Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effect of repeated burning on plant and soil carbon and nitrogen in cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) dominated ecosystems

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Plant and Soil Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background and Aims

Fire has profound effects on ecosystem properties, but few studies have addressed the effect of repeated burns on soil nutrients, and none have been conducted in cold desert ecosystems where invasion by exotic annual grasses is resulting in greater fire frequency.

Methods

In a 5 year study, we examined effects of repeated burning, litter removal, and post-fire seeding on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) contents in soils, litter, and vegetation in a cheatgrass-dominated Wyoming big sagebrush ecological type. We developed a multivariate model to identify potential mechanisms influencing treatment effects and examine the influence of environmental factors such as precipitation and temperature.

Results

We found that repeated burning had strong negative effects on litter C and N contents, but did not reduce soil nutrients or vegetation C and N contents, likely due to cool fire temperatures. There were few effects of litter removal or post-fire seeding. Instead, precipitation and temperature interacted with burning and had the strongest influences on soil N and vegetation C and N contents over time.

Conclusions

Management strategies aimed at decreasing litter and seed banks and increasing competitive interactions may be more effective at reducing cheatgrass success than approaches for reducing soil nutrients.

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
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

TMN:

Total mineral nitrogen

References

  • Baker WL (2006) Fire and restoration of sagebrush ecosystems. Wildl Soc Bull 34:177–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binkley D, Richter D, David MB, Caldwell B (1992) Soil chemistry in a loblolly longleaf pine forest with interval burning. Ecol Appl 2:157–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blair JM (1997) Fire, N availability, and plant response in grasslands: a test of the transient maxima hypothesis. Ecology 78:2359–2368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blank RR, Allen F, Young JA (1994) Extractable anions in soils following wildfire in a sagebrush-grass community. Soil Sci Soc Am J 58:564–570

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blank RR, Morgan T, Clements CD, Mackey BE (2013) Bromus tectorum L. invasion: changes in soil properties and rates of bioturbation. Soil Sci 178:281–290

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blumenthal DM, Jordan NR, Russelle MP (2003) Soil carbon addition controls weeds and facilitates prairie restoration. Ecol Appl 13:605–615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Booth MS, Caldwell MM, Stark JM (2003) Overlapping resource use in three Great Basin species: implications for community invasibility and vegetation dynamics. J Ecol 91:36–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borken W, Matzner E (2009) Reappraisal of drying and wetting effects on C and N mineralization and fluxes in soils. Glob Chang Biol 15:808–824

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley BA, Mustard JF (2005) Identifying land cover variability distinct from land cover change: cheatgrass in the Great Basin. Remote Sens Environ 94:204–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley BA, Houghtonw RA, Mustard JF, Hamburg SP (2006) Invasive grass reduces aboveground carbon stocks in shrublands of the Western US. Glob Chang Biol 12:1815–1822

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks ML (2002) Peak fire temperatures and effects on annual plants in the Mojave Desert. Ecol Appl 12:1088–1102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks ML, D’Antonio CM, Richardson DM, Grace JB, Keeley JE, DiTomaso JM, Hobbs RJ, Pellant M, Pyke D (2004) Effects of invasive alien plants on fire regimes. Bioscience 54:677–688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brunson JL, Pyke DA, Perakis SS (2010) Yield responses of ruderal plants to sucrose in invasive-dominated sagebrush steppe of the northern Great Basin. Restor Ecol 18:304–312

    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, MacMahon JA (1994) A day in the life of a seed- movements and fates of seeds and their implications for natural and managed systems. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 25:263–292

    Article  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 

  • Chambers JC, Bradley BA, Brown CS, D’Antonio C, Germino MJ, Grace JB, Hardegree SP, Miller RF, Pyke DA (2014) Resilience to stress and disturbance, and resistance to Bromus tectorum L. invasion in cold desert shrublands of Western North America. Ecosystems 17:360–375

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chambers JC, Miller RF, Board DI, Pyke DA, Roundy BA, Grace JB, Schupp EW, Tausch RJ (in press) Resilience and resistance of sagebrush ecosystems: implications for state and transition models and management treatments. Rangel Ecol Manag

  • D’Antonio CM, Vitousek PM (1992) Biological invasions by exotic grasses, the grass fire cycle, and global change. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 23:63–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Denny DW (2002) Soil survey of Humboldt County, Nevada, East Part, part 1. US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Reno

    Google Scholar 

  • Dijkstra FA, Cheng W (2007) Moisture modulates rhizosphere effects on C decomposition in two different soil types. Soil Biol Biochem 39:2264–2274

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dodds WK, Blair JM, Henebry GM, Koelliker JK, Ramundo R, Tate CM (1996) Nitrogen transport from tallgrass prairie watersheds. J Environ Qual 25:973–981

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Evans RD, Rimer R, Sperry L, Belnap J (2001) Exotic plant invasion alters nitrogen dynamics in an arid grassland. Ecol Appl 11:1301–1310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Facelli JM, Pickett STA (1991) Plant litter- its dynamics and effects on plant community structure. Bot Rev 57:1–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fierer N, Schimel JP (2002) Effects of drying-rewetting frequency on soil carbon and nitrogen transformations. Soil Biol Biochem 34:777–787

