Posts Tagged ‘Restoration’
Measuring resilience, resistance to aid in range restoration
View article. Two concepts that help scientists understand the vulnerability of the land are: resilience and resistance. Rating a place based on resilience and resistance gives managers information about how it will respond to disturbances such as wildfire and invasive grasses like cheatgrass as well as how effective management efforts are likely to be (such…
Read MoreUse of auto-germ to model germination timing in the sagebrush-steppe
View article. To demonstrate the capabilities of Auto-Germ, we calculated various germination indices and modeled germination timing for 11 different species, across 6 years, and 10 Artemisia-steppe sites in the Great Basin of North America to identify the planting date required for 50% or more of the simulated population to germinate in spring (1 March…
Read MoreUsing germination prediction to inform seeding potential: I. Temperature range validation of germination prediction models for the Great Basin, USA
View article. Wet thermal germination regression models predict when subpopulations of seeds will germinate based on the summation of thermal time when seedbed soil water potential > −1.5 MPa. Germination rates fit models well at temperatures greater than 5 °C and less than 25 °C, but may not fit as well outside of that range.…
Read MoreUsing germination prediction to inform seeding potential: II. Comparison of germination predictions for cheatgrass and potential revegetation species in the Great Basin, USA
View article. Germination models predict germination timing under seedbed water potential and temperature conditions. Using a wet thermal time model for germination prediction, we estimated progress toward germination (PTG) of 31 seedlots (10 species) as a function of hourly seedbed temperature (>0 °C) when soils were above a water potential of −1.5 MPa. Seasonally-summed progress…
Read MoreComparing citizens’ and managers’ concerns about sagebrush management and restoration in the Great Basin
View article. The Great Basin sagebrush steppe ecosystem is among the most imperiled in the U.S. Cheatgrass invasion, conifer encroachment, and catastrophic wildfires are considered to be primary catalysts of decline. Efforts are underway to restore and increase the resiliency of this damaged ecosystem through broad-scale applications of fuel reduction and restoration treatments involving mechanical…
Read MoreFire as a restoration tool: A decision framework for predicting the control or enhancement of plants using fire
View article. Wildfires change plant communities by reducing dominance of some species while enhancing the abundance of others. Detailed habitat-specific models have been developed to predict plant responses to fire, but these models generally ignore the breadth of fire regime characteristics that can influence plant survival such as the degree and duration of exposure to…
Read MoreLong-term effectiveness of tree removal to re-establish sagebrush steppe vegetation and associated spatial patterns in surface conditions and soil hydrologic properties
View article. Pinyon and juniper woodland encroachment into sagebrush steppe communities throughout western North America has substantially altered the vegetation structure and hydrologic function of one of the most ecologically important rangeland ecosystems in the world. Various pinyon and juniper tree removal practices are employed to re-establish sagebrush steppe vegetation and an associated resource-conserving ecohydrologic…
Read MoreGoldilocks forbs: Survival is highest outside – but not too far outside – of Wyoming big sagebrush canopies
View article. In arid and semiarid systems, positive effects of nurse shrubs generally occur immediately underneath and around shrub canopies, creating microsites that can be targeted to promote plant establishment in restoration settings. Alternatively, the best microsites may occur in the interspace zone immediately surrounding nurse shrubs if positive abiotic effects extend beyond nurse shrub…
Read MoreUnder drought conditions, fungicide seed coating does not increase emergence of two native grass species in sagebrush stands of the Intermountain West
View article. Coating seeds with amendments to increase germination, emergence, and establishment is a promising strategy for dryland restoration. Seed coatings containing fungicides offer a potential solution in regions where fungal pathogens cause seed mortality during the winter stratification period between late fall seeding and spring germination. The effectiveness of the fungicide treatment, however, may…
Read MoreSeed bank response to juniper expansion in the semi-arid lands of Oregon, USA
View thesis. Expansion of Juniperus occidentalis into the sagebrush steppe has resulted in significant changes in understory composition. A consequence of increased J. occidentalis dominance may be a depletion of the seed bank. The potential for depletion is problematic because a reduction in the amount of species available from the seed bank may compromise site…
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