Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Responses of native and non-native Mojave Desert winter annuals to soil disturbance and water additions

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biological Invasions Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Habitat modification (i.e., disturbance) and resource availability have been identified as possible mechanisms that may influence the invasibility of plant communities. In the Mojave Desert, habitat disturbance has increased dramatically over the last 50 years due to increased human activities. Additionally, water availability is considered to be a main limiting resource for plant production. To elucidate the effects of soil disturbance and water availability on plant invasions, we created experimental patches where we varied the levels of soil disturbance and water availability in a fully crossed factorial experiment at five replicated field sites, and documented responses of native and non-native winter annuals. The treatments did not significantly affect the density (seedlings m−2) of the non-native forb, Brassica tournefortii. However, the relationship between silique production and plant height differed among treatments, with greater silique production in disturbed plots. In contrast to Brassica, density of the non-native Schismus spp. increased in soil disturbed and watered plots, and was greatest in disturbed plots during 2009 (the second year of the study). Species composition of the native annual community was not affected by treatments in 2008 but was influenced by treatments in 2009. The native forb Eriophyllum sp. was most dense on water-addition plots, while density of Chaenactis freemontii was highest in disturbed plots. Results illustrate that habitat invasibility in arid systems can be influenced by dynamics in disturbance regimes and water availability, and suggest that invasiveness can differ between non-native annual species and among native annuals in habitats undergoing changing disturbance and precipitation regimes. Understanding the mechanistic relationships between water availability and non-native plant responses will be important for understanding the effects of shifting precipitation and vegetation patterns under predicted climate change in arid ecosystems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abella SR (2010) Disturbance and plant succession in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the American Southwest. Int J Environ Res Public Health 7:1248–1284

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Abella SR, Spencer JE, Hoines J, Nazarchyk C (2009) Assessing an exotic plant surveying program in the Mojave Desert, Clark County, Nevada, USA. Environ Monit Assess 151:221–230

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Adondakis S, Venable DL (2004) Dormancy and germination in a guild of Sonoran Desert annuals. Ecology 85:2582–2590

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson MJ (2001) A new approach for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Aust Ecol 26:32–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson MJ (2004) DISTLM v.5: a FORTRAN computer program to calculate a distance-based multivariate analysis for linear model. Department of Statistics, University of Auckland, New Zealand

  • Baldwin BG, Boyd S, Ertter BJ, Patterson RW, Rosatti TJ, Wilken DH (2002) The Jepson desert manual: vascular plants of southeastern California. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrows CW, Allen EB, Brooks WL, Allen MF (2009) Effects of an invasive plant on a desert sand dune landscape. Biol Invasions 11:673–686

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baskin CC, Baskin JM (1998) Seeds: ecology, biogeography, and evolution of dormancy and germination. Academic Press, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Beatley JC (1974) Phenological events and their environmental triggers in Mojave Desert ecosystems. Ecology 55:856–863

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bohonak AJ (2004) RMA: Software for reduced major axis regression v1.17 San Diego State University

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley BA (2010) Assessing ecosystem threats from global and regional change: hierarchical modeling of risk to sagebrush ecosystems from climate change, land use and invasive species in Nevada, USA. Ecography 33:198–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley BA, Oppenheimer M, Wilcove DS (2009) Climate change and plant invasions: restoration opportunities ahead? Global Change Biol 15:1511–1521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks ML (1995) Benefits of protective fencing to plant and rodent communities of the western Mojave Desert, California. Eviron Manage 19:65–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks ML (1999) Habitat invasibility and dominance by alien annual plants in the western Mojave Desert. Biol Invasions 1:325–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks ML (2000) Competition between alien annual grasses and native annual plants in the Mojave Desert. Am Midl Nat 144:92–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks ML (2003) Effects of increased soil nitrogen on the dominance of alien annual plants in the Mojave Desert. J Appl Ecol 40:344–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks ML, Matchett JR (2006) Spatial and temporal patterns of wildfires in the Mojave Desert, 1980–2004. J Arid Environ 67:148–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JH, Davidson DW, Reichman OJ (1979) An experimental study of competition between seed eating desert rodents and ants. Am Zool 19:1129–1143

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunner E, Domhof S, Langer F (2002) Nonparametric analysis of longitudinal data in factorial experiments. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke MJW, Grime JP (1996) An experimental study of plant invasibility. Ecology 77:776–790

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chambers JC (2000) Seed movements and seedling fates in disturbed sagebrush steppe ecosystems: implications for restoration. Ecol Appl 10:1400–1413

    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 77:117–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chesson P, Gebauer RLE, Schwinning S, Huntly N, Wiegand K, Ernest MSK, Sher A, Novoplansky A, Weltzin JF (2004) Resource pulse, species interactions, and diversity maintenance in arid and semi-arid environments. Oecologia 141:236–253

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cutway H, Ehrenfeld JG (2010) The influence of urban land use on seed dispersal and wetland invasibility. Plant Ecol 210:153–167

    Article  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

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis MA, Grime JP, Thompson K (2000) Fluctuating resources in plant communities: a general theory of invasibility. J Ecol 88:528–534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeFalco LA, Bryla DR, Smith-Longozo V, Nowak RS (2003) Are Mojave Desert annual species equal? Resource acquisition and allocation for the invasive grass Bromus madritensis subsp. rubens (Poaceae) and two native species. Am J Bot 90:1045–1053

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DiVittorio CT, Corbin JD, D’Antonio CM (2007) Spatial and temporal patterns of seed dispersal: an important determinant of grassland invasion. Ecol Appl 17:311–316

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eldridge DJ, Whitford WC, Duval BD (2009) Animal disturbances promote shrub maintenance in a desertified grassland. J Ecol 97:1302–1310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esque TC, Kaye JP, Eckert SE, DeFalco LA, Tracy CR (2010) Short-term soil inorganic N pulse after experimental fire alters invasive and native annual plant production in a Mojave Desert shrubland. Oecologia 164:253–263

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher FM, Parker LW, Anderson JP, Whitford WG (1987) Nitrogen mineralization in a desert soil-interacting effects of soil moisture and nitrogen fertilizer. Soil Sci Am J 51:1033–1041

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelbard JL, Belnap J (2002) Roads as conduits for exotic plant invasions in a semiarid landscape. Conserv Biol 17:420–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greipsson S, Davy AJ (1997) Responses of Leymus arenarius to nutrients: improvement of seed production and seedling establishment for land reclamation. J App Ecol 34:1165–1176

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gutierrez JR, Whitford WG (1987) Chihuahuan Desert annuals: importance of water and nitrogen. Ecology 68:2032–2045

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutterman Y (2000) Environmental factors and survival strategies of annual plant species in the Negev Desert, Israel. Plant Spec Biol 15:113–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hereford R, Webb RH, Longpre CI (2006) Precipitation history and ecosystem response to multidecadal precipitation variability in the Mojave Desert region, 1893–2001. J Arid Environ 67:13–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs RJ, Huenneke LF (1992) Disturbance, diversity, and invasion: implications for conservation. Conserv Biol 6:324–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter LM, Gonzalez MDJ, Stevenson M, Karish KS, Toth R, Edwards TC, Lilieholm RJ, Cablk M (2003) Population and land use change in the California Mojave: natural habitat implications of alternative futures. Popul Res Policy Rev 22:373–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huston MA (2004) Management strategies for plant invasions: manipulating productivity, disturbance, and competition. Divers Distrib 10:167–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huxman TE, Barron-Gafford G, Gerst KL, Angert AL, Tyler AP, Venable DL (2008) Photosynthetic resources-use efficiency and demographic variability in desert winter annual plants. Ecology 89:1554–1563

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson LE (1985) Ecological origins of California’s Mediterranean grasses. J Biogeogr 12:349–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James JJ, Caird MA, Drenovsky RE, Sheley RL (2006) Influence of resource pulse and perennial neighbors on the establishment of an invasive annual grass in the Mojave Desert. J Arid Environ 67:528–534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James AI, Eldridge DJ, Moseby KE (2010) Foraging pits, litter and plant germination in arid shrubland. J Arid Environ 74:516–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Beier C, Briske DD, Classen AT, Luo Y, Reichstein M, Smith MD, Smith SD, Bell JE, Fay PA, Heisler JL, Leavitt SW, Sherry R, Smith B, Weng E (2008) Consequences of more extreme precipitation regimes for terrestrial ecosystems. Bioscience 58:811–821

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legendre P, Legendre L (1998) Numerical ecology. Elsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Mack RN, Simberloff D, Lonsdale M, Evans H, Clout M, Bazzaz FA (2000) Biotic invasions: causes, epidemiology, global consequences, and control. Ecol Appl 10:689–710

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maron JL, Vilá M (2001) When do herbivores affect plant invasion? Evidence for the natural enemies and biotic resistance hypotheses. Oikos 95:361–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McArdle BH, Anderson MJ (2001) Fitting multivariate models to community data: a comment on distance-based redundancy analysis. Ecology 82:290–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monaco TA, Johnson DA, Norton JM, Jones TA, Connors KJ, Norton JB, Redinbaugh MB (2003) Contrasting responses of Intermountain West grasses to soil nitrogen. J Range Manage 56:289–290

    Google Scholar 

  • Muldavin EH, Moore DI, Collins SL, Wetherill KR, Lightfoot DC (2008) Aboveground net primary production dynamics in a northern Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. Oecologia 155:123–132

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Noy-Meir I (1973) Desert ecosystems: environment and producers. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 4:25–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nunez MA, Simberloff D, Relva MA (2008) Seed predation as a barrier to alien conifer invasions. Biol Invasions 10:1389–1398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogle K, Wolpert RL, Reynolds JF (2004) Reconstructing plant root area and water uptake profiles. Ecology 85:1967–1978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ooi MK, Auld TD, Denham AJ (2009) Climate change and bet-hedging: interactions between increased soil temperature and seed bank persistence. Global Change Biol 15:2375–2386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pake CE, Venable DL (1995) Is coexistence of Sonoran Desert annuals mediated by temporal variability in reproductive success? Ecology 76:246–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker IM, Mertens SK, Schemske DW (1993) Distribution of seven native and two exotic plants in a tallgrass prairie in southeastern Wisconsin: the importance of human disturbance. Am Midl Nat 130:43–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prevey JS, Germino MJ, Huntly NJ (2010) Loss of foundation species increases population growth of exotic forbs in sagebrush steppe. Ecol Appl 20:1890–1902

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Randall DA et al (2007) Climate models and their evaluation. In: Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M et al (eds) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the further assessment report of the international panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 590–662

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao LE, Allen EB (2010) Combined effects of precipitation and nitrogen deposition on native and invasive winter annual production in California deserts. Oecologia 162:1035–1046

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rejmánek M (2000) Invasive plants: approaches and predictions. Aust Ecol 25:497–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rundel PW, Gibson AC (1996) Ecological communities and processes in a Mojave Desert ecosystem: Rock Valley, Nevada. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sala OE, Lauenroth WK, Parton WJ (1992) Long-term soil water dynamics in the shortgrass steppe. Ecology 73:1175–1181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiffman PM (1994) Promotion of exotic weed establishment by endangered giant kangaroo rats (Dipodomys ingens) in a California grassland. Biodivers Conserv 3:524–537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwinning S, Starr BI, Ehleringer JR (2005) Summer and winter drought in a cold desert ecosystem (Colorado Plateau) part I: effects on soil water and plant water uptake. J Arid Environ 60:547–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shah DA, Madden LV (2004) Nonparametric analysis of ordinal data in designed factorial experiments. Phytopathology 94:33–43

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1995) Biometry, 3rd edn. W. H. Freeman and Co., New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Thanos CA, Georghiou K, Douma DJ, Marangaki CJ (1991) Photoinhibition of seed germination in Mediterranean maritime plants. Ann Bot 68:469–475

    Google Scholar 

  • Titus JH, Nowak RS, Smith SD (2002) Soil resource heterogeneity in the Mojave Desert. J Arid Environ 52:269–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trader MR, Brooks ML, Draper JV (2006) Seed production by the non-native Brassica tournefortii (Sahara mustard) along desert roadsides. Madroño 53:313–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • US Bureau of Land Management and California Energy Commission (2010) Staff Assessment and Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft California Desert Conservation Area Plan Amendment: SES Solar Two Project; US Bureau of Land Management, El Centro Field Office: El Centro, CA

  • Vitousek PM, D’Antonio CM, Loope LL, Westbrooks R (1996) Biological invasions as global environmental change. Am Sci 84:468–478

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Holle B, Simberloff D (2005) Ecological resistance to biological invasion overwhelmed by propagule pressure. Ecology 12:3212–3218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner D, Jones JB, Gordon DM (2004) Development of harvester ant colonies alters soil chemistry. Soil Biol Biochem 36:797–804

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weltzin JF et al (2003) Assessing the response of terrestrial ecosystems to potential changes in precipitation. Bioscience 53:941–952

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitford WG, Gutierrez JR (1989) Effects of water and nitrogen supplementation on phenology, plant size, tissue nitrogen, and seed yield of Chihuahuan Desert annual plants. Southw Nat 34:546–549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yair A, Shachak M (1982) A case study of energy, water and soil flow chains in an ecosystem. Oecologia 54:389–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The 2007 Nevada Conservation Corps group helped with plot set up, and University of Nevada Las Vegas undergraduate students with the Department of Environmental Studies and School of Life Sciences assisted with water applications. Toshi Yoshida reviewed early versions of the manuscript. We thank Alice Newton, Kent Turner, and Carrie Norman for logistical support and Cheryl Vanier for statistical advice. The comments of two anonymous referees significantly improved the manuscript. This study was supported by a cooperative agreement between the National Park Service (Lake Mead National Recreation Area) and the University of Nevada Las Vegas, partially funded by the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jessica E. Spencer

    Present address: US Army Corps of Engineers, 701 San Marco Blvd, Jacksonville, FL, 32207, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Public Affairs, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, 89154-4030, USA

    Alexis A. Suazo, Jessica E. Spencer, E. Cayenne Engel & Scott R. Abella

Authors
  1. Alexis A. Suazo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jessica E. Spencer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. E. Cayenne Engel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Scott R. Abella
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexis A. Suazo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Suazo, A.A., Spencer, J.E., Engel, E.C. et al. Responses of native and non-native Mojave Desert winter annuals to soil disturbance and water additions. Biol Invasions 14, 215–227 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-011-9998-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-011-9998-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation