Influence of climate and environment on post-fire recovery of mountain big sagebrush
Zachary J. Nelson A D , Peter J. Weisberg B and Stanley G. Kitchen C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, 1664 N. Virginia Street, MS 186, Reno, NV 89557, USA.
B Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, 1664 N. Virginia Street, MS 186, Reno, NV 89557, USA.
C USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Shrub Sciences Laboratory 735 North 500 East, Provo, UT 84606, USA.
D Corresponding author. Present address: Inyo County Water Department, 135 S. Jackson Street, Independence, CA 93526, USA. Email: z.j.nelson2010@gmail.com
International Journal of Wildland Fire 23(1) 131-142 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF13012
Submitted: 21 January 2013 Accepted: 14 August 2013 Published: 14 November 2013
Abstract
In arid and semi-arid landscapes around the world, wildfire plays a key role in maintaining species diversity. Dominant plant associations may depend upon particular fire regime characteristics for their persistence. Mountain shrub communities in high-elevation landscapes of the Intermountain West, USA, are strongly influenced by the post-fire recovery dynamics of the obligate-seeding shrub, mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. vaseyana [Rydb.] Beetle). This species is a short-distance disperser with a short-lived seedbank, leading to highly variable post-fire recovery times (15–100 years). We investigated the relative importance of site productivity and seasonal climate in explaining the variance in recovery time for 36 fires, comprising a fire chrono-sequence (from 1971 to 2007) for the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau. A. t. vaseyana recovery was positively related to precipitation in the cool season immediately following fire, likely because deep soil-water recharge that persists throughout the growing season enhances first-year seedling survival. Percentage sand fraction positively correlated with recovery rate yet negatively correlated with live cover in unburnt stands. Our data support the hypothesis that post-fire recovery rate of A. t. vaseyana depends on the climatically controlled ephemerality of the regeneration niche, as is likely true for many arid-land shrub species.
Additional keywords: Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana, Colorado Plateau, fire effects, Great Basin, precipitation variability, succession.
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