The invasion of non-native plants in the Wyoming Basins Ecoregional Assessment (WBEA) area is a major economic and ecological stress, with invasions thought to be hastened by energy developments. Given the potential impacts of nonnative invasive plants and the rapid changes in land use in the WBEA, broad-scale assessments and predictive models of nonnative invasive plant distribution are needed...

Aim Greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus ), a shrub-steppe obligate species of western North America, currently occupies only half its historical range. Here we examine how broad-scale, long-term trends in landscape condition have affected range contraction. Location Sagebrush biome of the western USA. Methods Logistic regression was used to assess persistence and extirpation of grea...

We hypothesized that cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), an exotic invasive annual, may alter soil nitrogen availability. In the Honey Lake Valley of northeastern, California, we have monitored soil and vegetation along a chronosequence of cheatgrass invasion. In 2007, we measured total C, total N, and N in tissue of cheatgrass, winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata), freckled milkvetch (Astragalus len...

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) presence in the Great Basin is associated with an increase fire frequency and size, likely due to increased spatial continuity of fine fuel biomass. Measurements extent cover cheatgrass are steadily improving, but strength relationship between aboveground biomass (AGB) unclear. An allometric equation that can reliably convert AGB would allow for improved incorpor...

The study of proportional relationships between size, shape, and function of part of or the whole organism is traditionally known as allometry. Examination of correlative changes in the size of interbranch distances (IBDs) at different root orders may help to identify root branching rules. Root morphological and functional characteristics in three range grasses {bluebunch wheatgrass [Pseudoroeg...

Forecasting how species will respond to climatic change requires knowledge of past community dynamics. Here we use time-series data from the small-mammal fossil records of two caves in the Great Basin of the American West to evaluate how contrasting and variable local paleoclimates have shaped small-mammal abundance dynamics over the last 7500 years of climatic change. We then predict how speci...

Rehabilitation of downy brome–infested shrublands is challenging once this invasive grass dominates native communities. The effectiveness of imazapic herbicide in reducing downy brome cover has been variable, and there is uncertainty about the impacts of imazapic on native species. We used a before-after-control-impact (BACI) field experiment and greenhouse studies to (1) determine if imazapic ...

Nonnative Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) is decimating sagebrush steppe, one of the largest ecosystems in the Western United States, and is causing regional-scale shifts in the predominant plant-fungal interactions. Sagebrush, a native perennial, hosts arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), whereas cheatgrass, a winter annual, is a relatively poor host of AMF. This shift is likely intertwined with d...