Downy Brome - Intruder in the Plant Succession of Big Sagebrush Communities in the Great Basin
Young JA and Evans RA. 1973. Downy Brome - Intruder in the Plant Succession of Big Sagebrush Communities in the Great Basin. Journal of Range Management. 26(6):410-415
We investitated succession on six big sagebrush sites of different potential ranging from the edge of the salt desert shrub to seral communities in the pinon/juniper woodland where the brush overstory had been removed by hand cutting. Depending upon the site, herbaceous communities that developed after elimination of overstory cover were composed of either a diversity or a relatively limited number of species of native annual forbs. Alien annual forbs were initial dominants on sites where seed source of these species was available. Dominance by downy brome caused a marked reduction of native annual species.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Young, James; Evans, Raymond
- Units
- SODN
- Keywords
- community change), Ecology (plant succession, Great Basin Biome