Abstract
Rangefire is an important intermittent disturbance in many semiarid and arid lands. Limited interspace vegetation in hot deserts restricts the occurrence of fire, while shrub-steppe communities, with abundant bunch grasses between shrubs, have historically been prone to fire. The frequency of fire has increased notably with the invasion of exotic annual grasses, which are capable of carrying fire over thousands of acres in a single fire event. In particular, Bromus tectorum, or cheatgrass, has increased the frequency of rangefire in the shrub-steppes of North America (Billings 1994). Many native shrubs are not fire-resistant, and increased fire frequency could conceivably convert shrub-steppe to grasslands of annual and perennial grasses.
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Johansen, J.R. (2001). Impacts of Fire on Biological Soil Crusts. In: Belnap, J., Lange, O.L. (eds) Biological Soil Crusts: Structure, Function, and Management. Ecological Studies, vol 150. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56475-8_28
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56475-8_28
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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