Global change effects on <i><scp>B</scp>romus tectorum </i><scp>L</scp>. (<scp>P</scp>oaceae) at its high‐elevation range margin

Concilio, Amy; Loik, Michael E.; Belnap, Jayne

doi:10.1111/gcb.12032

Cited by 57 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 46 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Consistent with this interpretation, a recent study carried out at high elevations found that the effect of snow on cheatgrass is neutral (Concilio et al, 2013). An earlier study from the same site showed that snow cover had both negative and positive effects on cheatgrass (Griffith and Loik, 2010).…”

Section: H2) Loss Of Snow Will Contribute To the Effect Of Warmingmentioning

confidence: 72%

Warming, soil moisture, and loss of snow increase Bromus tectorum’s population growth rate

Compagnoni

Adler

2014

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change threatens to exacerbate the impacts of invasive species. In temperate ecosystems, direct effects of warming may be compounded by dramatic reductions in winter snow cover. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is arguably the most destructive biological invader in basins of the North American Intermountain West, and warming could increase its performance through direct effects on demographic rates or through indirect effects mediated by loss of snow. We conducted a two-year experimental manipulation of temperature and snow pack to test whether 1) warming increases cheatgrass population growth rate and 2) reduced snow cover contributes to cheatgrass' positive response to warming. We used infrared heaters operating continuously to create the warming treatment, but turned heaters on only during snowfalls for the snowmelt treatment. We monitored cheatgrass population growth rate and the vital rates that determine it: emergence, survival and fecundity. Growth rate increased in both warming and snowmelt treatments. The largest increases occurred in warming plots during the wettest year, indicating that the magnitude of response to warming depends on moisture availability. Warming increased both fecundity and survival, especially in the wet year, while snowmelt contributed to the positive effects of warming by increasing survival. Our results indicate that increasing temperature will exacerbate cheatgrass impacts, especially where warming causes large reductions in the depth and duration of snow cover.

show abstract

Section: H2) Loss Of Snow Will Contribute To the Effect Of Warmingmentioning

confidence: 72%

Warming, soil moisture, and loss of snow increase Bromus tectorum’s population growth rate

Compagnoni

Adler

2014

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The strong effect of warming on fecundity may reflect the fact that moisture was above average during our experiment and temperature was far from cheatgrass' upper tolerance. First, we expect soil moisture to favor cheatgrass seed production, because this species is extremely responsive to moisture availability (e. g. Hull and Pechanec 1947, Bradley and Mustard 2005, Concilio et al 2013. Second, a separate experiment carried out at the mid elevation site in 2011 provides evidence that temperatures were far from cheatgrass' upper tolerance.…”

Section: Effects Of Warmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Intermountain West, soil resources, aboveground productivity and biomass increase with elevation , which might increase competitive pressure from perennial natives (Grime 1979). If warmer temperatures have a positive direct effect on cheatgrass, strong competition might be especially important for limiting cheatgrass performance through negative indirect effects (Suttle et al 2007, Concilio et al 2013.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warming, competition, and Bromus tectorum population growth across an elevation gradient

Compagnoni

Adler

2014

Ecosphere

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is one of the most problematic invasive plant species in North America and climate change threatens to exacerbate its impacts. We conducted a two-year field experiment to test the effect of warming, competition, and seed source on cheatgrass performance across an elevation gradient in northern Utah. We hypothesized that warming would increase cheatgrass performance, but that warming effects would be limited by competing vegetation and by local adaptation of cheatgrass seed sources. The warming treatment relied on open top chambers, we removed vegetation to assess the effect of competition from neighboring vegetation, and we reciprocally sowed cheatgrass seed sources from the three study sites. We quantified performance with per capita growth rate and its components (emergence, survival, and fecundity). The main effect of the warming treatment was significant and positive only at high elevation, where warming triggered a three-to six-fold increase in population growth rate. At the lower elevation sites, main effects of warming were always positive but not significant. Interactions between warming and seed source or competition were inconsistent across sites and years. As expected, competition from resident vegetation had strong and consistent negative effects on cheatgrass population growth rate, but it significantly limited warming effects only at the mid-elevation site in one year, presumably by decreasing soil water availability. High elevation seed sources performed best at all sites. Our results indicate that in northern Utah, warming has the potential to increase cheatgrass densities in years with normal to high precipitation, especially at high elevations, regardless of cheatgrass seed source. In this region, climate change is likely to increase the impacts associated with high cheatgrass density and biomass, such as shortened fire return intervals, at high elevations where this species is not yet problematic.

show abstract

“…Invasive populations are mostly likely to have come from sources in Western and Central Europe, and have invaded huge areas in the Intermountain West (Knapp 1996;Novak and Mack 2001). Of recent concern is the ability of B. tectorum to invade into higher elevation sites such as those at the edge of the western Great Basin and eastern Sierra Nevada (Concilio et al 2013;Leger et al 2009;Griffith and Loik 2010). Given this, what is the potential role of phenotypic plasticity in the ability of B. tectorum to invade semi-arid shrub-steppe A.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in phenotypic plasticity for native and invasive populations of Bromus tectorum

et al. 2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Phenotypic plasticity is often considered important for invasive plant success, yet relatively few studies have assessed plasticity in both native and invasive populations of the same species. We examined the plastic response to temperature for Bromus tectorum populations collected from similar shrub-steppe environments in the Republics of Armenia and Georgia, where it is native, and along an invasive front in California and Nevada. Plants were grown in growth chambers in either 'warm' (30/20°C, day/night) or 'cold' (10/5°C) conditions. Invasive populations exhibited greater adaptive plasticity than natives for freezing tolerance (as measured by chlorophyll a fluorescence), such that invasive populations grown in the cold treatment exhibited the highest tolerance. Invasive populations also exhibited more rapid seedling emergence in response to warm temperatures compared to native populations. The climatic conditions of population source locations were related to emergence timing for invasive populations and to freezing tolerance across all populations combined. Plasticity in growth-related traits such as biomass, allocation, leaf length, and photosynthesis did not differ between native and invasive populations. Rather, some growth-related traits were very plastic across all populations, which may help to dampen differences in biomass in contrasting environments. Thus, invasive populations were found to be particularly plastic for some important traits such as seedling emergence and freezing tolerance, but plasticity at the species level may also be an important factor in the invasive ability of B. tectorum.

show abstract

Global change effects on Bromus tectorum L. (Poaceae) at its high‐elevation range margin

Cited by 57 publications

References 46 publications

Warming, soil moisture, and loss of snow increase Bromus tectorum’s population growth rate

Warming, soil moisture, and loss of snow increase Bromus tectorum’s population growth rate

Warming, competition, and Bromus tectorum population growth across an elevation gradient

Variation in phenotypic plasticity for native and invasive populations of Bromus tectorum

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About