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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Exploring Post-Fire Recovery Of Biocrusts And Desert Ecosystem Services, Jason R. Bahr
Exploring Post-Fire Recovery Of Biocrusts And Desert Ecosystem Services, Jason R. Bahr
Theses and Dissertations
Biocrusts and the ecosystem services they provide are becoming more susceptible to fire as exotic annual grass invasions facilitate the spread of desert wildfires. Further, precipitation patterns across the western United States are predicted to change over the next century, and have the potential to dramatically influence fire regimes and the recovery of burned biocrusts. Despite these changes to desert fire and precipitation cycles, our understanding of post-fire biocrust recovery is limited, especially regarding the first two years after fire. To investigate biocrust recovery, we created burn manipulations (i.e., unburned and burned) and tracked crust form and function over two …
Factors Underlying Invasive Grass Fire Regimes In The Mojave Desert And Its Consequences On Plant And Animal Communities, Kevin J. Horn
Factors Underlying Invasive Grass Fire Regimes In The Mojave Desert And Its Consequences On Plant And Animal Communities, Kevin J. Horn
Theses and Dissertations
Climate change and exotic plant invasions are significant anthropogenic threats to desert community structure and resilience . In the Mojave Desert, the invasive grass red brome (Bromusrubens L) is increasing fire frequency and extent in response to climatic factors. The resilience of this ecosystem will be affected by how plant and animal communities respond to fire. To better understand these dynamics, we studied the environmental factors underlying changes in invasive grass fire regimes in the Mojave Desert and its structural and functional effects on plant and animal communities. Following fire, reestablishment of native vegetation can be preempted by repeated burning …