Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Factors associated with native vegetation recruitment into established crested wheatgrass stands
Author
Aleta Nafus
Tony Svejcar
Kirk Davies
Publication Year
2013
Body

Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum and Agropyron desertorum) is an introduced perennial grass that has been seeded on over 5 million hectares in semiarid and arid regions of western North America. Crested wheatgrass has been used to stabilize soil following disturbance, increase forage production, suppress undesirable plants and reduce wildfires. However, crested wheatgrass can be a strong competitor, often forming monoculture stands, which can lead to concerns about native species displacement and low biological diversity following its introduction. In some crested wheatgrass plant communities, native vegetation, most commonly shrubs, has successfully reestablished. Even though native vegetation occasionally establishes successfully in stands of crested wheatgrass, it is not clearly understood what factors promote native vegetation recruitment. The objectives of this study were to determine which factors (management, site/environmental characteristics) are associated with native plant recruitment in crested wheatgrass plant communities. We sampled 101 crested wheatgrass stands to evaluate correlations between potential explanatory variables and native plant cover and density. Preliminary observations suggest that the main factors associated with native vegetation recruitment into stands of crested wheatgrass are: soil texture, season of grazing, time since crested wheatgrass was seed and time since last fire. These results will allow land managers to make more informed decisions to manage stands of crested wheatgrass to either reestablish native vegetation for wildlife habitat or to maintain stands of crested wheatgrass to suppress undesirable plant invasion.

Language
eng
Additional Information
Aleta Nafus1, Tony Svejcar2, Kirk Davies2 --- 1Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA, 2USDA-ARS, Burns, Oregon, USA