Skip to main content

Drivers of Bromus tectorum Abundance in the Western North American Sagebrush Steppe

Ecosystems volume 19, pages 986–1000 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Bromus tectorum can transform ecosystems causing negative impacts on the ecological and economic values of sagebrush steppe of the western USA. Although our knowledge of the drivers of the regional distribution of B. tectorum has improved, we have yet to determine the relative importance of climate and local factors causing B. tectorum abundance and impact. To address this, we sampled 555 sites distributed geographically and ecologically throughout the sagebrush steppe. We recorded the canopy cover of B. tectorum, as well as local substrate and vegetation characteristics. Boosted regression tree modeling revealed that climate strongly limits the transformative ability of B. tectorum to a portion of the sagebrush steppe with dry summers (that is, July precipitation <10 mm and the driest annual quarter associated with a mean temperature >15°C) and low native grass canopy cover. This portion includes the Bonneville, Columbia, Lahontan, and lower Snake River basins. These areas are likely to require extreme efforts to reverse B. tectorum transformation. Our predictions, using future climate conditions, suggest that the transformative ability of B. tectorum may not expand geographically and could remain within the same climatically suitable basins. We found B. tectorum in locally disturbed areas within or adjacent to all of our sample sites, but not necessarily within sagebrush steppe vegetation. Conversion of the sagebrush steppe by B. tectorum, therefore, is more likely to occur outside the confines of its current climatically optimal region because of site-specific disturbances, including invasive species control efforts and sagebrush steppe mismanagement, rather than climate change.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5

References

  • Anderson JE, Inouye RS. 2001. Landscape-scale changes in plant species abundance and biodiversity of a sagebrush steppe over 45 years. Ecol Monogr 71:531–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagchi S, Briske DD, Bestelmeyer BT, Wu XB. 2013. Assessing resilience and state-transition models with historical records of cheatgrass Bromus tectorum invasion in North American sagebrush-steppe. J Appl Ecol 50:1131–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker WL. 2011. Pre-EuroAmerican and recent fire in sagebrush ecosystems. In: Knick ST, Connelly JW, Eds. Greater Sage-Grouse: Ecology and Conservation of a Landscape Species and its Habitats, Vol. 38Studies in Avian Biology Series, Berkeley: University of California Press. p 185–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balch JK, Bradley BA, D’Antonio CM, Gomez-Dans J. 2013. Introduced annual grass increases regional fire activity across the arid western USA (1980–2009). Glob Change Biol 19:173–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaumont LJ, Hughes L, Pitman AJ. 2008. Why is the choice of future climate scenarios for species distribution modelling important? Ecol Lett 11:1135–46.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blank RR, Morgan T, Allen F. 2015. Suppression of annual Bromus tectorum by perennial Agropyron cristatum: roles of soil nitrogen availability and biological soil space. AoB PLANTS 7:plv006. doi:10.1093/aobpla/plv006.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bradford JB, Lauenroth WK. 2006. Controls over invasion of Bromus tectorum: the importance of climate, soil, disturbance and seed availability. J Veg Sci 17:693–704.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley BA. 2009. Regional analysis of the impacts of climate change on cheatgrass invasion shows potential risk and opportunity. Glob Change Biol 15:196–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley BA. 2013. Distribution models of invasive plants over-estimate potential impact. Biol Invasions 15:1417–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley BA, Oppenheimer M, Wilcove DS. 2009. Climate change and plant invasions: restoration opportunities ahead? Glob Change Biol 15:1511–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks ML, D’Antonio CM, Richardson DM, Grace JB, Keeley JE, DiTomaso JM, Hobbs RJ, Pellant M, Pyke D. 2004. Effects of alien plants on fire regimes. Bioscience 54:677–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brummer TJ, Maxwell BD, Higgs MD, Rew LJ. 2013. Implementing and interpreting local-scale invasive species distribution models. Divers Distrib 19:919–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buisson L, Thuiller W, Casajus N, Lek S, Grenouillet G. 2010. Uncertainty in ensemble forecasting of species distribution. Glob Change Biol 16:1145–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carson R. 1962. Silent spring. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambers JC, Roundy BA, Blank RR, Meyer SE, Whittaker A. 2007. What makes Great Basin sagebrush ecosystems invasible by Bromus tectorum? Ecol Monogr 77:117–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chambers JC, Bradley BA, Brown CS, D’Antonio C, Germino MJ, Grace JB, Hardegree SP, Miller RF, Pyke DA. 2014a. Resilience to stress and disturbance, and resistance to Bromus tectorum L. invasion in cold desert shrublands of western North America. Ecosystems 17:360–75.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chambers JC, Miller RF, Board DI, Pyke DA, Roundy BA, Grace JB, Schupp EW, Tausch RJ. 2014b. Resilience and resistance of sagebrush ecosystems: implications for state and transition models and management treatments. Rangeland Ecol Manag 67:440–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper SV, Lesica P, Kudray GM. 2011. Post-fire recovery of wyoming big sagebrush steppe in Central and Southeast Montana. Nat Resour Env Iss 16:Article 2.

