief.
This brief summarizes work by researchers who modeled exactly how problematic the grass-fire cycle could be for non-fire-adapted desert shrublands under three sets of climate conditions. Specifically, three different degrees of inter-annual precipitation variability (i.e., none, medium, and extreme climate change variability; sigma = 0 to 0.8) and related invasive grass cover biomass was modeled to theoretically induce land degradation.
View paper.
Study results from this project suggest that treatments over a 70-year period on public lands in the southwestern United States are shifting toward restoration practices that are increasingly large, expensive, and related to fire and invasive species control.
View abstracts.
Abstracts of Recent Papers on Range Management in the West. Prepared by Charlie Clements, Rangeland Scientist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Reno, NV