Soil Heating, Nitrogen, Cheatgrass, and Seedbed Microsites
Blank RR, Abraham L, Young JA. 1994. Soil Heating, Nitrogen, Cheatgrass, and Seedbed Microsites. Journal of Range Management. 47(1):33-37
In this study, the authors quantified organic carbon, extractable NH4+ after incubation (aerobic and anaerobic) and emergence of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in unburned and simulated burned sagebrush subcanopy soil. Cheatgrass emergence under aerobic conditions was significantly retarded in all heated treatments. Nitrogen mineralization was not enhanced by the presence of growing cheatgrass plants. The authors do not know the mechanism whereby heated soils retard the emergence of cheatgrass. This laboratory finding contradicts the observation of cheatgrass being an aggressive colonizer post wildfire. The authors relate the findings of another study (Young and Evans, 1978) that found cheatgrass recruitment beneath sagebrush canopies to be suppressed in the first year following a wildfire. Soils used in this study were collected from a sagebrush-grass plant community 30km north of Reno, NV.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Blank, Robert; Abraham, Leah; Young, James
- Units
- MOJA
- Keywords
- Ammonium, Artemisia tridentata, Asteraceae, Bromus tectorum, Downy brome, Nitrate, Nitrogen Mineralization, Sagebrush