Differential Establishment of Perennial Grass and Cheatgrass Following Fire on an Ungrazed Sagebrush-Juniper Site Robin J. Tausch Jeanne C. Chambers Robert R. Blank Robert S. Nowak enough that the plant community crosses a threshold from a perennial-dominated to an annual-dominated community. This dramatic shift in species composition alters competitive and fire dynamics to maintain annual dominance on the affected sites (Billings 1990; Tausch and others, 1994a; Young and Evans 1973; Young and others 1987). Such major changes in community composition to new stable communities are examples of a largely unappreciated component of global change (D’Antonio and Vitousek 1992). It is important for managers to understand the processes and factors behind the largely irreversible conversion of range vegetation from perennial dominance to cheatgrass dominance. Cheatgrass currently dominates more than 41 million hectares in the Intermountain West (D’Antonio and Vitousek 1992; Mack 1981; Young and others 1987) and is continually expanding (Young and Tipton 1990). The conversion has occurred on extensive areas of western and northern Nevada rangelands (Morrow and Stahlman 1984). Cheatgrass is also invading undisturbed sites (Morrow and Stahlman 1984; Young and Evans 1973) where a slow conversion to annual dominance can then occur (Svejcar and Tausch 1991; Tausch and others, 1994b). Is the barrier to the return of perennial dominance controlled by the presence of cheatgrass? What has been the role of fire or other environmental factors, either alone or in combination, in the establishment and persistence of cheatgrass? Many factors such as soil physical, microbiological, and nutrient characteristics, are potentially involved in the change from perennials to annuals following fire. These factors are all modified by the level and duration of disturbance (Klopatek and others 1988). However, some known characteristics of cheatgrass are definite factors. Once present, the dominance of cheatgrass seems related to its ability to effectively compete with native perennials for limited soil moisture (Melgoza and others 1990). Cheatgrass is also an example of an invading species for which close climatic similarity to its region of origin is not necessary (Roy and others 1991). In Nevada the dominance of cheatgrass following disturbance varies with the environmental conditions and plant species composition of the site (Tausch and others 1994b). Higher elevation sites and sites with a high cover of perennial grass are more likely to return to perennial dominance following fire than shrub-dominated lower elevation sites. This pattern, however, can be modified by Abstract—After one fire in a bunchgrass-dominated juniper woodland, cheatgrass became dominant under the remnant crowns of burned juniper, but native bunchgrass dominated the inter-spaces. In a second burn across a ridge bunchgrass dominated both under burned juniper crowns and interspaces. Vegetation variables of species crown cover, average perennial plant size, and perennial plant and cheatgrass densities did not differ between interspace areas for the two burn locations or between interspace areas and the area under juniper crowns of the second burn. Several soil surface variables, and total soil organic carbon and organic nitrogen differed between tree and interspace areas but not between burns within tree or interspace areas. The variables analyzed did not explain why two stable communities with a threshold between them occurred on this site following fire. The existence of several stable states of plant species composition with thresholds, or barriers to change, between them is now known to exist within many plant communities (Friedel 1991; Laycock 1991). The reasons for the stable states and intervening thresholds can involve many biotic and abiotic factors. Understanding the mechanisms that permit multiple stable states in community composition, and that can cause the thresholds between them, is important for managing rangelands (Johnson and Mayeux 1992; Tausch and others 1993). For many communities, thresholds were crossed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a result of heavy livestock use. The introduction of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) in many areas has formed an additional stable state community and a threshold between it and the former plant composition. If present in a community, cheatgrass usually remains a part of the herbaceous layer until a fire occurs (Young and Tipton 1990; Young and others 1987). Fire alters the biotic and abiotic factors In: Roundy, Bruce A.; McArthur, E. Durant; Haley, Jennifer S.; Mann, David K., comps. 1995. Proceedings: wildland shrub and arid land restoration symposium; 1993 October 19-21; Las Vegas, NV. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-315. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. Robin J. Tausch is Project Leader and Jeanne C. Chambers is Research Ecologist, Intermountain Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Reno, NV 89512. Robert R. Blank is Soil Scientist, Conservation Biology of Rangelands Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Reno, NV 89512. Robert S. Nowak is Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Resource Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89512. 