Fire and development influences on sagebrush community plant groups across a climate gradient in northern Nevada
Abstract The sagebrush biome covers much of the western United States yet is at risk from ongoing disturbances. Physical disturbances such as fire often overcome the resistance of sagebrush communities to biological disturbances such as invasion by non‐native species, but the impact of burn severity...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2990 |
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doaj-e332a1c6b58142e6a6f14cbdf5e162932020-11-25T01:57:44ZengWileyEcosphere2150-89252019-12-011012n/an/a10.1002/ecs2.2990Fire and development influences on sagebrush community plant groups across a climate gradient in northern NevadaDavid J. A. Wood0Tim Seipel1Kathryn M. Irvine2Lisa J. Rew3Paul C. Stoy4U.S. Geological Survey Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center Bozeman Montana 59715 USADepartment of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Montana State University Bozeman Montana 59717 USAU.S. Geological Survey Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center Bozeman Montana 59715 USADepartment of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Montana State University Bozeman Montana 59717 USADepartment of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Montana State University Bozeman Montana 59717 USAAbstract The sagebrush biome covers much of the western United States yet is at risk from ongoing disturbances. Physical disturbances such as fire often overcome the resistance of sagebrush communities to biological disturbances such as invasion by non‐native species, but the impact of burn severity or combined disturbance types on sagebrush community composition remains unclear. We examined the relationship between native functional groups and non‐native annual grass cover to the number of fires, burn severity, anthropogenic development, and vegetation treatments in northern Nevada, USA. We used Bureau of Land Management vegetation monitoring plots and existing climate, fire, and vegetation treatment databases to explore relationships using beta regression. After accounting for mean annual precipitation and temperature, and elevation, we quantified functional group mean cover related to levels of burn severity, numbers of fires, development, and vegetation treatments. Native herbaceous (grass and forb) groups were resilient to fire, but fire caused large declines in shrub and sagebrush cover. Non‐native annual grass cover was associated with higher burn severity and the first fire at a site. We did not find evidence that post‐fire restoration treatments were associated with increased native cover or decreased non‐native cover. However, shrub control and soil disturbing treatments (discing and chaining) were associated with decreased native perennial grass cover and increased non‐native annual grass cover. Functional groups displayed varying patterns related to anthropogenic development and fire. For example, development had a larger impact on non‐native cover at lower levels of burn severity, whereas forbs increased following fire only at lower levels of development. Although in some cases sagebrush communities showed resilience to disturbance, our results showed resistance to invasion by non‐native annual grasses can be overcome by combinations of disturbances at lower levels or by severe events.https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2990burn severitydevelopmentdisturbancenon‐native annualsresilienceresistance to invasion |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
David J. A. Wood Tim Seipel Kathryn M. Irvine Lisa J. Rew Paul C. Stoy |
spellingShingle |
David J. A. Wood Tim Seipel Kathryn M. Irvine Lisa J. Rew Paul C. Stoy Fire and development influences on sagebrush community plant groups across a climate gradient in northern Nevada Ecosphere burn severity development disturbance non‐native annuals resilience resistance to invasion |
author_facet |
David J. A. Wood Tim Seipel Kathryn M. Irvine Lisa J. Rew Paul C. Stoy |
author_sort |
David J. A. Wood |
title |
Fire and development influences on sagebrush community plant groups across a climate gradient in northern Nevada |
title_short |
Fire and development influences on sagebrush community plant groups across a climate gradient in northern Nevada |
title_full |
Fire and development influences on sagebrush community plant groups across a climate gradient in northern Nevada |
title_fullStr |
Fire and development influences on sagebrush community plant groups across a climate gradient in northern Nevada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fire and development influences on sagebrush community plant groups across a climate gradient in northern Nevada |
title_sort |
fire and development influences on sagebrush community plant groups across a climate gradient in northern nevada |
publisher |
Wiley |
series |
Ecosphere |
issn |
2150-8925 |
publishDate |
2019-12-01 |
description |
Abstract The sagebrush biome covers much of the western United States yet is at risk from ongoing disturbances. Physical disturbances such as fire often overcome the resistance of sagebrush communities to biological disturbances such as invasion by non‐native species, but the impact of burn severity or combined disturbance types on sagebrush community composition remains unclear. We examined the relationship between native functional groups and non‐native annual grass cover to the number of fires, burn severity, anthropogenic development, and vegetation treatments in northern Nevada, USA. We used Bureau of Land Management vegetation monitoring plots and existing climate, fire, and vegetation treatment databases to explore relationships using beta regression. After accounting for mean annual precipitation and temperature, and elevation, we quantified functional group mean cover related to levels of burn severity, numbers of fires, development, and vegetation treatments. Native herbaceous (grass and forb) groups were resilient to fire, but fire caused large declines in shrub and sagebrush cover. Non‐native annual grass cover was associated with higher burn severity and the first fire at a site. We did not find evidence that post‐fire restoration treatments were associated with increased native cover or decreased non‐native cover. However, shrub control and soil disturbing treatments (discing and chaining) were associated with decreased native perennial grass cover and increased non‐native annual grass cover. Functional groups displayed varying patterns related to anthropogenic development and fire. For example, development had a larger impact on non‐native cover at lower levels of burn severity, whereas forbs increased following fire only at lower levels of development. Although in some cases sagebrush communities showed resilience to disturbance, our results showed resistance to invasion by non‐native annual grasses can be overcome by combinations of disturbances at lower levels or by severe events. |
topic |
burn severity development disturbance non‐native annuals resilience resistance to invasion |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2990 |
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