Controls over invasion of Bromus tectorum: the importance of climate, soil, disturbance and seed availability

Question: Predicting the future abundance and distribution of invasive plants requires knowing how they respond to environmental conditions. In arid and semi-arid ecosystems where water is a limiting resource, environmental conditions and disturbance patterns influence invasions by altering acquisition and utilization of water over space and time. We ask: 1. How do variations in climatic and soil properties influence temporal soil water dynamics? 2. How does this variation affect the establishment of Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass), a cool-season annual grass that has successfully colonized much of the U.S. Great Basin? Location: Short-grass Steppe in northeastern Colorado, USA; Arid Lands Ecology reserve in southeastern...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Bromus tectorum, Journal of Vegetation Science, biological invasion, biological invasions, cheatgrass, All tags... cheatgrass climate, climate, disturbance, seed availability, simulation modeling, soil water dynamics, Fewer tags