Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-09T15:17:10.936Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Postfire Downy Brome (Bromus tectorum) Invasion at High Elevations in Wyoming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Brian A. Mealor ,
Samuel Cox  and
D. Terrance Booth
Brian A. Mealor*
Affiliation:
Department Plant Sciences, University of Wyoming, Department 3354, Laramie, WY 82071
Samuel Cox
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, WY 82009
D. Terrance Booth
Affiliation:
Department Plant Sciences, University of Wyoming, Department 3354, Laramie, WY 82071 U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service High Plains Grasslands Research Station, 8408 Hildreth Road, Cheyenne, WY 82009
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: bamealor@uwyo.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The invasive annual grass downy brome is the most ubiquitous weed in sagebrush systems of western North America. The center of invasion has largely been the Great Basin region, but there is an increasing abundance and distribution in the Rocky Mountain States. We evaluated postfire vegetation change using very large–scale aerial (VLSA) and near-earth imagery in an area where six different fires occurred over a 4-yr period at elevations ranging from 1,900 to over 2,700 m. The frequency of downy brome increased from 8% in 2003 to 44% in 2008 and downy brome canopy cover increased from < 1% in 2003 to 6% in 2008 across the entire study area. Principal component analyses of vegetation cover indicate a shift from plant communities characterized by high bare soil and forbs immediately postfire to communities with increasing downy brome cover with time after fire. The highest-elevation sampling area exhibited the least downy brome cover, but cover at some midelevation locations approached 100%. We postulate that the loss of ground-level shade beneath shrubs and conifers, accompanied by diminished perennial vegetative cover, created conditions suitable for downy brome establishment and dominance. Without a cost-effective means of landscape-scale downy brome control, and with infestation levels and climate warming increasing, we predict there will be continued encroachment of downy brome at higher elevations and latitudes where disturbance creates suitable conditions.

Keywords

Downy brome, Bromus tectorum L.Wildfireclimate changeannual grass invasioninvasive specieshigh-elevation rangelandscheatgrass
Type
Research
Information
Invasive Plant Science and Management , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 427 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Aguirre, L. and Johnson, D. A. 1991. Influence of temperature and cheatgrass competition on seedling development of two bunchgrasses. J. Range Manag. 44:347–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beniston, M., Diaz, H. F., and Bradley, R. S. 1997. Climatic change at high elevation sites: an overview. Climatic Change 36:233–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Booth, D. T. and Cox, S. E. 2008. Image-based monitoring to measure ecological change. Front. Ecol. Environ. 6:185–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Booth, D. T., Cox, S. E., and Berryman, R. D. 2006. Point sampling digital imagery using ‘SamplePoint’. Environ. Monit. Assess. 123:97–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Booth, D. T., Cox, S. E., Louhaichi, M., and Johnson, D. E. 2004. Lightweight camera stand for close-to-earth remote sensing. J. Range Manag. 57:675–678.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, B. A. 2009. Regional analysis of the impacts of climate change on cheatgrass invasion shows potential risk and opportunity. Glob. Change Biol. 15:196–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, B. A. and Mustard, J. F. 2006. Characterizing the landscape dynamics of an invasive plant and risk of invasion using remote sensing. Ecol. Appl. 16:1132–1147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bromberg, J. E., Kumar, S., Brown, C. S., and Stohlgren, T. J. 2011. Distributional changes and range predictions of downy brome (Bromus tectorum) in Rocky Mountain National Park. Invasive Plant Sci. Manage. 4:173–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, C. S., Anderson, V. J., Claassen, V. P., Stannard, M. E., and Wilson, L. M. 2009. Restoration ecology and invasive plants in the semiarid west. Invasive Plant Sci. Manag. 1:399–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, C. S. and Rowe, H. I. 2004. The unwelcome arrival of Bromus tectorum to high elevations. Pages 40–51 in Keammerer, W. R. and Todd, J., eds. Proceedings of the High Altitude Revegetation Workshop No. 16. Fort Collins, CO : Colorado Water Resources Research Institute Information Series No. 99.Google Scholar
Brown, R. D. 2000. Northern Hemisphere snow cover variability and change, 1915–97. J. Climate 13:2339–2355.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, R. D. and Mote, P. W. 2009. The response of Northern Hemisphere snow cover to a changing climate. J. Climate 22:2124–2145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buman, R. A. and Abernethy, R. H. Temperature requirements for mountain rye, hycrest crested wheatgrass, and downy brome germination. J. Range Manage., 41:35–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D'Antonio, C. M. and Vitousek, P. M. 1992. Biological invasions by exotic grasses, the grass/fire cycle, and global change. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Sys. 23:63–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Day, C. A. 2009. Modeling impacts of climate change on snowmelt runoff generation and streamflow across western US mountain basins: a review of techniques and applications for water resource management. Progress. Phys. Geog. 33:614–633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan, C. A., Jachetta, J. J., Brown, M. L., Carrithers, V. F., Clark, J. K., DiTomaso, J. M., Lym, R. G., McDaniel, K. C., Renz, M. J., and Rice, P. M. 2005. Assessing the economic, environmental, and societal losses from invasive plants on rangeland and wildlands. Weed Technol. 18:1411–1416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[FAA] Federal Aviation Administration. 2007 (updated March 31, 2009). Section 6. Light-sport category aircraft airworthiness certifications. Pages 112–125 in Airworthiness certification of aircraft and related products. Order 8130.2F. http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/gen_av/light_sport/. Accessed April 9, 2009.Google Scholar
Ganskopp, D. F. and Bedell, T. E. 1979. Cheatgrass and its relationship to climate: a review. Corvallis, OR : Oregon State University Agricultural Experiment Station Special Report 562. 12 p.Google Scholar
Gerlach, J. D., Moore, P. E., Johnson, B., Roy, D. G., Whitmash, P., Lubin, D. M., Graber, D. M., Haultain, S., Pfaff, A., and Keeley, J. E. 2003. Alien plant species threat assessment and management prioritization for Sequoia–Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks. Carson City, NV : U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-170. 149 p.Google Scholar
Harte, J. and Shaw, R. 1995. Shifting dominance within a montane vegetation community: results of a climate-warming experiment. Science 267:876–880.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hull, A. C. and Hansen, W. T. 1974. Delayed germination of cheatgrasss seed. J. Range Manag. 27:366–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keeley, J. E. and McGinnis, T. W. 2007. Impact of prescribed fire and other factors on cheatgrass persistence in a Sierra Nevada ponderosa pine forest. Int. J. Wildland Fire 16:96–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kindschy, R. R. 1994. Pristine vegetation of the Jordan Crater kipukas: 1978–91. Pages 85–88 in Monsen, S. B., and Kitchen, comps, S. G. 1994. Proceedings—Ecology and Management of Annual Rangelands. Ogden, UT : USDA, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station General Technical Report INT-GTR-313.Google Scholar
Link, S. O., Keeler, C. W., Hill, R. W., and Hagen, E. 2006. Bromus tectorum cover mapping and fire risk. Int. J. Wildland Fire 15:113–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mack, R. N. 1981. Invasion of Bromus tectorum L. into western North America: an ecological chronicle. Agro-Ecosystems 7:145–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, A. 2007. The Economic Impacts of Sagebrush Steppe Wildfires on an Eastern Oregon Ranch. M.S. thesis. Corvallis OR : Oregon State University. 157 p.Google Scholar
Martens, E., Palmquist, D., and Young, J. A. 1994. Temperature profiles for germination of cheatgrass versus native perennial bunchgrasses. Pages 238–243 in Monsen, S. B., and Kitchen, comps, S. G. Proceedings—Ecology and Management of Annual Rangelands. Ogden, UT : USDA Forest Service Intermountain Research Station General Technical Report INTGTR-313.Google Scholar
Nayak, A., Marks, D., Chandler, D. G., and Seyfried, M. 2010. Long-term snow, climate, and streamflow trends at the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed, Owyhee Mountains, Idaho, United States. Water Resour. Res. DOI:10.1029/2008WR007525CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[NCDC] National Climatic Data Center. 2011. NOAA Satellite and Information Service. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html. Accessed: September 13, 2011.Google Scholar
[NRCS] Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2011. National Water and Climate Center, South Pass Snotel Site. http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/nwcc/site?sitenum=775&state=wy Accessed: December 22, 2011.Google Scholar
Parolo, G. and Rossi, G. 2008. Upward migration of vascular plants following a climate warning trend in the Alps. Basic Appl. Ecol. 9:100–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pauchard, A., Kueffer, C., Dietz, H., Daehler, C. C., Alexander, J., Edwards, P. J., Arévalo, J. R., Cavieres, L., Guisan, A., Haider, S., Jakobs, G., McDougall, K., Millar, C. I., Naylor, B. J., Parks, C. G., Rew, L. J., and Seipel, T. 2009. Ain't no mountain high enough: plant invasions reaching new elevations. Front. Ecol. Environ. 7:479–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pepin, N. C. and Lundquist, J. D. 2008. Temperature trends at high elevations: patterns across the globe. Geophys. Res. Lett. DOI:10.1029/2008GL034026CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M. A. and Enloe, S. F. 2006. Cheatgrass Ecology and Management in Wyoming. Laramie WY : University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Bulletin MP-111.08. 2 p.Google Scholar
Sternberg, M., Brown, V. K., Masters, G. J., and Clarke, I. P. 1999. Plant community dynamics in a calcareous grassland under climate change manipulations. Plant Ecol. 143:29–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, I. R., Cayan, D. R., and Dettinger, M. D. 2004. Changes toward earlier streamflow timing across western North America. J. Climate. 18:1136–1154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tausch, R. J., Svejcar, T. J., and Burkhardt, J. W. 1994. Patterns of annual grass dominance on Anaho Islands: implications for Great Basin vegetation management. Pages 120–125 in Monsen, S. B., and Kitchen, comps, S. G. Proceedings—Ecology and Management of Annual Rangelands. Ogden, UT : USDA, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station General Technical Report INT-GTR-313.Google Scholar
Whisenant, S. G. 1990. Changing fire frequencies on Idaho's Snake River plains: ecological and management implications. Pages 4–10 in McArthur, E. D., Romney, E. M., Smith, S. D., and Tueller, P. T., eds. Proceedings of a symposium on cheatgrass invasion, shrub-dieoff, and other aspects of shrub biology and management. Ogden, UT : USDA, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station General Technical ReportINT-GTR-276.Google Scholar
Wilson, A. M., Wondercheck, D. E., and Goebel, C. J. 1974. Responses of range grass seeds to winter environments. J. Range Manag. 27:120–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyoming Pest Detection Program. 2010. Downy brome estimated acres in Wyoming. http://www.uwyo.edu/capswebsupport/Weeds/2010_WEED_MAPS/DOBR_ACRES_10.pdf. Accessed: August 25, 2011.Google Scholar
Young, J. A. and Clements, C. D. 2007. Cheatgrass and grazing rangelands. Rangelands 29:15–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, J. A. and Evans, R. A. 1978. Population dynamics after wildfires in sagebrush grasslands. J. Range Manag. 31:283–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar