Developing Appropriate Restoration Practices for Arizona Sonoran Desert Uplands Invaded by Buffelgrass

University of Nevada Las Vegas; Chiquoine, Lindsay

This project included several related components all aimed at providing information support for furthering development of effective management strategies for buffelgrass in Saguaro National Park. In collaboration with Dana Backer and Saguaro National Park personnel, we conducted literature reviews, three field studies, and two syntheses and analyses of existing data collected by Saguaro National Park. This document reports on: 1. Literature review on overall ecology of buffelgrass and its management, completed in 2010. 2. Literature review on vegetation restoration projects in the Sonoran Desert, completed in 2011. 3. Field study of ecological characteristics (vegetation, soil, and soil seed bank) at sites invaded and not invaded by buffelgrass within Saguaro National Park, completed in 2011. This effort was published in Invasive Plant Science and Management in 2012. 4. Field study of a condition assessment of sites previously treated for buffelgrass by Saguaro National Park and including condition of vegetation, soil, and the soil seed bank, in addition to current level of buffelgrass infestation, completed in 2012. This effort was published in Environmental Management in 2013. 5. Field study of soil seed bank composition across a buffelgrass treatment gradient and uninvaded sites using two seed bank assessment methods, completed in 2013. In addition to information contained in this report, a manuscript from this effort is under development. 6. Synthesis of passive transect data collected by Saguaro National Park, completed in 2013. 7. Synthesis of existing restoration data along Cactus Loop Drive collected by Saguaro National Park. This effort is ‘in press’ with Natural Areas Journal with a publication date of early 2015.