scholarly journals Fire History and Western Juniper Encroachment in Sagebrush Steppe

1999 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard F. Miller ◽  
Jeffrey A. Rose
Plant Ecology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 190 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva K. Strand ◽  
Andrew P. Robinson ◽  
Stephen C. Bunting

2014 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 1015-1022 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. W. Davies ◽  
J. D. Bates ◽  
M. D. Madsen ◽  
A. M. Nafus

Hydrology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 156
Author(s):  
Nicole Durfee ◽  
Carlos G. Ochoa

The combined impacts of woody plant encroachment and climate variability have the potential to alter the water balance in many sagebrush steppe ecosystems in the Western USA, leading to reduced water availability in these already water-scarce regions. This study compared the water-balance characteristics of two adjacent semiarid watersheds in central Oregon, USA: one dominated by big sagebrush and one dominated by western juniper. Precipitation, springflow, streamflow, shallow groundwater levels, and soil moisture were measured. The potential evapotranspiration was calculated using the Hargreaves–Samani method. Potential evapotranspiration and a water-balance approach were used to calculate seasonal actual evapotranspiration. The shallow aquifer recharge was calculated using the Water-Table-Fluctuation-Method. Evapotranspiration, followed by deep percolation, accounted for the largest portion (83% to 86% of annual precipitation) of water output for both watersheds. Springflow and streamflow rates were generally greater at the sagebrush-dominated watershed. Snow-dominated years showed greater amounts of groundwater recharge and deep percolation than years where a larger portion of precipitation fell as rain, even when total annual precipitation amounts were similar. This study’s results highlight the role of vegetation dynamics, such as juniper encroachment, and seasonal precipitation characteristics, on water availability in semiarid rangeland ecosystems.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. E. Coultrap ◽  
K. O. Fulgham ◽  
D. L. Lancaster ◽  
J. Gustafson ◽  
D. F. Lile ◽  
...  

AbstractWestern juniper has been actively invading sagebrush plant communities for about 130 yr. Western juniper canopy cover generally increases as western juniper invades sagebrush steppe communities and succession progresses toward a western juniper woodland. Our goal was to estimate the impact of juniper invasion and canopy increase on understory vegetation structure and productivity on 101 sites in northeastern California. The primary objectives of this study were to: (1) examine the influence of increasing western juniper canopy cover on the composition and productivity of understory vegetation; and (2) assess the effects of western juniper removal on understory vegetation. Sites in early, mid-, and late successional stages and sites on the same soils that had not been invaded were selected. Sites where western juniper had been removed by prescribed fire, mechanical, or chemical methods were compared to adjacent untreated sites. Western juniper canopy cover, understory cover and species composition, productivity, and bare ground were determined at each site during May through July 2005 and 2006. Regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between western juniper canopy cover and understory vegetation parameters. Logistic regression was used to detect understory differences between treated (juniper removed) and untreated (juniper not removed) sites. A significant relationship was found between western juniper canopy cover and understory species richness, shrub cover, forb cover, total grass cover, cheatgrass cover, herbaceous productivity, and bare ground. Removal of western juniper increased total grass cover, cheatgrass cover, and productivity, and reduced bare ground. The results of this study support findings by researchers in other states that western juniper influences plant community structure and productivity, and removal of western juniper might reverse these changes in structure, but also might increase opportunities for invasion of cheatgrass.


1981 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 501 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Young ◽  
Raymond A. Evans

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick R. Kormos ◽  
Danny G. Marks ◽  
Frederick B. Pierson ◽  
C. Jason Williams ◽  
Stuart P. Hardegree ◽  
...  

Abstract. Meteorological, snow, streamflow, topographic, and vegetation height data are presented from the South Mountain experimental catchments. This study site was established in 2007 as a collaborative, long-term research laboratory to address the impacts of western juniper encroachment and woodland treatments in the interior Great Basin region of the western USA. The data provide detailed information on the weather and hydrologic response from four highly instrumented catchments in the late stages of woodland encroachment in a sagebrush steppe landscape. Hourly data from six meteorologic stations and four weirs have been carefully processed, quality-checked, and are serially complete. These data are ideal for hydrologic, ecosystem, and biogeochemical modeling. Data presented are publicly available from the USDA National Agricultural Library administered by the Agricultural Research Service (https://data.nal.usda.gov/dataset/data-weather-snow-and-streamflow-data-four-western-juniper-dominated-experimental-catchments, doi:10.15482/USDA.ADC/1254010).


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick R. Kormos ◽  
Danny G. Marks ◽  
Frederick B. Pierson ◽  
C. Jason Williams ◽  
Stuart P. Hardegree ◽  
...  

Abstract. Weather, snow, stream, topographic, and vegetation data are presented from the South Mountain Experimental Catchments. This study site was established in 2007 as a collaborative, long-term research laboratory to address the impacts of western juniper encroachment and woodland treatments in the interior Great Basin region of the western USA. The data provide detailed information on the weather and hydrologic response from four highly instrumented catchments in the late stages of woodland encroachment in a sagebrush steppe landscape. Hourly data from six meteorologic stations and four weirs have been carefully processed, quality checked, and are serially complete. These data are ideal for hydrologic, ecosystem, and biogeochemical modeling. Data presented are publicly available from the USDA National Agricultural Library administered by the Agricultural Research Service (https://data.nal.usda.gov/dataset/data-weather-snow-and-streamflow-data-four-western-juniper-dominated-experimental-catchments, doi:10.15482/USDA.ADC/1254010).


2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron L. Holmes ◽  
Jeremy D. Maestas ◽  
David E. Naugle

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