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Frost RA, Launchbaugh KL (2003) Prescription grazing for rangeland weed management: a new look at an old tool. Rangelands 25:43–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Fynn RWS, Haynes RJ, O’Connor TG (2003) Burning causes long-term changes in soil organic matter content of a South African grassland. Soil Biol Biochem 35:677–687

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grace JB (2006) Structural equation modeling and natural systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Grace JB, Youngblood A, Scheiner SM (2009) Structural equation modeling and ecological experiments. In: Miao S, Carstenn S, Nungesser M (eds) Real world ecology: large-scale and long-term case studies and methods. Springer Verlag, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Grier CC, Cole DW (1971) Influence of slash burning on ion transport in soil. Northwest Sci 45:100–106

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grogan P, Bruns TD, Chapin FS (2000) Fire effects on ecosystem nitrogen cycling in a Californian bishop pine forest. Oecologia 122:537–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie SE (1996) Temperature and plant species control over litter decomposition in Alaskan tundra. Ecol Monogr 66:503–522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson RB, Banner JL, Jobbagy EG, Pockman WT, Wall DH (2002) Ecosystem carbon loss with woody plant invasion of grasslands. Nature 418:623–626

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • James JJ, Drenovsky RE, Monaco TA, Rinella MJ (2011) Managing soil nitrogen to restore annual grass-infested plant communities: effective strategy or incomplete framework? Ecol Appl 21:490–502

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jobbagy EG, Jackson RB (2000) The vertical distribution of soil organic carbon and its relation to climate and vegetation. Ecol Appl 10:423–436

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson LC, Matchett JR (2001) Fire and grazing regulate belowground processes in tallgrass prairie. Ecology 82:3377–3389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson DW, Murphy JF, Susfalk RB, Caldwell TG, Miller WW, Walker RF, Powers RF (2005) The effects of wildfire, salvage logging, and post-fire N-fixation on the nutrient budgets of a Sierran forest. Forest Ecol Manag 220:155–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson BG, Johnson DW, Chambers JC, Blank RR (2011) Fire effects on the mobilization and uptake of nitrogen by cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.). Plant Soil 341:437–445

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson BG, Johnson DW, Miller WW, Board DI (2012) The effects of ash influx on burned and unburned soil water-extractable nutrients using a mechanical vacuum extractor. Soil Sci 177:338–344

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jones RO, Chambers JC, Board DI, Johnson DW, Blank RR (in process) Understanding the role of resource limitation in restoration of sagebrush ecosystems dominated by cheatgrass - a mechanistic approach

  • Keeney DR, Nelson DW (1987) Nitrogen–inorganic forms, sec. 33–3, extraction of exchangeable ammonium, nitrate, and nitrite. In: Page AL et al (eds) Methods of soil analysis: part 2, chemical and microbiological properties agronomy, a series of monographs, no9 pt2. Soil Science Society of America, Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Knapp PA (1996) Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L) dominance in the Great Basin Desert – history, persistence, and influences to human activities. Global Environ Chang 6:37–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knorr W, Prentice IC, House JI, Holland EA (2005) Long-term sensitivity of soil carbon turnover to warming. Nature 433:298–301

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knutson KC, Pyke DA, Wirth TA, Arkle RS, Pilliod DS, Brooks ML, Chambers JC, Grace JB (in press) Long-term effects of seeding after wildfire on vegetation composition in Great Basin shrub steppe. J Appl Ecol

  • Korfmacher JL, Chambers JC, Tausch RJ, Roundy BA, Meyer SE, Kitchen S (2003) Technical note: a technique for conducting small-plot burn treatments. J Range Manag 56:251–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leffler AJ, Ryel RJ (2012) Resource pool dynamics: conditions that regulate species interactions and dominance. In: Monaco TA, Sheley RL (eds) Invasive plant ecology and management linking processes to practice. CAB International, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Link SO, Keeler CW, Hill RW, Hagen E (2006) Bromus tectorum cover mapping and fire risk. Int J Wildland Fire 15:113–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malmer A (1996) Hydrological effects and nutrient losses of forest plantation establishment on tropical rainforest land in Sabah, Malaysia. J Hydrol 174:129–148

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mangold JM (2012) Revegetation: using current technologies and ecological knowledge to manage site availability, species availability, and species performance. In: Monaco T, Sheley R (eds) Invasive plant ecology and management: linking processes to practice. CABI Invasive Plant Series MPG Books Group, Reading

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazzola MB (2008) Spatio-temporal heterogeneity and habitat invasibility in sagebrush steppe ecosystems. PhD disseration. University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, USA

  • 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 Manag 56:282–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moyano FE, Manzoni S, Chenu C (2013) Responses of soil heterotrophic respiration to moisture availability: an exploration of processes and models. Soil Biol Biochem 59:72–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy JD, Johnson DW, Miller WW, Walker RF, Blank RR (2006) Prescribed fire effects on forest floor and soil nutrients in a Sierra Nevada forest. Soil Sci 171:181–199

