Life Sciences Commons^™

Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis: Final Report, Scott R. Abella

Fire Science

Species selection can make the difference between successful revegetation projects and costly failures. Candidate native species for revegetating burned arid lands in the southwestern United States must meet at least two criteria. These species must: (1) be competitive in postfire environments typically dominated by exotic grasses, and (2) be able to become established reliably by seeding or planting. In response to Manager’s Request Task 3 (reestablishment of native vegetation after fires on arid lands) in the 2006 JFS announcement for proposals, this research tackled the problem of selecting native species with the greatest chance of revegetation success by conducting synergistic …

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, Time Period: July 1 — September 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Article entitled “Competitive Hierarchy of Native Desert Plants with Red Brome (Bromus rubens): Towards Identifying Invasion-Reducing Species" was revised and re-submitted to the Invasive Plant Science and Management journal.
• Final data collection on soils and nursery plots is complete. Data are awaiting analysis.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, Time Period: May 1 — June 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Article entitled “Competitive Hierarchy of Native Desert Plants with Red Brome (Bromus rubens): Towards Identifying Invasion-Reducing Species" was submitted to the Invasive Plant Science and Management journal.
• Maintained nursery plots and added installment of nitrogen treatment.
• Took measurements in nursery (competition) plots and harvested biomass.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, Time Period: January 1 — April 30, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Article entitled “Competitive Hierarchy of Native Desert Plants with Red Brome (Bromus rubens): Towards Identifying Invasion-Reducing Species" was submitted to the Invasive Plant Science and Management journal
• Maintained nursery plots and added installment of nitrogen treatment.
• Took measurements in nursery (competition) plots and harvested biomass.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, Time Period: October 1 — December 31, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Article accepted for publication in Journal of Arid Environments.

• Recharged irrigation gel packs for outplanting and watered seed plots at Goodsprings site.

• Completed full year of seed granivory trials at Goodsprings site.

• Presented information on this Task Agreement to 4th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress.

• Maintained nursery plots and added installment of nitrogen treatment.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, Time Period: July 1 — September 30, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Weighed biomass for competitive hierarchy study.
• Completed more seed granivory trials at Goodsprings.
• Monitored and maintained nursery plots.
• Submitted revised article to Journal of Arid Environments.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis, Quarterly Progress Report, April 1 — June 30, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Initiated a competitive hierarchy study.
• Monitored and maintained outplanting at Goodsprings.
• Completed more seed granivory trials at Goodsprings.
• Mentored student to completion of undergraduate research project.
• Monitored and maintained nursery plots.
• Revising article submitted to Journal of Arid Environments.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis, Quarterly Progress Report, January 1— March 31, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Monitored and watered native plants in nursery plots.

• Exotic grasses seeded into nursery plots.

• Nitrogen treatment applied to nursery plots.

• Granivory study trials performed each month and corresponding abstract submitted to ESA.

• Competitive hierarchy study germination trials are underway.

• Monitored seeding and outplanting experiments at Goodsprings.

• Submitted article to Mojave Applied Ecology Notes newsletter updating on JFS work.

• Mentoring UNLV undergraduate student in research project for ENV 492.

• Prepared presentation materials for two scientific meetings.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis, Quarterly Progress Report, October 1 — December 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Presented poster at Natural Areas Conference in Nashville, TN

• Initiated granivory study at Goodsprings.

• Outplanted 2376 plants for Experiment 1 at Lake Mead nursery.

• Presented poster at Wildfires and Invasive Plants in American Deserts conference in Reno, NV.

• Submitted manuscript covering our distance from road - microsite invasibility study to Journal of Arid Environments.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis, Quarterly Progress Report, July 1 — September 30, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Cones monitored and reseeded to obtain plants for nursery study.

• Goodsprings revegetation studies monitored.

• Website developed for JFS study.

• Writing short communication for Journal of Arid Environments.

• Working on poster for NAA conference in October.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, April 1— June 30, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Cones seeded for competition experiment at Lake Mead nursery.

• Cones monitored for seedling establishment.

• Goodsprings revegetation studies monitored.

• Invasibility data being entered and analyzed.

• Abstract for NAA conference submitted.

• Joint Fire Science update article submitted to Mojave Applied Ecology Notes newsletter.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, January 1— March 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

• Fence built.

• Seeds and plants obtained.

• Seeding experiment initiated at Goodsprings burn site.

• Three hundred twenty plants, comprising eight species, planted at the Goodsprings burn site on February 12, 2008.

• First of a series of Joint Fire Science update articles submitted to Mojave Applied Ecology Notes newsletter.

Joint Fire Science Program – Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Revegetating Burned Arid Lands: Identifying Successful Native Species Using Trait And Competition Analysis, Quarterly Progress Report, October 1, 2007 To December 31, 2007, Margaret N. Rees

Fire Science

The task agreement was awarded to UNLV on October 1, 2007. This report covers the period October 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007. The following activities have been conducted toward meeting or exceeding deliverables in the statement of work: hiring and project start and experimental set-up