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Land managers are responsible for developing effective strategies for conserving and restoring Great Basin ecosystems in the face of invasive species, conifer expansion, and altered fire regimes. A warming climate is magnifying the effects of these threats and adding urgency to implementation of management practices that will maintain or improve ecosystem functioning. This Factsheet Series was developed to provide land managers with brief summaries of the best available information on contemporary management issues to facilitate science delivery and foster effective management. Each peer-reviewed factsheet was developed as a collaborative effort among knowledgeable scientists and managers. The series begins with...
Alpine and subalpine plant species are of special interest in ecology and ecophysiology because they represent life at the climate limit and changes in their relative abundances can be a bellwether for climate-change impacts. Perennial life forms dominate alpine plant communities, and their form and function reflect various avoidance, tolerance, or resistance strategies to interactions of cold temperature, radiation, wind, and desiccation stresses that prevail in the short growing seasons common (but not ubiquitous) in alpine areas. Plant microclimate is typically uncoupled from the harsh climate of the alpine, often leading to substantially warmer plant temperatures than air temperatures recorded by weather stations....
In 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Conservation Objectives Team (COT) identified wildfire and the associated conversion of low- to mid-elevation sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) habitats to invasive annual grass-dominated vegetation communities as the two primary threats to the sustainability of Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus, hereafter GRSG) in the western portion of the species range (USFWS 2013). To facilitate the examination and evaluation of the role fire and invasive plants play in the conservation of GRSG, the USFWS solicited the assistance of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) to conduct a collaborative assessment of the conservation challenges...
On July 14, 2015 speaker Owen Baughman presented on his work in restoring areas of cheatgrass die-off.The phenomenon of complete stand failure (or die-off) of cheatgrass results in the absence of this invasive grass from the invaded site for one or more growing seasons. Our work seeks to determine if this phenomenon represents an opportunity for restoring native species. Results from two experiments at four Northern Nevada sites over three years are demonstrating that seeded native grasses can have higher success in recent die-offs when compared to seedings in sites that did not die-off. These promising findings indicate that restoring native diversity in highly-invaded systems can be facilitated by targeting die-offs...
Wind erosion and aeolian transport processes are under studied compared to rainfall-induced erosion and sediment transport on burned landscapes. Post-fire wind erosion studies have predominantly focused on near-surface sediment transport and associated impacts such as on-site soil loss and site fertility. Downwind impacts, including air quality degradation and deposition of dust or contaminants, are also likely post-fire effects; however, quantitative field measurements of post-fire dust emissions are needed for assessment of these downwind risks. A wind erosion monitoring system was installed immediately following a desert sagebrush and grass wildfire in southeastern Idaho, USA to measure wind erosion from the burned...
Environmental conditions recorded at 2,256 Great Basin and Mojave Desert springs that were inventoried from the late 1980s into 2013 are summarized. These records provide information about individual springs and their spatial variability across the landscape. Insight into their changing condition is provided by records compiled at springs visited several times over more than 20 years. Although this summary considers a small proportion of springs in this region, it provides broad insight into their size, basic water chemistry, and conditions that are indicative of springs over a large portion of the southwestern US.
Plant phenology is recognized as important for ecological dynamics. There has been a recent advent of phenology and camera networks worldwide. The established PhenoCam Network has sites in the United States, including the western states. However, there is a paucity of published research from semi-arid regions. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of camera-based repeat digital imagery and use of R statistical phenopix package to quantify plant phenology and phenophases in four plant communities in the semi-arid cold desert region of the Great Basin. We developed an automated variable snow/night filter for removing ephemeral snow events, which allowed fitting of phenophases with a double logistic algorithm....
Recent drought, change agents and the spectrum of greater management needs have highlighted the relative dearth of in situ weather and climate measurement stations in the Great Basin. Thus, interest has grown in supplementing or initiating atmospheric and hydrologic measurements. The purpose of this project was to review the existing station networks in the context of management needs by providing examples of how climate observation gaps can be assessed, and by providing some guidelines for the placement of new or augmented stations.The report shows how observation gaps can be discovered utilizing basic geospatial data. Three management applications is used: greater sage-grouse habitat, wildfire and grazing allotments....
Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) is one of the most widespread and abundant plant species in the intermountain regions of western North America. This species occupies an extremely wide ecological niche ranging from the semi-arid basins to the subalpine. Within this large niche, three widespread subspecies are recognized. Montane ecoregions are occupied by subspecies vaseyana, while subspecies wyomingensis and tridentata occupy basin ecoregions. In cases of wide-ranging species with multiple subspecies, it can be more practical from the scientific and management perspective to assess the climate profiles at the subspecies level. We focus bioclimatic model efforts on subspecies wyomingensis, which is the most...
Natural-resource managers and other conservation practitioners are under unprecedented pressure to categorize and quantify the vulnerability of natural systems based on assessment of the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of species to climate change. Despite the urgent need for these assessments, neither the theoretical basis of adaptive capacity nor the practical issues underlying its quantification has been articulated in a manner that is directly applicable to natural-resource management. Both are critical for researchers, managers, and other conservation practitioners to develop reliable strategies for assessing adaptive capacity. Drawing from principles of classical and contemporary research and...
