Keyword: microorganisms

Disturbance and rehabilitation of cold to warm desert transitional shrublands in southwestern Utah

Extensive drought during the years of 2002, 2003, and 2004 removed most plant cover. On May 10, 2004, a cold front to the north resulted in weather stations in the area recording 600+ miles of wind travel (comparable to 60 mile hour winds for 10 hours). The effect of these two climatic events was to bury the Mile Square subdivision in wind-blown sand. Sand filled homes, garages, barrow pits, and closed roads.

Great Basin cold desert shrublands and the Desert Experimental Range

The Great Basin is a vast, internally drained region of the Western United States, bounded by the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Mountain ranges to the west and the Wasatch Mountains and western rim of the Colorado Plateau to the east. Although less discrete, northern and southern boundaries are generally defined by the drainages of the Columbia and Colorado Rivers.

Microsite and time since prescribed fire's influence on soil microbiology in a pinyon woodland

Pinyon-juniper (Pinus monophylla Torr. & Frém.? Juniperus osteosperma Torr.) encroachment into sagebrush grasslands is a continuing problem in the Western United States. Prescribed burning has been suggested to slow woodland encroachment. We examined surface soil microbial community structure using Phospholipid Fatty Acid (PLFA) analyses to determine differences between burned and unburned woodlands at two microsites.

20 Years of natural recovery after wildfire on northern Nevada rangelands

In recent decades Northern Nevada has experienced a dramatic increase in cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). As a result, wildfire frequency and size has increased. The objective of this project was to examine natural vegetation recovery and trend following 1985 wildfires. Density and cover measurements determined a high but fluctuating occurrence of cheatgrass and minimal change of perennial grass and shrubs.

Very Large Scale Aerial (VLSA) imagery for assessing postfire bitterbrush recovery

Very large scale aerial (VLSA) imagery is an efficient tool for monitoring bare ground and cover on extensive rangelands. This study was conducted to determine whether VLSA images could be used to detect differences in antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata Pursh DC) cover and density among similar ecological sites with varying postfire recovery periods.

Trend of mountain big Sagebrush crown cover and ground cover on burned sites, Uinta Mountains and West Tavaputs Plateau, Utah

Photography and notes on file at the Supervisors Office, Ashley National Forest make it possible to date many fires in mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana) communities on this National Forest. Crown cover of mountain big sagebrush and other shrubs was measured in repeat visits to many burned sites. Burned areas studied varied in age from 1 year to 42 years.

Trout Creek 1999 Burn

A small prescribed fire near the mouth of Trout Creek in Strawberry Valley, Wasatch County, Utah, on the Uinta National Forest provided an opportunity to compare production and vascular plant composition in unburned and burned areas. At four years post burn, production of herbaceous plants was about four times greater in the burned area than in the unburned area.

A survey of vegetation and wildland fire hazards on the Nevada Test Site

In the springs of 2004, 2005, and 2006, surveys were conducted on the Nevada Test Site (NTS) to characterize vegetation resources and climatic components of the environment that contribute to wildland fires. The NTS includes both Great Basin Desert and Mojave Desert ecosystems and a transitional zone between these two deserts.

Reproductive biology of Larrea tridentata: A comparison between core shrubland and isolated grassland plants at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

Expansion of diploid creosote shrubs (Larrea tridentata (Sessé & Moc. ex DC.) Coville)) into grassland sites occurs exclusively through seed production. We compared the reproductive biology of Larrea shrubs located in a Chihuahuan desert shrubland with isolated shrubs well-dispersed into the semiarid grasslands at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge.

Mule deer and elk winter diet as an indicator of habitat competition

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations have gradually declined in recent decades, while elk (Cervus elaphus) have often increased throughout their common ranges. The cause is uncertain and a source of debate. Increasing elk numbers on these ungulate winter ranges may be causing competition for resources.