Resistance & Resilience

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Conditions favoring cheatgrass dominance of endangered sagebrush steppe ecosystems

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Grazing exacerbates Bromus tectorum dominance in one of North America’s most endangered ecosystems by adversely impacting key mechanisms mediating resistance to invasion. If the goal is to conserve and restore resistance of these systems, managers should consider maintaining or restoring: (i) high bunchgrass cover and structure characterized by spatially dispersed bunchgrasses and small gaps between them; (ii) a diverse assemblage of bunchgrass species to maximize competitive interactions with B. tectorum in time and space; and (iii) biological soil crusts to limit B. tectorum establishment. Passive restoration by reducing cumulative cattle grazing may be one of the most effective means of achieving these three goals.

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Putting resilience and resistance into practice

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Land managers are increasingly interested in improving resilience to disturbances,such as wildfire, and resistance to invasive species,such as cheatgrass and medusahead. This fact sheet is designed to assist land managers in resilience and resistance concepts to assess risks, prioritize management activities, and select treatments.

This is the first of many topics reviewed in the Great Basin Fact Sheet series.

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Information and tools to conserve and restore Great Basin ecosystems – The GB Factsheet Series

Individual fact sheets comprising the Information and tools to conserve and restore Great Basin ecosystems – Factsheet Series are available below.

No. 1- Putting resilience and resistance into practice

No. 2- Limiting medusahead invasion and impacts in the Great Basin

No. 3- Reestablishing perennial-dominated plant communities in medusahead-invaded sagebrush rangeland

No. 4- Conifer removal in the sagebrush steppe: The why, when, where, and how

No. 5- Fuel breaks that work

No. 6- Wind erosion following wildfire in Great Basin ecosystems

No. 7- Post-fire grazing management in the Great Basin

No. 8- Establishing big sagebrush and other shrubs from planting stock

No. 9- Assessing fuel loads in sagebrush steppe and PJ woodlands

No. 10- Seeding big sagebrush successfully on Intermountain rangelands

No. 11- Assessing impacts of fire and post-fire mitigation on runoff and erosion from rangelands

No. 12- Management of aspen in a changing environment

No. 13- Woody fuels reduction in Wyoming big sagebrush communities

No. 14- Seeding techniques for sagebrush community restoration after fire

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Exotic brome-grasses in arid and semiarid ecosystems of the western US: Available chapters on causes, consequences, and management implications

BromeGrasses

The book, Exotic brome-grasses in arid and semiarid ecosystems of the western US: causes, consequences, and management implications, is presented in several chapters.

Access is provided for the following chapters -

Chapter 1 - Introduction: Exotic annual Bromus in the western USA
Chapter 2 - Exotic annual Bromus invasions: comparisons among species and ecoregions in the western US
Chapter 3 - Ecosystem impacts of exotic annual invaders in the genus Bromus
Chapter 7 - Community ecology of fungal pathogens on Bromus tectorum
Chapter 8 - Soil moisture and biogeochemical factors influence the distribution of annual Bromus species
Chapter 9 Bromus response to climate and projected changes with climate change
Chapter 10 - Plant community resistance to invasion by Bromus species: The roles of community attributes, Bromus interactions with plant communities, and Bromus traits
Chapter 11 - Land uses, fire, and invasion: Exotic annual Bromus and human dimensions
Chapter 12 - Assessing restoration and management needs for ecosystems invaded by exotic annual Bromus species

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Fuel control treatments in the sagebrush steppe: Recognizing and dealing with climate-related differences among sites

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Bruce Roundy, Brigham Young University, discusses indicators of resilience and resistance of sagebrush steppe communities associated with soil temperature and water availability as learned from SageSTEP.

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Successful vegetation management practices in the sagebrush-steppe

Learn more from the overview webinar.

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This learning series responds to Section 7.b.iii, Action Item #5 within the Fuels section of the 2015 Integrated Rangeland Fire Management Strategy, which calls for a comprehensive knowledge transfer program to enhance the fuels management program’s role in sagebrush-steppe management. The Strategy is intended to improve the efficiency and efficacy of actions to address rangeland fire, to better prevent and suppress rangeland fire, and improve efforts to restore fire-impacted landscapes.
The learning modules synthesize the state of the science for six management topics:

  • Background and origins of the conservation problems facing the sagebrush steppe and greater sage-grouse
  • Understanding and applying the concepts of resistance and resilience
  • Management of sagebrush ecosystems experiencing conifer encroachment
  • Management of sagebrush ecosystems at risk of or invaded by invasive annual grasses
  • Restoration of sagebrush steppe ecosystems
  • Issues specific to the eastern range of greater sage-grouse
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Understanding resistance to invasion and resilience to disturbance: Importance for restoring and managing rangelands

Webinar brief.

In this webinar, Jeanne Chambers, USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, discusses the importance of resistance to invasion and resilience to disturbance in restoration and management of Great Basin rangelands.

Webinar recording

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Vegetation resilience, the role of the perennial herbaceous understory and intact sagebrush – 2011 workshop presentations

The Great Basin Fire Science Exchange and Nevada Partners for Conservation and Development co-hosted this workshop that addressed maintenance of intact sagebrush communities in the face of multiple ecological stressors.
Workshop presentations available in pdf format:

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Using resilience and resistance concepts to manage threats to sagebrush ecosystems and sage-grouse

Webinar recording.

This webinar discusses a strategic approach developed by an interagency, Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies working group for conservation of sagebrush ecosystems, Gunnison sage-grouse, and greater sage-grouse. It uses information on (1) factors that influence sagebrush ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to nonnative invasive plants and (2) distribution and relative abundance of sage-grouse populations to address persistent ecosystem threats, such as nonnative invasive plants and wildfire, and anthropogenic threats, such as oil and gas development and agronomic conversion, and to develop effective management strategies.

Webinar was presented by Jeanne Chambers, US Forest Service – Rocky Mountain Research Station and hosted by the Great Northern, Southern Rockies, and Great Basin Landscape Conservation Cooperatives

 

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Pretreatment tree dominance and conifer removal treatments affect plant succession in sagebrush communities

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This study found that to retain the shrub, especially sagebrush, components on a site and increase ecosystem resilience and resistance through increases in tall grasses, treatment should occur at low to mid tree dominance index (TDI) using mechanical methods, such as cutting or mastication. Effects of fire and mechanical treatments implemented at different phases of tree dominance create different successional trajectories that could be incorporated into state-and-transition-models to guide management decisions.

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