This presentation aired as part of the Great Basin LCC webinar series on November 29, 2017. The presentation was given by Bruce Roundy of Brigham Young University.In this webinar, Dr. Bruce Roundy of Brigham Young University discusses climatic conditions that favor cheatgrass and those that favor desirable perennial herbs. He explains why conditions that favor cheatgrass are associated with less resistance and those that favor perennial herbs are associated with more resilience. The presentation suggests ways to increase resistance to weeds and system resilience when planning fuel control treatments in sagebrush steppe.
On October 27, Paul Rogers of the Western Aspen Alliance discussed the impact of climate change on aspen ecosystems, with an emphasis on aspen fire types.The presentation covered the variability of aspen responses to fire and emphasized unique fire-related systems to wean practitioners from one-size-fits-all prescriptions for aspen forests. The Western Aspen Alliance is a partnership established to improve the management of aspen by linking ecological, social and economic sciences through collaboration and information sharing.
“The loss of foundational but fire-intolerant perennials such as sagebrush due to increases in fire size and frequency in semi-arid regions has motivated efforts to restore them, often with mixed or even no success. Seeds of sagebrush Artemisia tridentata and related species must be moved considerable distances from seed source to planting sites, but such transfers have not been guided by an understanding of local climate adaptation. Initial seedling establishment and its response to weather are a key demographic bottleneck that likely varies among subspecies and populations of sagebrush.We assessed differences in survival, growth and physiological responses of sagebrush seedlings to weather among eleven seed sources...
This research project documented the Native American cultural traditions in the Duckwater Shoshone and the Paiute tribes’ responses to climate change in the Great Basin region. Aspects of tribal culture often include fish, wildlife, or plants as central images or main symbolic figures. Because climate change affects the presence, abundance and patterns of distribution of animals and plants, it is important to analyze behaviors connected to those resources. This project carried out research pertaining to the effects of climate on aspects of the environment and resources relevant to these two Great Basin tribes, leading to insights regarding possible responses of tribal culture to focal animals and plants that, in...
Bromus species – such as cheatgrass – are exotic annual grasses that have become the dominant annual grasses in the western hemisphere. Their spread and impacts across the western United States continue despite the many attempts by land managers to control these species. A new book edited by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service and Colorado State University answers critical research, planning, and management questions about these species. The book synthesizes available literature on the biology, ecology, sociology and economics of Bromus grasses to develop a more complete picture of the factors that influence their invasiveness, impacts, and management in the western United States. Lessons...
The Great Basin LCC Conservation Planning Atlas (CPA) brings cloud-based functionality and collaborative features to a geospatial platform for conservation initiatives across the Great Basin. The CPA resides within the Data Basin online platform, allowing users and groups to create unique collaborative mapping products for their projects. Drawing on over 16,000 datasets currently in Data Basin–including high-priority datasets from LANDFIRE, BLM, USGS, and others–users are able to share maps within public or private groups and then to dynamically interact with those products as a group. In addition to the collaborative planning features, the CPA also provides the Great Basin LCC with another platform through which...
The Science Framework is intended to link the Department of the Interior’s Integrated Rangeland Fire Management Strategy with long-term strategic conservation actions in the sagebrush biome. The Science Framework provides a multiscale approach for prioritizing areas for management and determining effective management strategies within the sagebrush biome. The emphasis is on sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems and Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). The approach provided in the Science Framework links sagebrush ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to nonnative, invasive plant species to species habitat information based on the distribution and abundance of focal species. A geospatial...
Worldwide, many species are responding to ongoing climate change with shifts in distribution, abundance, phenology, or behavior. Consequently, natural-resource managers face increasingly urgent conservation questions related to biodiversity loss, expansion of invasive species, and deteriorating ecosystem services. We argue that our ability to address these questions is hampered by the lack of explicit consideration of species’ adaptive capacity (AC). AC is the ability of a species or population to cope with climatic changes and is characterized by three fundamental components: phenotypic plasticity, dispersal ability, and genetic diversity. However, few studies simultaneously address all elements; often, AC is confused...
On July 26, 2017, Bruce Wylie and Stephen Boyte, USGS, discussed their recent research mapping herbaceous annual cover in the Great Basin.The research team utilized regression tree algorithms combined with spectral and ancillary data (for elevation, soils, etc.) to achieve accuracy-focused maps. They used high-resolution satellite data (2m) to scale ground observations to levels compatible with moderate-resolution satellites (Landsat and MODIS). The speakers also discussed data access, selected journal publications and future plans during the webinar.
On July 21, 2016, Dr. Samantha Chisholm Hatfield of Oregon State University presented findings from her research on Native cultural responses to climate change in the Great Basin.Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is based on observations of environmental surroundings over long periods of time. It is an integral aspect of Indigenous cultural knowledge, which is holistic in nature. Because climate change affects the presence, abundance and patterns of distribution of animals and plants, it is important to analyze behaviors and hear tribes’ TEK perspectives connected to those resources. In this project, researchers documented the Duckwater Shoshone and the Paiute tribes’ cultural traditions and responses to climate...