Fire and Invasive Plants Special Feature
Resistance to Invasion and Resilience to Fire in Desert Shrublands of North America

https://doi.org/10.2111/REM-D-09-00165.1Get rights and content

Abstract

Settlement by Anglo-Americans in the desert shrublands of North America resulted in the introduction and subsequent invasion of multiple nonnative grass species. These invasions have altered presettlement fire regimes, resulted in conversion of native perennial shrublands to nonnative annual grasslands, and placed many native desert species at risk. Effective management of these ecosystems requires an understanding of their ecological resistance to invasion and resilience to fire. Resistance and resilience differ among the cold and hot desert shrublands of the Great Basin, Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts in North America. These differences are largely determined by spatial and temporal patterns of productivity but also are affected by ecological memory, severity and frequency of disturbance, and feedbacks among invasive species and disturbance regimes. Strategies for preventing or managing invasive plant/fire regimes cycles in desert shrublands include: 1) conducting periodic resource assessments to evaluate the probability of establishment of an altered fire regime; 2) developing an understanding of ecological thresholds associate within invasion resistance and fire resilience that characterize transitions from desirable to undesirable fire regimes; and 3) prioritizing management activities based on resistance of areas to invasion and resilience to fire.

Resumen

Los asentamientos de Anglo-Americanos en los desiertos de matorrales de Norteamérica resultaron en la introducción y subsecuente invasión de varias especies de pastos no nativos. Estas invasiones, han alterado el régimen de fuego preestablecido, convirtiendo los matorrales de especies nativas en pastizales de gramíneas anuales inducidas y poniendo en riesgo varias especies desérticas nativas. El manejo efectivo de estos ecosistemas requiere de un entendimiento de la resistencia ecológica a la invasión y la resiliencia al fuego. La resistencia y resiliencia difieren entre los desiertos de matorral fríos y cálidos de Norteamérica tales como Great Basin, Mojave, Sonorense, y Chihuahuense. Estas diferencias son determinadas en gran medida por patrones espaciales y temporales de productividad pero también es afectado por la memoria ecológica, la severidad y frecuencia del disturbio y la retroalimentación entre las especies invasoras y el régimen de disturbio. Las estrategias para prevenir o manejar plantas invasoras/ciclos de régimen de fuego en los desiertos de matorral incluyen: 1) realizar evaluaciones periódicas de los recursos para evaluar la probabilidad de que se establezca un régimen de fuego alterado; 2) desarrollar un entendimiento de los umbrales ecológicos asociados entre la resistencia a la invasión y la resiliencia al fuego que caracteriza la transición entre regímenes de fuego deseables e indeseables; y 3) priorizar las actividades de manejo basadas en la resistencia de las áreas a la invasión y la resiliencia al fuego.

Section snippets

INTRODUCTION

Plant invasions and their interactions with fire regimes are recognized as threats to biodiversity and other natural resources worldwide (Brooks et al. 2004). In the desert regions of North America, invasive plants have altered fire regimes, which, in many cases, have resulted in large-scale conversions of native plant communities to invasive plant dominance (D’Antonio and Vitousek 1992; Brooks et al. 2004). These changes are affecting ecological processes including water cycles (Wilcox and

RESISTANCE TO PLANT INVASIONS AND RESILIENCE TO FIRE

We define ecological resistance to plant invasion as a function of the biotic and abiotic factors and ecological processes in an ecosystem that limit the establishment and population growth of an invading species (D’Antonio and Thomsen 2004). We define ecological resilience to fire as the amount of disturbance that an ecosystem can withstand before changes in processes and structures occur that are of sufficient magnitude to result in new alternative states (Holling 1973; Gunderson 2000).

PRESETTLEMENT AND CURRENT FIRE REGIMES

The productivity and dominant life forms of the North American deserts affect fuels and fire behavior and, thus, the characteristics of both presettlement and current fire regimes. Desert ecosystems with relatively high productivity, like many middle to high elevation ecological types in cold desert shrublands, have relatively high fuel abundance and continuity, exhibited more frequent presettlement fires (Miller et al. 2011), and typically have many fire-tolerant species (Wright and Bailey 1982

MANAGEMENT TOOLS TO PREVENT THE INVASIVE PLANT/FIRE REGIME CYCLE

A core objective for managing invasive plants and fire regimes in desert ecosystems is maintaining or increasing ecological resistance to plant invasions and resilience to fire prior to threshold crossings and the initiation of an invasive plant/fire regime cycle (D’Antonio and Chambers 2006; D’Antonio et al. 2009). Once a threshold has been crossed it is often ecologically and economically difficult, if not impossible, to return the system to its original state.

Managing for resistance to

MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

Land managers often have limited financial and human resources and are faced with managing a wide range of natural, recreational, and economic resources that can be negatively affected by multiple threats. The effectiveness of land management can be improved by using ecological concepts that transcend individual resources and threats, distill interacting factors into a subset of manageable parts, and can be applied at a variety of scales. The concepts of ecological resistance to invasion and

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Helpful reviews were provided by K. Phillips, K. Pregitzer, E. Schupp, and three anonymous reviewers.

LITERATURE CITED (67)

  • BengtssonJ. et al.

    Reserves, resilience and dynamic landscapes

    Ambio

    (2003)
  • BradleyB.A. et al.

    Invasive grass reduces aboveground carbon stocks in shrublands of the Western US

    Global Climate Change

    (2006)
  • BrooksM.L.

    Alien annual grasses and fire in the Mojave Desert

    Madroño

    (1999)
  • BrooksM.L.

    Plant invasions and fire regimes

  • BrooksM.L.

    Spatial and temporal distribution of non-native plants in upland areas of the Mojave Desert

  • BrooksM.L. et al.

    Effects of invasive alien plants on fire regimes

    BioScience

    (2004)
  • BrooksM.L. et al.

    Alien annual plants and wildfire in desert tortoise habitat: status, ecological effects, and management

    Chelonian Conservation and Biology

    (2002)
  • BrooksM.L. et al.

    Plant community patterns in unburned and burned blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima) shrublands in the Mojave Desert

    Western North American Naturalist

    (2003)
  • BrooksM.L. et al.

    Ecological role of fire and causes and ecological effects of altered fire regimes in the southwest

  • BrooksM.L. et al.

    Southeastern deserts bioregion

  • BrooksM.L. et al.

    Invasive plants and fire in the deserts of North America

  • BrownD.E. et al.

    Fire and creosote bush scrub of the western Sonoran Desert, California

    American Midland Naturalist

    (1986)
  • BrownJ.K. et al.

    Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on flora

    (2000)
  • CableD.R.

    Range management in the chaparral type and its ecological basis: the status of our knowledge

    (1975)
  • ChambersJ.C. et al.

    What makes Great Basin sagebrush ecosystems invasible by Bromus tectorum

    Ecological Monographs

    (2007)
  • D’AntonioC. et al.

    Using ecological theory to manage or restore ecosystems affected by invasive plant species

  • D’AntonioC.M. et al.

    Applying ecological concepts to the management of widespread grass invasions

  • D’AntonioC.M. et al.

    Ecological resistance in theory and practice

    Weed Technology

    (2004)
  • D’AntonioC.M. et al.

    Biological invasions by exotic grasses, the grass/fire cycle, and global change

    Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics

    (1992)
  • DavisM.A. et al.

    Fluctuating resources in plant communities: a general theory of invasibility

    Journal of Ecology

    (2000)
  • DavisM.A. et al.

    Experimental support for a mechanistic resource-based model of invasibility

    Ecology Letters

    (2001)
  • DrewaP.B. et al.

    Fire, grazing, and honey mesquite invasion in black grama-dominated grasslands of the Chihuahuan Desert: a synthesis

  • EhleringerJ.

    Annuals and perennial of warm deserts

  • Cited by (91)

    • Mechanisms of forest resilience

      2022, Forest Ecology and Management
    • Homeowner perceptions and responses to buffelgrass invasion risk in the Tucson, Arizona Wildland-Urban Interface

      2021, Heliyon
      Citation Excerpt :

      Tucson's rapid growth in recent decades has encroached on these highly valued desert ecosystems. The simultaneous introduction of non-native grasses, especially buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliaris), has introduced wildfire to a previously fire-free landscape (Brooks and Chambers 2011; McDonald and McPherson 2011) and today poses a new threat to both desert ecosystems and the new inhabitants of the WUI. Buffelgrass, which originates from the African Savannah, was introduced into the United States as a forage grass for livestock but has since become an invasive species that threatens to displace native plant communities in the Sonoran Desert and other parts of Arizona and New Mexico (USDA Forest Service 2014).

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    This manuscript was supported by funding from the US Geological Survey, Great Basin Integrated Landscape Monitoring project, the US Geological Survey, Invasive Species Program, and the US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Much of the information that contributed to this paper was compiled and synthesized as part of project 00-1-2-04 funded by the Joint Fire Science Program.

    View full text