252 the grazing history of the site (Tausch and others, 1994a). To control these changes, a better understanding of the environmental and vegetation conditions that allow the conversion is needed. Particularly needed is information on how community composition, precipitation amount and seasonality, nutrient dynamics, and microbiological relationships of a site affect the competitive balance between cheatgrass and perennial species. In a mid-elevation Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma [Torr.] Little) woodland with a bunchgrass-dominated understory, cheatgrass dominance appeared to vary by micro-site following fire. Areas under remnant juniper crowns (crown sites) on one burned area were cheatgrass dominated; the interspace areas (interspace sites) were dominated by bunchgrasses. On a second burn across a ridge both crown and interspace sites were dominated by bunchgrasses. We hypothesized that some combination of the presence of juniper, characteristics of the fire, soil conditions, and effects on nutrient conditions was sufficient to push the plant community across a threshold to a stable community dominated by cheatgrass. The fire, in combination with the other possible factors, did not result in the environmental conditions necessary for cheatgrass dominance in the interspace areas of the first burn or on any part of the second burn. The two burns offered a rare opportunity to study the microscale conditions that alter cheatgrass and perennial grass dominance following fire. The objectives of this study were to document possible vegetation differences, and to examine some of the potential abiotic factors that may lead to cheatgrass dominance following fire in a relic juniper community. Efforts were focused on answering two questions. First, were there biotic and edaphic factors that differed under the crowns of unburned juniper, or in unburned interspace areas adjacent to the two burns, to explain the post-fire differences? Second, were there biotic or edaphic factors that differed between crown and interspace areas after burning that coincided with cheatgrass dominance? remnant juniper crowns, burned in 1974 and the east side burned in 1981. All of the burned area on the east side, and the upper elevation portion of the burn on the west side, are on the same parent material, a residuum and colluvium from basalt. They also have the same soils— loamy-skeletal, mixed, mesic, aridic argixerolls (SCS 1983). Only the part of the west side burn that has the same soil type as the east side burn was used for the study. Both burns were patchy with unburned areas surrounded by burned area. The studied area of the west side burn covers an elevation range from just under 1,900 m to 1,950 m. Most of the site is on northwest- to north-facing slopes with limited south slope involvement. Sampling on the east side burn was over an elevation range of 1,950 m to 2,100 m and on mostly east-facing slopes. Data Collection Vegetation and soils were sampled in August 1993 using circular study plots 10 m2 in area (3.57 m diameter). The woody portions of the crowns of the burned juniper are still standing on both burns. All burned juniper trees on both burns with crowns large enough to contain the circular plot were located and mapped. Five of these trees were randomly selected on each burn. Three additional plots were then located for each burned tree plot. A burned interspace plot was randomly located adjacent to each burned tree plot. The unburned tree of sufficient size nearest to each selected burned tree, on the same slope and aspect, and similar in elevation to the burned tree plot, was selected as a paired unburned tree plot. Last, an unburned interspace plot was randomly located adjacent to each unburned tree plot. This gave a total of five sets of four plots (burned and unburned tree and burned and unburned interspace), or a total of 20 plots on each burn. Plots located under burned or existing juniper crowns were centered within the area covered by the crown. Interspace plots adjacent to each burned or unburned tree plot were located at least 2 m, but not more than 5 m, away from the edge of the nearest burned or unburned tree crown. Plant crown cover was estimated in four 0.5 m2 quadrats that were randomly selected from eight possible quadrats. One quadrat was randomly selected from each of four pairs located on the uphill, downhill, and on either side of the circular plot. An estimation guide representing 1 percent of the quadrat was used to determine cover. Cover data were averaged by species for each circular plot. Shrub and perennial grass density and average crown area were sampled in the full 10-m2 circular plot. Two crown diameters were measured on each perennial plant: the longest and the one perpendicular to the longest. Measurements for each plant were converted to crown area using the equation for an ellipse; average crown area was determined for each species in each circular plot. Soil surface characteristics of litter, bare ground, gravel, cobble, stone, and cryptograms were determined from six points along each side of each quadrat (48 