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Neary DG, Klopatek CC, DeBano LF, Ffolliott PF (1999) Fire effects on belowground sustainability: a review and synthesis. Forest Ecol Manag 122:51–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newingham BA, Vidiella P, Belnap J (2007) Do soil characteristics or microhabitat determine field emergence and success of Bromus tectorum? J Arid Environ 70:389–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norton JB, Monaco TA, Norton JM, Johnson DA, Jones TA (2004) Soil morphology and organic matter dynamics under cheatgrass and sagebrush-steppe plant communities. J Arid Environ 57:445–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogle SM, Ojima D, Reiners WA (2004) Modeling the impact of exotic annual brome grasses on soil organic carbon storage in a northern mixed-grass prairie. Biol Invasions 6:365–377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ojima DS, Schimel DS, Parton WJ, Owensby CE (1994) Long- and short-term effects of fire on nitrogen cycling in tallgrass prairie. Biogeochemistry 24:67–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patten DT, Cave GH (1984) Fire temperatures and physical characteristics of a controlled burn in the upper Sonoran desert. J Range Manag 37:277–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters J (2000) Tetrazolium testing handbook. Contribution no. 29 to the handbook on seed testing. Association of Official Seed Analysts, Lincoln

    Google Scholar 

  • Raison RJ, Khanna PK, Woods PV (1985) Mechanisms of element transfer to the atmosphere during vegetation fires. Can J Forest Res 15:132–140

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rau BM, Blank RR, Chambers JC, Johnson DW (2007) Prescribed fire in a Great Basin sagebrush ecosystem: Dynamics of soil extractable nitrogen and phosphorus. J Arid Environ 71:362–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rau BM, Johnson DW, Blank RR, Lucchesi A, Caldwell TG, Schupp EW (2011) Transition from sagebrush steppe to annual grass (Bromus tectorum): influence on belowground carbon and nitrogen. Rangel Ecol Manag 64:139–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reilly MJ, Wimberly MC, Newell CL (2006) Wildfire effects on beta-diversity and species turnover in a forested landscape. J Veg Sci 17:447–454

    Google Scholar 

  • Rustad LE, Campbell JL, Marion GM, Norby RJ, Mitchell MJ, Hartley AE, Cornelissen JHC, Gurevitch J, Gcte N (2001) A meta-analysis of the response of soil respiration, net nitrogen mineralization, and aboveground plant growth to experimental ecosystem warming. Oecologia 126:543–562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sankey JB, Germino MJ, Glenn NF (2009) Relationships of post-fire aeolian transport to soil and atmospheric conditions. Aeolian Res 1:75–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheley RL, Krueger-Mangold J (2003) Principles for restoring invasive plant-infested rangeland. Weed Sci 51:260–265

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1981) Biometry- the principles and practice of statistics in biological research. W. H. Freeman and Co, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Sperry LJ, Belnap J, Evans RD (2006) Bromus tectorum invasion alters nitrogen dynamics in an undisturbed arid grassland ecosystem. Ecology 87:603–615

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stubbs MM, Pyke DA (2005) Available nitrogen: a time-based study of manipulated resource islands. Plant Soil 270:123–133

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • West NE, Young JA (1999) Vegetation of intermountain valleys and lower mountain slopes. In: Barbour MA, Billings WD (eds) North American terrestrial vegetation, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox BP, Turnbull L, Young MH, Williams CJ, Ravi S, Seyfried MS, Bowling DR, Scott RL, Germino MJ, Caldwell TG, Wainwright J (2012) Invasion of shrublands by exotic grasses: ecohydrological consequences in cold versus warm deserts. Ecohydrology 5:160–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolkovich EM, Bolger DT, Cottingham KL (2009) Invasive grass litter facilitates native shrubs through abiotic effects. J Veg Sci 20:1121–1132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright RJ, Hart SC (1997) Nitrogen and phosphorus status in a ponderosa pine forest after 20 years of interval burning. Ecoscience 4:526–533

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was a collaborative effort among the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station, University of Nevada, Reno, USDA Agricultural Research Service and Winnemucca District of the Nevada Bureau of Land Management. Research funding was provided through the Rocky Mountain Research Station. We thank T. Morgan, C. Rosner, C. Dencker, and a large number of summer technicians for valuable assistance in the field and lab, and B. Leger, P. Verburg, T. Albright, and B. Rau for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology Graduate Group, Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, 1000 Valley Road, Reno, NV, 89512, USA

    Rachel Jones

  2. Rocky Mountain Research Station, US Forest Service, 920 Valley Road, Reno, NV, 89512, USA

    Jeanne C. Chambers & David I. Board

  3. Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, 1000 Valley Road, Reno, NV, 89512, USA

    Dale W. Johnson

  4. USDA, Agricultural Research Service, 920 Valley Road, Reno, NV, 89512, USA

    Robert R. Blank

Authors
  1. Rachel Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeanne C. Chambers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dale W. Johnson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Robert R. Blank
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. David I. Board
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rachel Jones.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Zucong Cai.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jones, R., Chambers, J.C., Johnson, D.W. et al. Effect of repeated burning on plant and soil carbon and nitrogen in cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) dominated ecosystems. Plant Soil 386, 47–64 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2242-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2242-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation