Download or read book Relationships Between Soil Heterogeneity and Vegetation Recovery in Sagebrush Steppe Following Wildfire and Wind Erosion written by Amber Hoover and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Recovery of Soil Properties Sagebrush Steppe Community Structure and Environmental Heterogeneity Following Drastic Disturbance and Reclamation written by Caley K. Gasch and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of this research was to investigate vegetation and soil property structure in sagebrush steppe ecosystems as they recover from drastic disturbance, particularly in assessing the variability of properties across space. On reclaimed pipelines, I collected vegetation data and analyzed soil for organic carbon, total nitrogen, microbial community structure, moisture, salinity, and alkalinity. Using a Bayesian hierarchical mixed model, I quantified soil properties with posterior predictive distributions to compare reclaimed areas with the reference areas. The variance of most soil properties was affected by disturbance, and not always accompanied by a shift in the mean. Distributions for soil properties in reclaimed areas became more similar to those of undisturbed reference areas as recovery time increased. I then explored the differences in sampling designs, analysis, and inference gained from spatial and non-spatial soil data. I also conducted side-by-side analyses of each data type for a reclaimed area and an undisturbed area. The analysis of random data revealed differences in soil property averages between treatments. These differences were also apparent in the geostatistical analysis, which also provided information about the spatial structure in soil properties at the scale of individual plant effects (10 cm - 10 m). The third project expanded the assessment in both space and time, by including reclaimed pipelines that spanned 55 years, and by sampling at a scale up to 100 meters. I used Bayesian geostatistical models to quantify the correlation structure and to create surface predictions for measured properties. The reclaimed areas maintained uniform grass cover with low diversity and shrub establishment, while the responses of soil properties to disturbance and reclamation were variable. All three modeling approaches indicated that soil properties closely associated with vegetation experienced reduced variability and homogenization across space following disturbance. Soil abiotic properties appeared to be affected by the physical effects of disturbance, but were not associated with homogenization. Development of belowground heterogeneity was possibly delayed by the slow recovery of the plant community, particularly the shrub component. This research illustrates some long lasting ecological consequences of disturbance in sagebrush steppe and emphasizes the need for establishing shrubs in reclaimed sagebrush steppe.

Download or read book Effects of Sheep Grazing on Vegetation Recovery After Wildfire in a Sagebrush Steppe Community and Revegetation of Annual Grasslands written by Lovina Roselle and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Soil Response to Fire Frequency in the Northern Columbia Basin Sagebrush Steppe written by Leslie C. Nichols and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Fire is one of the most significant disturbances in an ecosystem, as it is capable of altering the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil, and the fire frequency in semi-arid ecosystems is increasing. These changes can potentially alter plant-soil feedbacks that may affect post-fire recovery of the native plant and soil communities and lead to an ecosystem state change. However, there is much uncertainty about the magnitude of change as soils are exposed to more fires, because soil recovery and changes in fire severity following a first fire mediate the impact of successive fires on soil properties. To improve understanding of fire frequency effects on the soil ecology of the northern Columbia Basin sagebrush steppe ecosystem, this study assessed the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil that are critical to plant communities (e.g. soil pH, C and N, respiration and extracellular enzyme activity) from four different fire frequencies (unburned, burned once, twice, and thrice). Our study yielded three main results: 1) fire reduced the soil C concentration relative to unburned soil, but only when soil was exposed to fire once, 2) soil pH and NO3--N increased with fire frequency, whereas enzyme activity decreased, and 3) soil organic matter contents and microbial respiration were suppressed significantly in the once and thrice burned soils compared to the unburned and twice burned soils. Taken together, our findings suggest that a one-time fire in this region of the sagebrush steppe is capable of significantly changing soil properties that alter plant-soil feedbacks and hinder ecosystem resilience, thus contributing to ecosystem change particularly when fire frequency increases."--Boise State University ScholarWorks.