points per plot). Percent of the total number of points was computed for each category for each circular plot. METHODS Study Site Description Two sites in an area of ungrazed relic vegetation were used for this study. These sites are on the upper elevations of the south end of the Virginia Mountains west of Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Patterns of cheatgrass dominance following fire in this area are variable with location (Tausch and others, 1994b). The relic communities are dominated by an overstory of scattered Utah juniper. Trees cover the full range of age classes from seedlings to trees several hundred years old, but total tree cover is less than 15 percent of the area. The understory for most of the area is dominated by bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicatum [Pursh] A. Young). Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis Bettle & A. Young) is scattered throughout the area. The two burns are separated by the main north/south ridge of the mountains. The west side, with cheatgrass under 253 Four soil samples of the 0-5 cm surface mineral layer were randomly sampled within each 10-m2 circular plot and composited for analysis. The Walkley-Black procedure was used to quantify soil organic carbon (Nelson and Sommers 1982). Total organic nitrogen was quantified with the Kjeldahle method (Bremmer and Mulvaney 1982). Nitrogen is possibly the most limiting nutrient in juniper woodlands (Klopatek 1987). Table 1—Tree, shrub, grass, and forb species sampled on two burns on the Virginia Mountains, NV Species West East Trees Juniperus osteosperma (Torrey) Little X X X X X X X X X X X X X Shrubs Artemisia nova Nelson A. tridentata wyomingensis Beetle & A. Young Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus (Hook) Nutt. Ephedra viridis Cov. Eriogonum microthecum Nutt. Ribes velutinum E. Greene Tetradymia canescens DC. Data Analyses Two areas of possible differences were the focus of the analyses. First, were there differences between east and west unburned tree plots that might explain the postburn differences in vegetation composition of the burned tree plots? A supplemental analysis was a comparison of east and west differences between unburned interspace plots. Second, were there differences among the east and west side burned interspace plots plus the east side burned tree plots, and differences between these three sets of plots and the west side burned tree plots as a separate group? Vegetation and soils data were analyzed by dividing the data into burned and unburned sets to directly focus on these differences. Each set was analyzed separately with one-way analysis of variance. Each AOV analysis contained four treatments. Burned site treatments were east side burned tree (EBT), east side burned interspace (EBI), west side burned tree (WBT), and west side burned interspace (WBI) plots. Unburned treatments were east side unburned tree (EUT), east side unburned interspace (EUI), west side unburned tree (WUT), and west side unburned interspace (WUI) plots. Significant differences for all analyses were at the P ≤ 0.05 level. Differences between treatments within each analysis were by Tukey’s method of pairwise comparisons. The classification program TWINSPAN from the Cornell Ecology package (Ludwig and Reynolds 1988) was used to evaluate the degree of similarity among the 40 sampled plots. Classification was based on the percent vegetation cover for the individual species. X Grass Achnatherum hymenoides (Roemer & Schultes) Barkworth A. thurberianum (Piper) Barkworth A. webberi (Thruber) Barkworth Bromus tectorum L. Elymus elymoides (Raf) Swezey Melica stricta Bolander Poa secunda J.S. Presl. Pseudoroegneria spicata (Pursh) A. Love X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Forb Allium sp. Antenaria sp. Arabis holboellii Hornem. Astragalus sp. Aster sp. Balsamorhiza hookeri Nutt. Castilleja chromosa Nelson Calochortus bruneaunis Nelson & J.F. Macbr. Chorizanthe brevicornu Torrey Crepis acuminata Nutt. Cryptantha micrantha (Torrey) Eriastrum sparsiflorum (Eastw.) H. Mason Erigeron sp. Galium sp. Gayophytum sp. Gilia inconspicua (Smith) Sweet Lactuca sp. Lomatium sp. Lupinus caudatus Kellogg Lygodesmia spinosa (Nutt) Tomb. Machaeranthera canescens var. leucanthemifolia (E.Greene) Welsh Mentzelia albicaulis Hook. Phacelia bicolor S. Watson Phlox stansburyi (Torrey) A.A. Heller Senecio multilobatus A. Gray Sisymbrium altissimum L. Results and Discussion Seven shrub, seven grass, and 22 forb species were sampled on the east side burn (table 1). The west side burn had five shrub, seven grass, and 17 forb species. A total of 42 species were identified with seven more species sampled on the east side than the west side. Vegetation cover differences between east and west side unburned tree plots were not significant. Unburned interspace plots on the west side, however, had significantly higher total vegetation cover than the east side plots because of higher sagebrush and total perennial grass cover (table 2). Over 97 percent of the total plant cover on burned tree plots on the west side was cheatgrass or annual forbs; these species comprised less than 9 percent of the cover on burned tree plots on the east