Resilience to stress and disturbance, and resistance to Bromus tectorum L. invasion in cold desert shrublands of western North America

Ecosystems

Volumn 17, Issue 2, 2014, Pages 360-375

  Chambers, Jeanne C ^a   Bradley, Bethany A ^b   Brown, Cynthia S ^c   D'Antonio, Carla ^d   Germino, Matthew J ^e   Grace, James B ^f   Hardegree, Stuart P ^g   Miller, Richard F ^h   Pyke, David A ⁱ  

^a ROCKY MOUNTAIN RESEARCH STATION   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS   (United States)

^c Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^e FOREST AND RANGELAND ECOSYSTEM SCIENCE CENTER   (United States)

^f NATIONAL WETLANDS RESEARCH CENTER   (United States)

^g AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE   (United States)

^h OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

ⁱ FOREST AND RANGELAND ECOSYSTEM SCIENCE CENTER   (United States)

Author keywords

Altered fire regimes; Cheatgrass; Ecosystem productivity; Environmental gradients; Fundamental and realized niche; Management strategies; Plant traits; State and transition models

Indexed keywords

ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT; ARID REGION; BIOLOGICAL INVASION; CLIMATE CHANGE; COLD REGION; DESERT; DISTURBANCE; ECOSYSTEM RESILIENCE; ECOSYSTEM SERVICE; ENVIRONMENTAL GRADIENT; FIRE BEHAVIOR; GRASS; GRAZING; LIVESTOCK; MANAGEMENT PRACTICE; NET ECOSYSTEM PRODUCTION; SEMIARID REGION; SHRUBLAND;

NORTH AMERICA;

BROMUS TECTORUM;

EID: 84897987379     PISSN: 14329840     EISSN: 14350629     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10021-013-9725-5     Document Type: Article

References (83)

1. Abatzoglou JT, Kolden CA. 2011. Climate change in western US deserts: potential for increased wildfire and invasive annual grasses. Range Ecol Manage 64:471-8.
2. Alexander EB, Mallory JI, Colwell WL. 1993. Soil-elevation relationships on a volcanic plateau in the southern Cascade Range, northern California, USA. Catena 20:113-28.
3. Allen CR, Gunderson L, Johnson AR. 2005. The use of discontinuities and functional groups to assess relative resilience in complex systems. Ecosystems 8:958-66.
4. Anderson JE, Inouye RS. 2001. Landscape-scale changes in plant species abundance and biodiversity of a sagebrush steppe over 45 years. Ecol Monogr 71:531-56.
5. Balch JK, Bradley BA, D'Antonio CM, Gomez-Dans J. 2012. Introduced annual grass increases regional fire activity across the arid western USA (1980-2009). Glob Chang Biol. doi:10. 1111/gcb.12046.
6. Beckstead J, Augspurger CK. 2004. An experimental test of resistance to cheatgrass invasion: limiting resources at different life stages. Biol Invasions 6:417-32.
7. Beisner BE, Haydon DT, Cuddington K. 2003. Alternative stable states in ecology. Front Ecol 1:376-82.
8. Belnap J. 1995. Surface disturbances: their role in accelerating desertification. Environ Monit Assess 37:39-57.
9. Blank RR, Allen FL, Young JA. 1996. Influence of simulated burning of soil litter from low sagebrush, squirreltail, cheatgrass, and medusahead sites on water-soluble anions and cations. Inter J Wildland Fire 6:137-43.
10. Blank RS, Morgan T. 2012. Suppression of Bromus tectorum L. by established perennial grasses: potential mechanisms: part I. Appl Environ Soil Sci. doi:10.1155/2012/632172.
11. Booth MS, Caldwell MM, Stark JM. 2003. Overlapping resource use in three Great Basin species: implications for community invisibility and vegetation dynamics. J Ecol 91:36-48.
12. Bradley BA, Blumenthal DM, Wilcove DS, Ziska LH. 2010. Predicting plant invasions in an era of global change. Trends Ecol Evol 25:310-18.
13. Bradley BA, Mustard JF. 2005. Identifying land cover variability distinct from land cover change: cheatgrass in the Great Basin. Rem Sensing Environ 94:204-13.
14. Bradley BA, Oppenheimer M, Wilcove DS. 2009. Climate change and plant invasions: restoration opportunities ahead? Glob Chang Biol 15:1511-21.
15. Briske DD, Fuhlendorf SD, Smeins FE. 2005. State-and-transition models, thresholds, rangeland health: a synthesis of ecological concepts and perspectives. Rangeland Ecol Manage 58:1-10.
16. Briske DD, Bestelmeyer BT, Stringham TK, Shaver PL. 2008. Recommendations for development of resilience-based stateand-transition models. Rangeland Ecol Manage 61:359-67.
17. Brooks ML, Chambers JC. 2011. Resistance to invasion and resilience to fire in desert shrublands of North America. Rangeland Ecol Manage 64:431-8.
18. Brooks ML, D'Antonio CM, Richardson DM, Grace JB, Keeley JE, DiTomaso JM, Hobbs RJ, Pellant M, Pyke D. 2004. Effects of invasive alien plants on fire regimes. Bioscience 54:677-88.
19. Brooks ML, Minnich RA. 2006. Southeastern deserts bioregion. In: Sugihara NG, van Wagtendonk JW, Shaffer KE, Fites-Kaufman J, Thode AE, Eds. Fire in California's ecosystems. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 391-414.
20. Chambers JC, Linnerooth AR. 2001. Restoring riparian meadows currently dominated by Artemisia using alternative state concepts-the establishment component. Appl Veg Sci 4:157-66.
21. Chambers JC. 2005. Fire related restoration issues in woodland and rangeland ecosystems. In: Taylor, L, Zelnik, J, Cadwallader, S, Hughes, B, Eds. Mixed fire regimes: ecology and management. Symposium proceedings. Association of fire ecologists. MIXC03, Spokane. p. 149-160.
22. Chambers JC, Roundy BA, Blank RR, Meyer SE, Whittaker A. 2007. What makes Great Basin sagebrush ecosystems invasible by Bromus tectorum? Ecol Monogr 77:117-45.
23. Chambers JC, Wisdom MJ. 2009. Priority research and management issues for the imperiled Great Basin of the western United States. Rest Ecol 17:707-14.
24. Chapin FSIII, Torn SE, Tateno M. 1996. Principles of ecosystem sustainability. Am Nat 148:1016-37.
25. Condon L, Weisberg PL, Chambers JC. 2011. Abiotic and biotic influences on Bromus tectorum invasion and Artemisia tridentata recovery after fire. Inter J Wildland Fire 20:1-8.
26. Dahlgren RA, Boettinger JL, Huntington GL, Amundson RG. 1997. Soil development along an elevational transect in the western Sierra Nevada. Geoderma 78:207-36.
27. D'Antonio CM, Thomsen M. 2004. Ecological resistance in theory and practice. Weed Tech 18:1572-7.
28. D'Antonio CM, Vitousek PM. 1992. Biological invasions by exotic grasses, the grass/fire cycle, and global change. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 23:63-87.
29. Davies GM, Bakker JD, Dettweiler-Robinson E, Dunwiddie PW, Hall SA, Downs J, Evans J. 2012. Trajectories of change in sagebrush-steppe vegetation communities in relation to multiple wildfires. Ecol Appl 22:1562-77.