  • Coulloudon B, Eshelman K, Gianola J, Habich N, Hughes L, Johnson C, and others. 1999. Sampling vegetation attributes. Technical Reference 1734-4. Denver, Colorado: Bureau of Land Management (www.blm.gov/nstc/library/pdf/samplveg.pdf).

  • Cox RD, Anderson VJ. 2004. Increasing native diversity of cheatgrass-dominated rangeland through assisted succession. Rangeland Ecol Manag 57:203–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cronquist A, Holmgren AH, Holmgren NH, Reveal JL, Holmgren PK. 1972. Intermountain Flora, geological and botanical history, plant geography, vascular cryptogams, gymnosperms, glossary, Vol. 1Bronx: New York Botanical Garden Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Antonio CM, Vitousek PM. 1992. Biological invasions by exotic grasses, the grass/fire cycle, and global change. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 23:63–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daubenmire R. 1959. A canopy-coverage method of vegetational analysis. Northwest Sci 33:43–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies GM, Bakker JD, Dettweiler-Robinson E, Dunwiddie PW, Hall SA, Downs J, Evans J. 2012. Trajectories of change in sagebrush steppe vegetation communities in relation to multiple wildfires. Ecol Appl 22:1562–77.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davies KW, Boyd CS, Beck JL, Bates JD, Svejcar TJ, Gregg MA. 2011. Saving the sagebrush sea: an ecosystem conservation plan for big sagebrush plant communities. Biol Conserv 144:2573–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies KW, Bates JD, Madsen MD, Nafus AM. 2014. Restoration of mountain big sagebrush steppe following prescribed burning to control Western Juniper. Environ Manag 53:1015–22.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas WO. 1961. My wilderness: East to Katahdin. Garden City: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Efron B. 1983. Estimating the error rate of a prediction rule: improvement on cross-validation. J Am Stat Assoc 78:316–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elith J, Leathwick JR, Hastie T. 2008. A working guide to boosted regression trees. J Anim Ecol 77:802–13.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gunnell KL, Monaco TA, Call CA, Ransom CV. 2010. Seedling interference and niche differentiation between crested wheatgrass and contrasting native Great Basin species. Rangeland Ecol Manag 63:443–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haubensak K, D’Antonio C, Wixon D. 2009. Effects of fire and environmental variables on plant structure and composition in grazed salt desert shrublands of the Great Basin (USA). J Arid Environ 73:643–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hijmans RJ, Cameron SE, Parra JL, Jones PG, Jarvis A. 2005. Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. Int J Climatol 25:1965–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hijmans RJ, Phillips S, Leathwick J, Elith J. 2015a. dismo: species distribution modeling, version 1.0-12. cran.r-project.org/web/packages/dismo/.

  • Hijmans RJ, Van Etten J. Mattiuzzi M, Sumner M, Greenberg JA, Lamigueiro OP, and others. 2015b. raster: geographic data analysis and modeling, version 2.3-40. cran.r-project.org/web/packages/raster/.

  • Holmgren NH, Holmgren PK, Reveal JL, DE Atha, Spellenberg R, Holmgren AH et al. 2012. Intermountain Flora, subclasses Magnoliidae-Caryophyllideae, Vol. 2ABronx: New York Botanical Garden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones TA, Monaco TA. 2009. A role for assisted evolution in designing native plant materials for domesticated landscapes. Front Ecol Environ 7:541–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp PA. 1996. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) dominance in the Great Basin Desert. Glob Environ Change 6:37–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knick ST. 1999. Requiem for a sagebrush ecosystem. Northwest Sci 73:53–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knutson KC, Pyke DA, Wirth TA, Arkle RS, Pilliod DS, Brooks ML, Chambers JS, Grace JB. 2014. Long-term effects of reseeding after wildfire on vegetation composition in the Great Basin shrub steppe. J Appl Ecol 51:1414–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lavin M. 1983. Floristics of the upper Walker River, California and Nevada. Great Basin Naturalist 43:93–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lavin M, Seibert C. 2011. Great Plains Flora? Plant geography of eastern Montana’s lower elevation shrub-grass dominated vegetation. Natural Resources and Environmental Issues: Vol. 16, Article 2 (http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/nrei/vol16/iss1/2).

  • Lavin M, Brummer TJ, Quire R, Maxwell BD, Rew LJ. 2013a. Physical disturbance shapes vascular plant diversity more profoundly than fire in the sagebrush steppe of southeastern Idaho, USA. Ecol Evol 3:1626–41.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lavin M, Brummer TJ, Seipel T, Maxwell BD, Rew LJ. 2013b. The Intermountain Flora sets the stage for a community phylogenetic analysis of plant biodiversity in the sagebrush steppe of western North America. Mem N Y Bot Gard 108:63–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leger EA, Espeland EK, Merrill KR, Meyer SE. 2009. Genetic variation and local adaptation at a cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion edge in western Nevada. Mol Ecol 18:4366–79.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lesica P. 2012. Manual of montana vascular plants. Fort Worth: BRIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mack RN. 2011. Fifty years of ‘waging war on cheatgrass’: research advances, while meaningful control languishes. In: Richardson DM, Ed. Fifty years of invasion ecology. Oxford: Wiley. p 253–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald A, Riha S, DiTommaso A, DeGaetano A. 2009. Climate change and the geography of weed damage: analysis of US maize systems suggests the potential for significant range transformations. Agric Ecosyst Environ 130:131–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mesgaran MB, Cousens RD, Webber BL. 2014. Here be dragons: a tool for quantifying novelty due to covariate range and correlation change when projecting species distribution models. Divers Distrib 20:1147–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mote P, Brekke L, Duffy PB, Maurer E. 2011. Guidelines for constructing climate scenarios. Eos 92:257–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nafus AM, Svejcar TJ, Ganskopp DC, Davies KW. 2015. Abundances of coplanted native bunchgrasses and crested wheatgrass after 13 years. Rangeland Ecol Manag 68:211–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson ZJ, Weisberg PJ, Kitchen SG. 2014. Influence of climate and environment on post-fire recovery of mountain big sagebrush. Int J Wildland Fire 23:131–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell MS, Ignizio DA. 2012. Bioclimatic predictors for supporting ecological applications in the conterminous United States: u.S. Geol Surv Data Ser 691:1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker IM, Simberloff D, Lonsdale WM, Goodell K, Wonham M, Kareiva PM, Williamson MH, Von Holle B, Moyle PB, Byers JE, Goldwasser L. 1999. Impact: toward a framework for understanding the ecological effects of invaders. Biol Invasions 1:3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prevéy JS, Seastedt TR. 2014. Seasonality of precipitation interacts with exotic species to alter composition and phenology of a semi-arid grassland. J Ecol 102:1549–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • PRISM Climate Group. 2015. Oregon State University. http://prism.oregonstate.edu. Accessed 15 Oct 2015.

  • Quire R. 2013. The sagebrush steppe of Montana and southeastern Idaho shows evidence of high native plant diversity, stability, and resistance to the detrimental effects of nonnative plant species. M.S. Thesis. Bozeman, Montana: Montana State University.

  • R Core Team. 2015. R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. www.R-project.org. Accessed 21 June 2015.

  • Ratzlaff TD, Anderson JE. 1995. Vegetal recovery following wildfire in seeded and unseeded sagebrush steppe. J Range Manag 46:366–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reheis MC. 1999. Extent of Pleistocene lakes in the western Great Basin. USDI, USGS Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2323.

  • Reisner MD, Grace JB, Pyke DA, Doescher PS. 2013. Conditions favouring Bromus tectorum dominance of endangered sagebrush steppe ecosystems. J Appl Ecol 50:1039–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ribeiro PJ, Diggle PJ. 2015. geoR: analysis of geostatistical data, version 1.7-5.1. cran.r-project.org/web/packages/geoR/.

  • Seefeldt SS, McCoy SD. 2003. Measuring plant diversity in the tall threetip sagebrush steppe: influence of previous grazing management practices. Environ Manage 32:234–45.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seipel TF. 2006. Plant species diversity in the sagebrush steppe of Montana. M.S. Thesis. Bozeman, Montana: Montana State University.

  • Still SM, Richardson BA. 2015. Projections of contemporary and future climate niche for Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata subsp. wyomingensis): a guide for restoration. Nat Areas J 25:30–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suding KN, Gross KL, Houseman GR. 2004. Alternative states and positive feedbacks in restoration ecology. Trends Ecol Evol 19:46–53.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor K, Brummer T, Rew LJ, Lavin M, Maxwell BD. 2014. Bromus tectorum response to fire varies with climate. Ecosystems 17:960–73.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tisdale EW, Hironaka M. 1981. The sagebrush-grass region: a review of the ecological literature. Forest, Wildlife and Range Experiment Station, Contribution 209. Moscow: University of Idaho.

    Google Scholar 

  • Twain M. 1872. Roughing It. Reprinted by the University of California Press, 2011.

  • Vano JA, Kim JB, Rupp DE, Mote PW. 2015. Selecting climate change scenarios using impact-relevant sensitivities. Geophys Res Lett 42:5516–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welch BL. 2005. Big sagebrush: a sea fragmented into lakes, ponds, and puddles. USDA General Technical Report RMRS-144: 1–210.

  • Wenger SJ, Olden JD. 2012. Assessing transferability of ecological models: an underappreciated aspect of statistical validation. Methods Ecol Evol 3:260–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young JA, Sparks BA. 2002. Cattle in the cold desert. Reno: University of Nevada Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young JA, Clements CD. 2009. Cheatgrass: fire and forage on the range. Reno: University of Nevada Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zelikova TJ, Hufbauer RA, Reed SC, Wertin T, Fettig C, Belnap J. 2013. Eco-evolutionary responses of Bromus tectorum to climate change: implications for biological invasions. Ecol Evol 3:1374–87.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study gained momentum during 2009–2011 field studies in the Idaho National Laboratory. We are grateful to Roger Blew of Gonzales-Stoller Surveillance, LLC, for facilitating the funding and logistics of that interval of our field studies (GSS-0300-1,100,008). BDM and KTT were supported by NSF-WildFIRE PIRE, OISE 09667472. We also acknowledge Curt Freese, World Wildlife Fund, Randall Scott, Northern Arizona University, Arnold Tiehm, University of Nevada Reno, and Martin Wojciechowski, Arizona State University, for facilitating part of the fieldwork conducted during the course of this study. Antonia Hedrick, Bureau of Land Management, Boise, Idaho, first pointed out to us the dramatic landscape differences between the lower and upper Snake River Plains of southern Idaho. We thank the editors and two anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions greatly improved the presentation of this manuscript.

Author information

Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Bioprotection Research Centre, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand

      Tyler J. Brummer

    2. Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Department, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, 59717, USA

      Kimberley T. Taylor, Bruce D. Maxwell & Lisa J. Rew

    3. Ecology Department, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, 59717, USA

      Jay Rotella

    4. Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology Department, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, 59717, USA

      Matt Lavin

    Authors
    1. Tyler J. Brummer
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    2. Kimberley T. Taylor
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    3. Jay Rotella
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    4. Bruce D. Maxwell
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    5. Lisa J. Rew
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    6. Matt Lavin
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to Matt Lavin.

    Ethics declarations

    Conflict of Interest

    The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

    Additional information

    Data relevant to this article posted at http://www.montana.edu/mlavin/data/brtesites.txt.

    Author Contributions

    Tyler J. Brummer conceived of/designed study; contributed new methods/models; performed research; analyzed data; wrote paper. Kimberley T. Taylor conceived of/designed study; contributed new methods/models; performed research; wrote paper. Jay Rotella conceived of/designed study; contributed new methods/models; analyzed data; wrote paper. Bruce D. Maxwell conceived of/designed study; performed research; wrote paper. Lisa J. Rew conceived of/designed study; performed research; wrote paper. Matt Lavin conceived of/designed study; contributed new methods/models; performed research; analyzed data; wrote paper.

    Electronic Supplementary Material

    Rights and permissions

    Reprints and Permissions

    About this article

    Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

    Cite this article

    Brummer, T.J., Taylor, K.T., Rotella, J. et al. Drivers of Bromus tectorum Abundance in the Western North American Sagebrush Steppe. Ecosystems 19, 986–1000 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-016-9980-3

    Download citation

    • Received:

    • Accepted:

    • Published:

    • Issue Date:

    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-016-9980-3

    Keywords

    • cheatgrass
    • climate
    • disturbance
    • fire
    • native grass abundance
    • sagebrush biome