side. Cheatgrass plus annual forbs comprised 17 and 11 percent of the burned interspace plots on the west and X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X east sides, respectively. The west side fairly consistently had the highest total plant cover across burned and unburned plots compared to east side plots. Bluebunch wheatgrass density on the west side unburned tree plots was only slightly higher than on the east side (table 3). All unburned interspace plots and east side burned tree plots were similar in bluebunch wheatgrass density. The burned tree plots on the west side had 254 Table 2—Average percent vegetation crown cover for unburned and burned, east and west, and tree and interspace plots. Means with different letters across rows are significantly different (P ≤ 0.05). Species with less than 0.1 percent cover are indicated with ‘t’ Total cover A. tridentata wyomingensis Total shrub Pseudoroegneria spicata Elymus elymoides Poa secunda Total perennial grass Bromus tectorum Forbs Burned Total cover A. tridentata wyomingensis Total shrub Pseudoroegneria spicata Elymus elymoides Poa secunda Total perennial grass Bromus tectorum Forbs Interspace East West side side 2.2a 0.2a 0.2a 0.8a ta 0.3a 1.1a 0.2a 0.8a 6.5a 0.1a 1.3a 1.2a 0.3a 0.7a 2.2a 0.2a 2.8a 26.0b 5.7b 10.7b 13.4b ta 0.5a 13.9b 0.6a 1.4a 39.5c 11.0c 16.8b 19.9b 0.6a 1.2a 21.7c 0.2a 1.0a 47.5ab 2.3a 4.2a 39.0a 0.0a 0.1a 39.1a 1.1a 66.3a 0.0a 0.6a 0.9b 0.2a 0.0a 1.1b 47.7b 40.4b ta 0.6a 35.4a t4a ta 35.4a 2.6a 50.2ab ta 2.4a 37.7a 0.5a 0.9b 39.2a 0.8a 3.1ab 16.9a 1.9b 7.8ab .5 Eigenvalue Unburned Tree East West side side .6 Tree Unburned A. tridentata wyomingensis Pseudoroegneria spicata Elymus elymoides Total perennial grass Bromus tectorum (no./m2) West side 1.6ab 17.0a 9.0b 26.8ab 14.7a 5.0ab 69.6b 0.2a 70.6c 22.4a 5.6b 54.6b 0.8a 57.2bc 9.5a No. of plots 0.4a 49.8a 0.0a 49.8ab 42.9a 0.0a 3.2b 1.8a 16.0b 284.6b 0.0a 72.6a 0.2a 72.8a 74.2a 0.2a 50.8a 1.2a 53.2ab 79.3a Total perennial grass Bromus tectorum (no./m2) Tree Unburned A. tridentata wyomingensis Pseudoroegneria spicata Elymus elymoides 593a 4a 16a 1,187a 9a 5a 1,313a 47b 6a 880a 54b 80a 1,891a 124a 0a 0a 23b 19a 0a 104a 19a 113a 122a 35a WBI 5 WUI 5 EBT 1 WUI 5 EUT WUT 5 5 Table 5—Total soil organic nitrogen (percent), total soil organic carbon (percent) and C/N ratios for unburned and burned, east and west, and tree and interspace plots. Means with different letters across rows are significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) Tree Burned A. tridentata wyomingensis Pseudoroegneria spicata Elymus elymoides EBT 4 less than a third of the bluebunch wheatgrass density and were an order of magnitude greater in cheatgrass density than all the other plots. Sagebrush plants tended to be larger on the east side while both bluebunch wheatgrass and squirreltail (Elymus elymoides) were generally larger on the west side (table 4). Overall, differences in the results between east and west sides, with the exception of species composition on the west side burned tree plots are small, indicating the two sites share the same basic community. Classification of the 40 sample plots based on vegetation cover indicated four groups (fig. 1). The first division separated the unburned tree plots from the rest, and the second separated the burned tree plots on the west side. At no level of division were the unburned tree plots on the east and west sides separated. The final two groups separated the remaining unburned plots from the remaining Interspace East West side side West side EBI 5 Figure 1—Dendrogram of TWINSPAN analysis results for the 40 circular plots sampled on two burns on the Virginia Mountains, NV. Only the first three levels of division are shown. Sample site abbreviations are: WBT = west side burned tree, EBI = east side burned interspace, EBT = east side burned tree, WBI = west side burned interspace, WUI = west side unburned interspace, EUT = east side unburned tree, WUT = west side unburned tree. Table 4—Average plant crown area (cm2) for unburned and burned, east and west, and tree and interspace plots. Means with different letters across rows are significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) East side WBT 5 Twinspan Dendrogram Virginia Mountains Burn Burned A. tridentata wyomingensis Pseudoroegneria spicata Elymus elymoides .2 0 Interspace East West side side 0.8a 9.6a 0.4a 11.0a 18.0a .3 .1 Table 3—Average plant density (no./10 m2) for unburned east and west, tree and interspace plots. Means with different letters across rows are significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) East side .4 255 Interspace East West side side Unburned East side West side Nitrogen Carbon C/N ratio 0.32ab 4.86a 15.56a 0.56a 7.33a 12.32a 0.10b 1.28a 13.65a 0.15ab 1.87a 13.68a Burned Nitrogen Carbon C/N ratio 0.33ab 3.86ab 11.99a 0.51a 5.80a 11.44a 0.17b 1.70b 10.64a 0.16b 1.65b 10.47a Table 6—Percent ground cover for litter, bare ground, gravel, cobble, stone, and cryptogram for unburned and burned, east and west, and tree and interspace plots. Means with different letters across rows are significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) Tree (table 6). Cryptogram cover was lower in the burned