30. Davies KF, Harrison S, Safford HD, Viers JH. 2007. Productivity alters the scale dependence of the diversity-invasibility relationship. Ecology 88:1940-7.
31. Davis MA, Grime JP, Thompson K. 2000. Fluctuating resources in plant communities: a general theory of invasibility. J Ecol 88:528-34.
32. Dobrowolski JP, Caldwell MM, Richards JR. 1990. Basin hydrology and plant root systems. In: Osmond CB, Pitelka LF, Hidy GM, Eds. Plant biology of the basin and range. Berlin: Springer. p. 243-92.
33. Drenovsky RE, Richards JH. 2004. Critical N:P values: predicting nutrient deficiencies in desert shrublands. Plant Soil 259:59-69.
34. Fenn ME, Baron JS, Allen EB, Rueth HM, Nydick KR, Geiser L, Bowman WD, Sickman JO, Meixner T, Johnson DW, Neitlich P. 2003. Ecological effects of nitrogen deposition in the Western United States. Bioscience 53:404-20.
35. Folke C, Carpenter S, Walker B, Scheffer M, Elmqvist T, Gunderson L, Holling CS. 2004. Regime shifts, resilience, and biodiversity in ecosystem management. Ann Rev Ecol Evol Syst 35:557-81.
36. Greaver TL, Sullivan TJ, Herrick JD et al. 2012. Ecological effects of nitrogen and sulfur air pollution in the US: what do we know? Front Ecol Environ 10:365-72.
37. Hasselquist NJ, Germino MJ, Sankey JB, Ingram LJ, Glenn NF. 2011. Aeolian nutrient fluxes following wildfire in sagebrush steppe: implications for soil carbon storage. Biogeosciences Discuss 8:8323-49.
38. Haubensak K, D'Antonio C, Wilson D. 2009. Effects of fire and environmental variables on plant structure and composition in grazed salt desert shrublands of the Great Basin (USA). J Arid Environ 73:643-50.
39. Holling CS. 1973. Resilience and stability in ecological systems. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 4:1-23.
40. Hoover AN, Germino MJ. 2012. A common-garden study of resource-island effects on native and an exotic annual grass after fire. Rangeland Ecol Manage 65:160-70.
41. Hutchinson GE. 1958. Concluding remarks. Cold spring harbor symposium. Quant Biol 22:415-27.
42. Jackson ST. 2006. Vegetation, environment, and time: the origination and termination of ecosystems. J Veg Sci 17:549-57.
43. James JJ, Drenovsky RE, Monaco TA, Rinella MJ. 2011. Managing soil nitrogen to restore annual grass infested plant communities: effective strategy or incomplete framework? Ecol Appl 21:490-502.
44. Johnson DD, Miller RF. 2006. Structure and development of expanding western juniper woodlands as influenced by two topographic variables. Forest Ecol Manage 229:7-15.
45. Knapp PA. 1996. Cheatgass (Bromus tectorum) dominance in the Great Basin Desert: history, influences, and persistence to human activities. Glob Environ Chang 6:37-52.
46. Knick ST, Connelly JW. 2011. Greater sage-grouse: ecology and conservation of a landscape species and its habitats. Studies in Avian Biology, Vol. 38. Berkeley, CA: University of California.
47. Leffler AJ, Ryel RJ. 2012. Resource pool dynamics: conditions that regulate species interactions and dominance. In: Monaco, TA, Sheley RL, Eds. Invasive plant ecology and management. Linking processes to practice. Cambridge, MA: CAB International. p. 57-78.
48. Littell JS, McKenzie D, Peterson DL, Westerling AL. 2009. Climate and wildfire area burned in the western U.S. ecoprovinces, 1916-2003. Ecol Appl 19:1003-21.
49. Merrill KR, Meyer SE, Coleman CE. 2012. Population genetic analysis of Bromus tectorum (Poaceae) indicates recent range expansion may be facilitated by specialist geonotypes. Am J Bot 99:529-37.
50. Meyer SE, Garvin SC, Beckstead J. 2001. Factors mediating cheatgrass invasion of intact salt desert shrubland. In: McArthur DE, Fairbanks DJ, Eds. Shrubland ecosystem genetics and biodiversity: proceedings. Proc RMRS-P-21. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 224-232.
51. Miller RF, Knick ST, Pyke DA, Meinke CW, Hanser SE, Wisdom MJ, Hild AL. 2011. Characteristics of sagebrush habitats and limitations to long-term conservation. In: Knick ST, Connelly JW, Eds. Greater sage-grouse: ecology and conservation of a landscape species and its habitats. Studies in Avian Biology, Vol. 38. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 145-185.
52. Miller RF, Chambers JC, Pyke DA, Pierson FB, Williams JC. 2013. A review of fire effects on vegetation and soils in the Great Basin region: response and site characteristics. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-308. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 136-10.
53. Monaco TA, Sheley R. 2012. Invasive plant ecology and management: linking processes to practice (CABI Invasives Series). Oxfordshire: CABI.
54. Monsen SB, Stevens R, Shaw NL. 2004. Restoring Western Ranges and Wildlands. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-1136-vol-1, 2, and 3. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 294+ index.
55. Neary DG, Klopatek CC, DeBano LF, Ffolliot PF. 1999. Fire effects on belowground sustainability: a review and synthesis. For Ecol Manage 122:51-71.