Download or read book Long term Post fire Dynamics of a Sagebrush Steppe Community in Northeastern California written by Sara K. Hanna and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Influence of Wildfire Disturbance and Post fire Seeding on Vegetation and Insects in Sagebrush Habitats written by Ashley T. Rohde and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Disturbance events alter community composition and structure because of differences in resistance and resilience of individual taxa, changes in habitat resulting in colonization by new taxa and alteration of biotic interaction patterns. Recent changes in disturbance types, frequencies and intensities caused by anthropogenic activities may further alter community composition and structure if these disturbances exceed the tolerances or adaptations of some taxa. In sagebrush steppe habitats of the western United States, wildfire is the current dominant disturbance type, burning millions of hectares annually. Further, up to 90% of sagebrush-steppe ecosystems are affected by anthropogenic influences such as invasive species. Post-fire seeding treatments are widely used to reduce soil erosion, control the establishment of invasive plant species, and restore habitat for wildlife. I investigated insect community responses to wildfire and post-fire seeding in sagebrush-steppe habitats in southwestern Idaho by comparing insect communities among three condition classes (hereafter treatments): burned-and-seeded (BS), burned-and-unseeded (BX), and unburned (UX), which served as a control. We also quantified indirect effects of treatments on insects by assessing vegetation composition and structure (height) differences among these treatments. We found post-fire seeding changed the vegetation composition at BS plots compared to the BX plots by increasing the amount of seeded bunchgrasses and forbs, but these seeding efforts did not achieve the vegetation composition of UX plots because sagebrush was not successfully re-established. We found evidence to suggest that differences in vegetation among treatments affected the composition of insect assemblages. The strongest difference was between UX and burned (BS and BX) plots, but we found some evidence that insect communities were influenced by vegetation differences between BS and BX plots when UX plots were removed from the analysis. Correlations between insect families and vegetation variables provide useful information for evaluating potential effects of shrubland fires on insects and how best to support their post-fire recovery. This information could be useful to assess the potential for recovery of insect assemblages to various disturbance types, which could in turn inform the development of ecological models to potentially predict the threshold of tolerance for functional groups of insects to disturbances."--Abstract.

Download or read book Investigating the Connections Between Soil Fire and Water written by Jalene Ann Weatherholt and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Land area burned annually in the western US has risen in association with shifting climatic conditions as a result of global climate change. Successional processes greatly rely on soils as a foundational medium for the establishment of new plant communities following disturbance. During a wildfire, the combustion of organic materials releases hydrophobic compounds that contribute to the formation of water repellent soils below the surface. Soil water repellency (SWR) can greatly increase erosion risk and overland flow events in an already vulnerable, post-fire system. The myriad of environmental and burn conditions that contribute to the formation, destruction, and perseverance of SWR result in extremely heterogeneous spatial patterns across a landscape. Managers could benefit from a clearer understanding of SWR properties to best aid in successional management practices. This document reports not only the findings of my thesis research work but also explores the journey to my current understanding of SWR in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). Seed data collected in 2018 throughout post-fire ecosystems 1 year following disturbance in the PNW was reflective of the heterogeneous nature of soil water relations. Largely indistinguishable variation of SWR across burn severity classes and naturally occurring hydrophobicity patterns did not provide any clear differences across the landscape. We hypothesized that the scale used to assess relationships between burn severity metrics and SWR from this field design, consisting of four measurement locations per plot across multiple fires was not appropriate to the process itself. Learning from this work, a new protocol measuring 81 locations within a 44x20m rectangle was adapted to explore spatial scales and environmental factors that managers can use to predict SWR behavior on their post-fire forests. This adapted protocol was implemented on the Green Ridge fire that burned in the summer of 2020 in the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon state. Soils within this forest were found in the 2018 data to experience both natural and fire-induced SWR as a process of this mixed-conifer system. We found that soil burn severity is a significant factor in predicting the variability of SWR conditions compared to unburned areas but does not identify a clear pattern across management-relevant distinctions of burn severity. While SWR density significantly diminishes with depth into the soil horizon, little evidence of management-relevant scalable spatial patterns of SWR horizontally throughout a stand were identified. The influence of environmental factors on SWR density will be a key component in the ability to predict post-fire conditions through satellite inputs for landscape level modelling. The future of SWR research will rely on advancements made in remote sensing products of soil qualities and wildfire severity in addition to improved SWR sampling standards.

Download or read book Resilience and Heterogeneity Following Fire in the Nebraska Sandhills written by Jack R. Arterburn and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Nebraska Sandhills grassland is an expansive, semi-arid ecosystem characterized by vegetation-stabilized rolling sand dunes. The Sandhills grassland is managed for livestock production by seeking to minimizing disturbances, such as fire, that increase bare ground. The increase in bare ground following fire has contributed to the fear of fire leading to the emergence of a mobile sand dune state. We tracked vegetation response following a growing season wildfire that occurred during extreme drought conditions. In wildfire and drought conditions are when one would expect resilience to be overcome leading to a lack of vegetation recovery and a transition to a mobile sand dune state. However, aboveground herbaceous biomass recovered to unburned levels after two years and resisted a transition to an undesirable plant community. Next, we assessed the potential for focal fire and grazing to create heterogeneity of grassland structure and composition in order to increase biodiversity. Using patch burning, discrete patches were burned annually and grazers were allowed to select between recently burned and unburned areas. We found the Sandhills grassland is spatially homogeneous in vegetation structure and composition with greater structural heterogeneity emerging temporally in the transition from growing to dormant season. However, temporal heterogeneity manifests as an artifact of how vegetation was classified. Although live herbaceous vegetation decreases in the transition to dormant season, grassland vegetation structure is only slightly affected because herbaceous standing dead vegetation increases as a result of herbaceous vegetation senescence.

Download or read book Biological Soil Crusts An Organizing Principle in Drylands written by Bettina Weber and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-05-21 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume summarizes our current understanding of biological soil crusts (biocrusts), which are omnipresent in dryland regions. Since they cover the soil surface, they influence, or even control, all surface exchange processes. Being one of the oldest terrestrial communities, biocrusts comprise a high diversity of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens and bryophytes together with uncounted bacteria, and fungi. The authors show that biocrusts are an integral part of dryland ecosystems, stabilizing soils, influencing plant germination and growth, and playing a key role in carbon, nitrogen and water cycling. Initial attempts have been made to use biocrusts as models in ecological theory. On the other hand, biocrusts are endangered by local disruptions and global change, highlighting the need for enhanced recovery methods. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the fascinating field of biocrust research, making it indispensable not only for scientists in this area, but also for land managers, policy makers, and anyone interested in the environment.

Download or read book Wet thermal Time and Plant Available Water in the Seedbeds and Root Zones Across the Sagebrush Steppe Ecosystem of the Great Basin written by Nathan Lyle Cline and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Fire Effects Guide written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Vegetation Response to Prescribed Fire in Mountain Big Sagebrush Ecosystems at Lava Beds National Monument California written by Lisa M. Ellsworth and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anthropogenic land use alterations such as livestock grazing and fire suppression have greatly altered sagebrush grasslands of the Great Basin, facilitating invasion of exotic annuals, increases in woody species, and losses of native species. Much of the current research surrounding wildland and prescribed fire in sagebrush dominated ecosystems has focused on a persistent belief that fire in sagebrush systems results in a loss of native flora and a trend toward dominance by exotic annuals. Fire was historically the dominant disturbance throughout the sagebrush steppe and the plant species that comprised these communities possess a variety of adaptations facilitating survival to the fire regime. In order to restore ecosystems, land managers will need to reintroduce natural ecosystem processes, including natural disturbance processes. To describe the response of these plant communities to fire, I examined the plant community response, seedbank response, and reproductive and density responses of three native bunchgrasses (Pseudoroegneria spicata, Achnatherum therberianum, and Elymus elymoides) as well as one native forb (Calochortus macrocarpus) following spring and fall prescribed fires at Lava Beds National Monument. Fires were applied to three Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana (Mountain Big Sagebrush) plant communities with different land use and fire histories. These communities were different in composition ranging from a dominance of exotic annuals to dominance by native grasses, shrubs, and trees. Little is known about how prescribed fire affects the soil seed bank in sagebrush-dominated ecosystems. To address this, we quantified the emergence of Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) seedlings as well as emergence of seedlings of functional groups (native forbs, bunchgrasses, and shrubs) in a seedbank germination study. At the invasive dominated site (Gillems Camp), we found 91% fewer B. tectorum seedlings germinated in spring burned sites than in controls immediately following spring prescribed burns. However, soils collected one-year following fire had 40% more B. tectorum germinants (8017 germinants/m [superscript 2]) than unburned controls (5132 germinants/m [superscript 2]). Following fall burns at this site there was a similar response, with a 56% immediate reduction in B. tectorum (as compared to unburned control) and a 59% increase in B. tectorum and 58% increase in exotic forb germinants one year following fires. There was an increase in native forb germination following spring burns (94%) and fall burns (45%) at a site dominated by native plants (Fleener Chimneys). Native bunchgrass seed germination declined following spring fire in sites dominated by sagebrush and native understory vegetation (79%), and in sites where Juniperus occidentalis (western juniper) and other woody species dominated (Merrill Caves) (71%). In invasive-dominated sites (Gillems Camp), there was a decrease in B. tectorum cover following both spring (81% decrease) and fall fires (82% decrease), and little native vegetation composition change. Shrub cover, made up predominantly of Chrysothamnus nauseosus, decreased following spring (95% decrease) and fall (93% decrease) fires. At the sagebrush, native understory site (Fleener Chimneys), there was a reduction in native bunchgrass cover (64% decrease), and an increase in native forbs (168% increase) following spring burns, with no changes following fall fires. At the juniper- woody dominated site (Merrill Caves), fire treatments resulted in a decrease in woody plant cover, with no immediate postfire differences seen in the herbaceous plant community. Density of bunchgrass species (Pseudoroegneria spicata, Achnatherum therberianum, Elymus elymoides) did not change following either spring or fall prescribed fire treatments. Fire enhanced flowering was not seen in C. macrocarpus following spring or fall burns at the native or juniper dominated sites. There was increased reproductive effort in native bunchgrass species following fires in all communities studied. Following spring fires at invasive dominated sites, there was a 245% increase in reproductive culms of P. spicata. Following fall fires in native dominated sites, we saw a 974% increase in reproductive culms of P. spicata and a 184% increase in reproductive culms of A. therberianum. Following fall fires at juniper-dominated sites, we saw in an increase in reproductive culms of P. spicata (678% increase), A. thurberianum (356% increase), and Elymus elymoides (209% increase). These results suggest that implementing prescribed fire in order to restore the natural disturbance regime in these fire-adapted ecosystems is beneficial to restoration and preservation of the native biota.

Download or read book Rangeland Systems written by David D. Briske and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-04-12 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. This book provides an unprecedented synthesis of the current status of scientific and management knowledge regarding global rangelands and the major challenges that confront them. It has been organized around three major themes. The first summarizes the conceptual advances that have occurred in the rangeland profession. The second addresses the implications of these conceptual advances to management and policy. The third assesses several major challenges confronting global rangelands in the 21st century. This book will compliment applied range management textbooks by describing the conceptual foundation on which the rangeland profession is based. It has been written to be accessible to a broad audience, including ecosystem managers, educators, students and policy makers. The content is founded on the collective experience, knowledge and commitment of 80 authors who have worked in rangelands throughout the world. Their collective contributions indicate that a more comprehensive framework is necessary to address the complex challenges confronting global rangelands. Rangelands represent adaptive social-ecological systems, in which societal values, organizations and capacities are of equal importance to, and interact with, those of ecological processes. A more comprehensive framework for rangeland systems may enable management agencies, and educational, research and policy making organizations to more effectively assess complex problems and develop appropriate solutions.

Download or read book Wildland Fire in Ecosystems written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Fire Effects on Soil Properties written by Paulo Pereira and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2019-02-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wildland fires are occurring more frequently and affecting more of Earth's surface than ever before. These fires affect the properties of soils and the processes by which they form, but the nature of these impacts has not been well understood. Given that healthy soil is necessary to sustain biodiversity, ecosystems and agriculture, the impact of fire on soil is a vital field of research. Fire Effects on Soil Properties brings together current research on the effects of fire on the physical, biological and chemical properties of soil. Written by over 60 international experts in the field, it includes examples from fire-prone areas across the world, dealing with ash, meso and macrofauna, smouldering fires, recurrent fires and management of fire-affected soils. It also describes current best practice methodologies for research and monitoring of fire effects and new methodologies for future research. This is the first time information on this topic has been presented in a single volume and the book will be an important reference for students, practitioners, managers and academics interested in the effects of fire on ecosystems, including soil scientists, geologists, forestry researchers and environmentalists.

Download or read book Water Repellent Soils written by Leonard F. DeBano and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Invasive Species in Forests and Rangelands of the United States written by Therese M. Poland and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-02-01 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book describes the serious threat of invasive species to native ecosystems. Invasive species have caused and will continue to cause enormous ecological and economic damage with ever increasing world trade. This multi-disciplinary book, written by over 100 national experts, presents the latest research on a wide range of natural science and social science fields that explore the ecology, impacts, and practical tools for management of invasive species. It covers species of all taxonomic groups from insects and pathogens, to plants, vertebrates, and aquatic organisms that impact a diversity of habitats in forests, rangelands and grasslands of the United States. It is well-illustrated, provides summaries of the most important invasive species and issues impacting all regions of the country, and includes a comprehensive primary reference list for each topic. This scientific synthesis provides the cultural, economic, scientific and social context for addressing environmental challenges posed by invasive species and will be a valuable resource for scholars, policy makers, natural resource managers and practitioners.