plots compared to the unburned plots, particularly in the tree plots. Within both the interspace and tree plots, the eastern and western sides were not significantly different for any of the ground cover variables. An investigation of the associated precipitation patterns at Reno, NV, revealed an interesting pattern (fig. 2). Two years prior to the date of each burn precipitation was below average. The year prior to the year of each burn had above average precipitation and the precipitation of the year of the burn was below average for both. However, the 2 years following the burn on the west side (1974) were below average while those following the burn on the east side (1981) were two of the wettest on record. Direct experimentation will be necessary to determine if these differences were an important factor in the dominance of annuals under the burned western trees. Interspace East West side side Unburned East side West side Litter Bare Gravel Cobble Stone Cryptogram 80.00a 0.42a 2.08a 2.97ab 5.84a 7.92a 84.58a 0.00a 0.82a 0.84a 4.18a 8.34a 41.66b 7.50a 14.58b 7.08ab 18.76b 9.58a 37.10b 10.42a 4.16a 9.16b 20.84b 16.82a Burned Litter Bare Gravel Cobble Stone Cryptogram 68.34a 0.84a 4.46a 0.84a 25.84a 0.42a 65.42ab 0.84a 0.00a 1.26a 32.50a 0.00a 50.42b 7.08a 9.18a 3.76a 26.68a 3.32a 55.00ab 6.68a 4.58a 4.16a 25.00a 4.58a Conclusions The existence of microscale patterns of alternate perennial bunchgrass- or cheatgrass-dominated stable communities in an area of woodland vegetation represented a rare opportunity for investigating some of the processes involved. Similar to many areas of the Great Basin (Young and others 1987), where either annual or perennial species dominated the site, seedling establishment by the other group was very limited. Differences might still persist because cheatgrass dominance may be preventing bunchgrass establishment on the soils under burned juniper, and bunchgrass dominance may be preventing cheatgrass establishment on the interspace soils. If the vegetation or soil factors sampled for this study had been modified by the previous fire, these changes were no longer present at sampling. While different stable states in community composition are common, and potentially important, the reasons for their existence and for the threshold between them can be subtle and difficult to identify. Several possibilities may be involved. Fire, in combination with the presence of large juniper, may have modified the physical, chemical, or microbiological characteristics of the soil. Nutrient islands form beneath juniper canopies and result in different nutrient dynamics between canopy and interspace soils. Nitrogen mineralization and nitrification can also be higher beneath the canopy than in the interspace (Klopatek 1987; Klopatek and others 1990). Soil N had a small but significant increase in canopy versus interspace soils following fire in woodlands (Klopatek and others 1991). Nitrogen and other soil nutrients also showed increases under burned debris piles (Gifford 1981). Juniper as well as most of the understory species are dependent on vesicular-arbuscular endomycorrhizae (VAM) species that can be substantially reduced by fire (Klopatek and others 1988). Cheatgrass and other introduced annuals, by contrast, are not mycorrhizal dependent and are unaffected by mycorrhizal reduction by fire. Other possibilities can include different grazing regimes, differences in the intensity and timing of fire or other disturbance, and other environmental differences at the time of both the disturbance and subsequent plant reestablishment. burned plots, with one exception. The east side burned tree plot with the highest shrub cover ended up with the unburned interspace plots from both the east and west sides. Except for the burned tree plots on the west side that had been cheatgrass dominated for 19 years, east and west side plots did not separate at any level of the classification analysis. Overall, the east and west sides were not significantly different for any carbon or nitrogen measures (table 5). Levels were largely the same on the burned plots, even the burned western tree plots. Carbon/nitrogen ratios were slightly lower on the burned plots. Litter cover in the unburned tree plots was higher than in the interspace plots, as may be expected from tree litter Precipitation (inches) 12 Average PPT 8 4 0 1972 1974 1976 1979 1981 Year Annual Precipitation Reno, NV 1983 Figure 2—Histograms of annual precipitation for Reno, NV, for the years 1972 to 1984. Precipitation histograms coinciding with years of the two burns on the Virginia Mountains, NV, are filled in solid. 256 More detailed studies of the changes in key soil factors and the patterns of plant establishment that immediately follow fire are needed to better understand the processes involved. Future studies would also need to be conducted in different community types and locations to verify the processes involved. Melgoza, G.; Nowak, R. S.; Tausch, R. J. 1990. Soil water exploitation after fire: Competition between Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) and two native species. Oecologia. 83: 7-13. Morrow, L. A.; Stahlman, P. W. 1984. 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