56. 2: do photosynthetic and productivity data from FACE experiments support early predictions? New Phyt 162:253-80.
57. Pausas JG, Bradstock RA. 2007. Fire persistence traits of plants along a productivity and disturbance gradient in Mediterranean shrublands of south-east Australia. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 16:330-40.
58. Peterson G, Allen CR, Holling CS. 1998. Ecological resilience, biodiversity, and scale. Ecosystems 1:6-18.
59. 2 enrichment. J Agr Sci 149:1-14.
60. Prevey JS, Germino MJ, Huntley NJ, Inouye RS. 2010. Exotic plants increase and native plants decrease with loss of foundation species in sagebrush steppe. Plant Ecol 207:39-51.
61. Pyke DA. 2011. Restoring and rehabilitating sagebrush habitats. In: Knick ST, Connelly JW, Eds. Greater sage-grouse: ecology and conservation of a landscape species and its habitats. Studies in Avian Biology, Vol. 38. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 531-548.
62. Ramakrishnan AP, Meyer SE, Fairbanks DJ, Coleman CE. 2006. Ecological significance of microsatellite variation in western North American populations of Bromus tectorum. Plant Species Biol 21:61-73.
63. Reisner MD, Grace JB, Pyke DA, Doescher PS. 2013. Conditions favoring Bromus tectorum dominance of endangered sagebrush steppe ecosystems. J App Ecol. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12097.
64. Rejmanek M. 1989. Invasibility of plant communities. In: Drake JA, Di Castri F, Groves RH, Kruger FJ, Mooney HA, Rejmanek M, Williamson MH, Eds. Ecology of biological invasion: a global perspective. New York, NY: Wiley. p. 369-88.
65. Ryel RJ, Leffler AJ, Ivans C, Peek MS, Caldwell MM. 2010. Functional differences in water-use patterns of contrasting life forms in Great Basin steppelands. Vadose Zone J 9:1-13. doi:10.2136/vzj2010.0022.
66. Sankey JB, Germino MJ, Glenn NF. 2009. Aeolian sediment transport following wildfire in sagebrush steppe. J Arid Environ 73:912-19.
67. Schwinning S, Starr BI, Wojcik NJ, Miller ME, Ehleringer JE, Sanford RL Jr. 2005. Effects of nitrogen deposition on an arid grassland in the Colorado Plateau cold desert. Rangeland Ecol Manage 58:565-74.
68. Seager R, Ting MF, Held I, Kushnir Y et al. 2007. Model projections of an imminent transition to a more arid climate in southwestern North America. Science 316:1181-4.
69. Seastedt TR, Hobbs RJ, Suding KN. 2008. Management of novel ecosystems: are novel approaches required? Front Ecol Environ 6:547-53.
70. Seefeldt SS, Germino M, DiCristina K. 2007. Prescribed fires in Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana steppe have minor and transient effects on vegetation cover and composition. Appl Veg Sci 10:249-56.
71. 2 enrichment on four Great Basin grasses. Funct Ecol 1:139-43.
72. Smith SD, Nowak RS. 1990. Ecophysiology of plants in the Intermountain lowlands. In: Osmond CB, Pitelka LF, Hidy GM, Eds. Plant biology of the basin and range. Berlin: Springer. p. 179-242.
73. Stringham TK, Krueger WC, Shaver PL. 2003. State and transition modeling: an ecological process approach. J Range Manage 56:106-13.
74. Stubbs MM, Pyke DA. 2005. Available nitrogen: a time-based study of manipulated resource islands. Plant Soil 270:123-33.
75. US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Global Monitoring Division. 2012. Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. http://www. esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/.
76. US Department of Interior. 2010. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; 12-month findings for petitions to list the greater sage-grouse as threatened or endangered. Federal Register 75:13910-58.
77. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2013. Ecological Site Descriptions. http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/ main/national/technical/ecoscience/desc/.
78. West NE. 1983a. Intermountain salt-desert shrubland. In: West NE, Ed. Temperate deserts and semi-deserts. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 375-8.
79. West NE. 1983b. Great Basin-Colorado Plateau sagebrush semidesert. In: West NE, Ed. Temperate deserts and semi-deserts. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 331-50.
80. West NE, Yorks TP. 2002. Vegetation responses following wildfire on grazed and ungrazed sagebrush semi-desert. J Range Manage 55:171-81.
81. Westerling AL, Hidalgo HG, Cayan DR, Swetnam TW. 2006. Warming and earlier spring increase U.S. forest wildfire activity. Science 313:940-3.
82. Wilcox BP, Turnbill L, Young MH, Williams CJ, Ravi S, Syfried MS, Bowling DR, Scott RL, Germino MJ, Caldwell TG, Wainwright J. 2012. Invasion of shrublands by exotic grasses: ecohydrological consequences in cold versus warm deserts. Ecohydrology 5:160-73.
83. Williams JW, Jackson ST. 2007. Novel climates, no-analog communities, and ecological surprises. Front Ecol Environ 5:475-82.