@article {JRN55413, title = {Simulated distribution of Eragrostis lehmanniana (Lehmann lovegrass): Soil{\textendash}climate interactions complicate predictions}, journal = {Ecosphere}, volume = {13}, year = {2022}, month = {3/7/2022}, pages = {e3974}, abstract = {The invasive perennial grass Eragrostis lehmanniana has expanded rapidly throughout the Sonoran Desert (SD) while remaining sparse and patchily distributed in the neighboring Chihuahuan Desert (CD). As temperatures and patterns in precipitation change, identifying the drivers limiting spread in the CD is needed. Our objectives were (1) to identify the climatic and edaphic factors limiting recruitment of E. lehmanniana throughout the CD and (2) to predict the edaphic and climatic locations in the CD where this species is expected to have higher probabilities of recruitment under future climatic conditions. Recruitment was simulated at 57 locations throughout the CD with a daily, multilayer soil water model (SOILWAT) that was parameterized and tested to develop recruitment parameters for E. lehmanniana using long-term data from research stations in the SD and CD. Logistic regression was used to predict recruitment across the CD using climate and soil factors to create a map of simulated recruitment under current and alternative climate scenarios. Simulated recruitment under current climate was low for most of the CD. However, localized areas with high probabilities (>0.8) occurred along the western transition between the CD and the SD, and in the southern extent of the CD. In general, the CD climate is too cool and dry for rapid and widespread invasion. However, increases to temperature and precipitation are likely to increase recruitment success. Interactions among soil, tempera-ture, and precipitation were important to increases in recruitment of E. lehmanniana and are expected to lead to heterogeneous increases in abundance as climate continues to change. This patchy increase in abundance will result in changes in its geographic distribution that will make predictions in the future challenging.}, keywords = {Chihuahuan Desert, climate change, Geographic distribution, numerical model, recruitment, seedling establishment, Special Feature: Dynamic Deserts}, doi = {10.1002/ecs2.3974}, url = {files/bibliography/22-022.pdf}, author = {N. Dylan Burruss and Debra.C.P. Peters and Haitao Huang and Jin Yao} } @proceedings {50226, title = {Predicting soil erosion and deposition effects on plant establishment: A key to increasing restoration success}, volume = {1}, year = {2008}, month = {06/2007}, pages = {743}, abstract = {

Soil erosion and deposition can result in significant modification of the soil profile, including changes in soil surface texture and structure. A series of field studies and modeling exercises are currently being completed at the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, located in the northern Chihuahuan Desert in south-central New Mexico, USA to examine the effects of soil erosion and deposition on plant establishment. As predicted, model results showed that sand addition to the soil surface affected establishment differently depending on the amount of sand added and the initial soil texture. Field studies of areas where sand deposition has been occurring during past several decades indicate that plant community dynamics are controlled by a number of different factors in addition to sand deposition, and that feedbacks with the plant community itself are likely to be important. We conclude that careful characterization of site conditions and soil profile characteristics should be completed before restoration. At a minimum, changes in soil water characteristics should be predicted using texture relationships. In some cases, restoration treatments can be designed to improve water holding capacity by promoting soil deposition.

}, keywords = {land degradation, proceedings, restoration, seedling establishment, soil erosion}, url = {/files/bibliography/07-039.pdf}, author = {Jeffrey E. Herrick and Debra C. Peters and Brandon T Bestelmeyer and Gregory S. Okin and N.K. Hansen and Kris Havstad} } @article {51103, title = {Climatic variation and simulated patterns in seedling establishment of two dominant grasses at a semi-arid and grassland ecotone}, journal = {Journal of Vegetation Science}, volume = {11}, number = {4}, year = {2000}, month = {August 1, 2000}, pages = {493-504}, abstract = {Seedling establishment by two congeneric C4 perennial grasses (Bouteloua gracilis and B. eriopoda) that dominate semiarid and arid North American grasslands was simulated by modeling multiple temporal frequencies of climate at their ecotonal boundary. The occurrence of a recruitment event in each year was determined by comparing simulated soil water content through time with amount and timing of soil water required for establishment based on data in the literature for each species. The two Bouteloua species had different regeneration strategies. B. gracilis had a broad pattern of establishment that occurred from June through October with a peak in September and October when year-to-year variation in precipitation was high. B. eriopoda had a narrow distribution of establishment events that peaked in the middle of summer (July) when precipitation amounts were most reliable. Interdecadal variation in climate had species-specific effects on establishment. Climatic condition from 1949 through 1968 were more favorable for B. eriopoda establishment compared to the cooler, wetter conditions from 1969 through 1988 that favored B. gracilis. Establishment of B. eriopoda was negatively affected by El Nino events, whereas B. gracilis establishment was positively affected by conditions associated with El Nino events. A long-term directional increase in annual precipitation resulted in a small shift in the geographic location of the ecotonal boundary based upon the location of similar establishment probabilities for the two species. These results indicate that temporal partitioning of soil water required by seedlings may account for species coexistence at an ecotonal boundary.}, keywords = {B. eriopoda, Bouteloua gracilis, ECOTONE, seedling establishment}, url = {/files/bibliography/00-016.pdf}, author = {Debra C. Peters} } @article {51524, title = {Recent rates of mesquite establishment in the northern Chihuahuan Desert}, journal = {Journal of Range Management}, volume = {45}, year = {1992}, note = {Permission to post articles granted by the Society for Range Management; www.rangelands.org.}, month = {1992}, pages = {585-588}, abstract = {

Honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa Torr. var. glandulosa) populations continue to expand and become more dense, even on areas once "successfully" treated either with herbicides or by bulldozing in southern New Mexico.\  Areas treated from 1958-1964 for mesquite control on the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range and the New Mexico State University College Ranch were sampled to determine mesquite density changes.\  On herbicide treated areas sampled in 1976 and again in 1988, mesquite densities increased 10\%\  to 128\% and had densities from 67 to 494 plants/ha.\  Two areas\ treated by either bulldozing or fenuron in 1959-60, and with original kills near 100\%, had an average density of 377 plants.ha by 1988, with an establishment rate of 13.5 plants/ha/year.\  On the College Ranch, mesquite densities increased 11\%, from 130 (1982) to 147 (1988) plants/ha.\  Only 19\% of a cohort of mesquite seedlings which germinated in 1989 were still alive in May 1990.\  Even though only a small percentage of the mesquite that germinated survived into the second year, this is enough to change former grasslands into mesquite-dominated rangelands.\ 

}, keywords = {arid rangelands, desert grasslands, prosopis glandulosa, seedling establishment, shrub invasion}, url = {/files/bibliography/385.pdf}, author = {Gibbens, Robert P. and Reldon F. Beck and R.P. McNeely and C.H. Herbel} } @mastersthesis {52090, title = {Factors affecting seed germination and seedling establishment of broom snakeweed}, year = {1980}, note = {//NMSU//NONE//}, month = {1980}, pages = {101}, school = {New Mexico State University}, type = {M.S. Thesispp}, address = {Las Cruces, New Mexico}, abstract = {A study was conducted to test the effects of scarification, stratification, scorching, leaching and soaking treatments on broom snakeweed (Xanthocephalum sarothrae) germination. Broom snakeweed litter and aqueous extracts of this litter were applied to seeds of broom snakeweed and associated species under growth chamber and greenhouse conditions. Broom snakeweed germination responded best when no physical modification of the seeds occurred. Mean germination of water-soaked seeds was 55\%. Scarification did not reduce germination, but all other physical treatments resulted in substantially lower germination. Results of broom snakeweed litter treatments were inconclusive, probably due to slow leaching of potential chemical inhibitors from the plant material. However, aqueous extracts of broom snakeweed litter reduced germination and shoot and root length of blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and sideoats grama (B. curtipendula), when applied at concentrations that represented natural litter fall from broom snakeweed canopy covers of 20\% or greater. Allelopathy may be a factor whereby broom snakeweed reduces grass production and enhances its own life cycle.}, keywords = {dissertation, dissertations, plant, snakeweed, plant, Xanthocephalum, toxicity, seed, germination, seedling establishment, snakeweed, SEE Xanthocephalum, theses, thesis, toxicity, snakeweed, Xanthocephalum, Xanthocephalum, germination}, author = {Jeffcoat, B. Lowell} } @inbook {52337, title = {Environmental modification for seedling establishment}, booktitle = {Biology and Utilization of Grasses}, year = {1972}, month = {1972}, pages = {101-114}, publisher = {Academic Press}, organization = {Academic Press}, address = {New York, NY}, abstract = {Under rangeland conditions most grasses should not.be seeded deeper than 2 cm. Harsh environmental conditions in the surface soil often prevent successful seedling establishment. Army and Hudspeth (1960) and Hudspeth and Taylor (1961) reported that under field conditions in the southern Great Plains sufficient moisture for seedling emergence of grasses planted at the customary shallow depths could not be maintained on bare surface soil except under extremely favorable weather conditions. The average annual precipitation in that area ranges from 36 to 58 cm. Environmental modification, particularly of the moisture and temperature, is imperative to insure greater success in grass establishment. Artificial and natural mulches and land-forming procedures offer increased possibilities for obtaining seedling establishment under difficult environmental conditions.}, keywords = {environmental modification, rangeland, seedling establishment}, url = {/files/bibliography/133.pdf}, author = {C.H. Herbel}, editor = {Youngner, V. and McKell, C.} }