Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T02:51:32.621Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Enhanced Fire-Related Traits May Contribute to the Invasiveness of Downy Brome (Bromus tectorum)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Annamária Fenesi ,
Sandra Saura-Mas ,
Robert R. Blank ,
Anita Kozma ,
Beáta-Magdolna Lózer  and
Eszter Ruprecht
Annamária Fenesi*
Affiliation:
Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Republicii street 42, RO-400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Sandra Saura-Mas
Affiliation:
Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications and Unit of Ecology, Department of Animal and Plant Biology and Ecology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
Robert R. Blank
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service, Great Basin Rangelands Research Unit, 920 Valley Road, Reno, NV 89512
Anita Kozma
Affiliation:
Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Republicii street 42, RO-400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Beáta-Magdolna Lózer
Affiliation:
Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Republicii street 42, RO-400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Eszter Ruprecht
Affiliation:
Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Republicii street 42, RO-400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Although several invasive species have induced changes to the fire regime of invaded communities, potential intraspecific shifts in fire-related traits that might enhance the invasion success of these species have never been addressed. We assumed that traits conferring persistence and competitiveness in postfire conditions to downy brome, a quintessential invasive species of the Great Basin (North America), might be under selection in areas with recurrent fires. Therefore, we hypothesized that populations from frequently burned regions of the Great Basin would have (1) greater tolerance to fire at seed level, (2) higher relative seedling performance in postfire environments, and (3) greater flammability than unburned Central European populations that evolved without fire. Seeds were collected from three introduced populations from frequently burned regions in North America and three introduced populations of rarely or never burned sites from Central Europe. We performed (1) germination experiments with seeds subjected to the effect of different fire components (heat shocks, smoke, flame, ash), (2) pot experiments analyzing the effect of postfire conditions on the early growth of the seedlings, and (3) a series of flammability tests on dry biomass of plants reared in a common garden. All seeds tolerated the low-temperature treatments (40 to 100 C), but were destroyed at high heat shocks (140 and 160 C). Only the 100 C heat treatment caused a difference in reaction of seeds from different continents, as the European seeds were less tolerant to this heat shock. We found significantly increased seedling height and biomass after 4 wk of growth under postfire conditions in American populations, but not in European ones. American populations had enhanced flammability in three out of five measured parameters compared to European populations. In summary, these intraspecific differences in fire-related traits might contribute to the persistence and perhaps invasiveness of the frequently burned North American downy brome populations.

Keywords

Downy bromeBromus tectorum L. BROTECheatgrassgerminationheat shockignitabilityinvasion
Type
Research Article
Information
Invasive Plant Science and Management , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 182 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Weed Science Society of America 

References

Literature Cited

Aguirre, L, Johnson, DA (1991) Influence of temperature and cheatgrass competition on seedling development of two bunchgrasses. J Range Manag 44:347–354 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altbäcker, V (1998) Növény-növényevő kapcsolatok vizsgálata homoki társulásokban. Pages 123–145 in Fekete, G, ed. A Oözösségi Ökológia Frontvonalai. BudapestGoogle Scholar
Andonian, K, Hierro, JL, Khetsuriani, L, Becerra, P, Janoyan, G, Villarreal, D, Cavieres, L, Fox, LR, Callaway, RM (2011) Range-expanding populations of a globally introduced weed experience negative plant-soil feedbacks. PLoS One 6:e20117–e20124 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bartlett, E, Novak, SJ, Mack, RN (2002) Genetic variation in Bromus tectorum (Poaceae): differentiation in the eastern United States. Am J Bot 89:602–612 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beckstead, J, Meyer, SE, Allen, PS (1996) Bromus tectorum seed germination: between-population and between-year variation. Can J Bot 74:875–882 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckstead, J, Street, LE, Meyer, SE, Allen, PS (2011) Fire effects on the cheatgrass seed bank pathogen Pyrenophora semeniperda . Rangel Ecol Manag 64:148–157 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Billings, WD (1994) Cheatgrass and resultant fire on ecosystems in the western Great Basin. Pages 22–30 in Monsen, SB, Kitchen, SG, eds. Proceedings of Ecology and Management of Annual Rangelands. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Google Scholar
Blank, RR, Allen, FL, Young, JA (1996) Influence of simulated burning of soil-litter from low sagebrush, squirreltail, cheatgrass, and medusa-head on water-soluble anions and cations. Int J Wildl Fire 6:137 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blank, RR, White, RH, Ziska, LH (2006) Combustion properties of Bromus tectorum L.: influence of ecotype and growth under four CO2 concentrations. Int J Wildl Fire 15:227–236 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, WJ, Keeley, JE (2005) Fire as a global “herbivore”: the ecology and evolution of flammable ecosystems. Trends Ecol Evol 20:387–394 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bond, WJ, Midgley, JJ (1995) Kill thy neighbour: an individualistic argument for the evolution of flammability. Oikos 73:79–85 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandt, AJ, Seabloom, EW, Hosseini, PR (2009) Phylogeny and provenance affect plant–soil feedbacks in invaded California grasslands. Ecology 90:1063–1072 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brooks, M, D'Antonio, C, Richardson, D, Grace, J, Keely, J, DiTomaso, J, Hobbs, R, Pellant, M, Pyke, D (2004) Effects of invasive alien plants on fire regimes. Bioscience 54:677–688 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bureau of Land Management (2015) Geospatial Data. http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/more_programs/geographic_sciences/gis/geospatial_data.html. Accessed November 20, 2015Google Scholar
Chambers, JC, Roundy, BA, Blank, RR, Meyer, SE, Whittaker, A (2007) What makes Great Basin sagebrush ecosystems invasible by Bromus tectorum? Ecol Monogr 77:117–145 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chun, YJ, Le Corre, V, Bretagnolle, F (2011) Adaptive divergence for a fitness-related trait among invasive Ambrosia artemisiifolia populations in France. Mol Ecol 20:1378–1388 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chuvieco, E, Aguado, I, Dimitrakopoulos, AP (2004) Conversion of fuel moisture content values to ignition potential for integrated fire danger assessment. Can J For Res 34:2284–2293 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Climent, J, Tapias, R, Pardos, J, Gil, L (2004) Fire adaptations in the Canary Islands pine ( Pinus canariensis). Plant Ecol 171:185–196 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D'Antonio, CM (2000) Fire, plant invasions, and global changes. Pages 65–93 in Mooney, HA, Hobbs, RJ, eds. Invasive Species in a Changing World. Washington, DC: Island Press Google Scholar
D'Antonio, CM, Vitousek, PM (1992) Biological invasions by exotic grasses, the grass/fire cycle, and global change. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 23:63–87 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deák, B, Valkó, O, Török, P, Végvári, Z, Hartel, T, Schmotzer, A, Kapocsi, I, Tóthmérész, B (2014) Grassland fires in Hungary—experiences of nature conservationists on the effects of fire on biodiversity. Appl Ecol Environ Res 12:267–283 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Magalhães, RMQ, Schwilk, DW (2012) Leaf traits and litter flammability: evidence for non-additive mixture effects in a temperate forest. J Ecol 100:1153–1163 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dibble, KL, Yackulic, CB, Kennedy, TA, Budy, P (2015) Flow management and fish density regulate salmonid recruitment and adult size in tailwaters across western North America. Ecol Appl 25:2168–2179 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dlugosch, KM, Parker, IM (2008) Founding events in species invasions: Genetic variation, adaptive evolution, and the role of multiple introductions. Mol Ecol 17:431–449 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Escudero, A, Núñez, Y, Pérez-García, F (2000) Is fire a selective force of seed size in pine species? Acta Oecol 21:245–256 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Etlinger, MG, Beall, FC (2004) Development of a laboratory protocol for fire performance of landscape plants. Int J Wildl Fire 13:479–488 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenesi, A, Botta-Dukát, (2012) Phenotypic divergences induced by different residence time in invasive common ragweeds. J Plant Ecol 5:174–181 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenesi, A, Rédei, T, Botta-Dukát, Z (2011) Hard traits of three Bromus species in their source area explain their current invasive success. Acta Oecol 37:441–448 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feurdean, A, Liakka, J, Vannière, B, Marinova, E, Hutchinson, SM, Mosburgger, V, Hickler, T (2013) 12,000-Years of fire regime drivers in the lowlands of Transylvania (Central-Eastern Europe): a data-model approach. Quat Sci Rev 81:48–61 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fonda, RW (2011) Burning characteristics of needles from eight pine species. For Sci 47:7 Google Scholar
Gagnon, PR, Passmore, HA, Platt, WJ, Myers, JA, Paine, CET, Harms, KE (2010) Does pyrogenicity protect burning plants? Ecology 91:3481–3486 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gómez-González, S, Torres-Díaz, C, Bustos-Schindler, C, Gianoli, E (2011) Anthropogenic fire drives the evolution of seed traits. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108:18743–18747 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffith, AB, Andonian, K, Weiss, CP, Loik, ME (2014) Variation in phenotypic plasticity for native and invasive populations of Bromus tectorum . Biol Invasions 16:2627–2638 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hassan, MA, West, NE (1986) Dynamics of soil seeds pools in burned and unburned sagebrush semi-deserts. Ecology 67:269–272 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, W-M, Yu, G-L, Sun, Z-K (2011) Nitrogen deposition enhances Bromus tectorum invasion: biogeographic differences in growth and competitive ability between China and North America. Ecography (Cop) 34:1059–1066 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernandez-Serrano, A, Verdu, M, Gonzalez-Martinez, SC, Pausas, JG (2013) Fire structures pine serotiny at different scales. Am J Bot 100:2349–2356 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hijmans, RJ, Cameron, SE, Parra, JL, Jones, PG, Jarvis, A (2005) Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. Int J Climatol 25:1965–1978 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humphrey, LD, Schupp, EW (2001) Seed banks of Bromus tectorum—dominated communities in the Great Basin. West North Am Nat 61:85–92 Google Scholar
Humphrey, LD, Schupp, EW (2004) Competition as a barrier to establishment of a native perennial grass ( Elymus elymoides) in alien annual grass ( Bromus tectorum) communities. J Arid Environ 58:405–422 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, BG, Johnson, DW, Chambers, JC, Blank, RR (2010) Fire effects on the mobilization and uptake of nitrogen by cheatgrass ( Bromus tectorum L.). Plant Soil 341:437–445 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaczmarski, J (2000) Restoration implications of Bromus tectorum-infested grasslands of the Great Basin. Restor Reclam Rev 6:1–14 Google Scholar
Kane, JM, Varner, JM, Hiers, JK (2008) The burning characteristics of southeastern oaks: discriminating fire facilitators from fire impeders. For Ecol Manag 256:2039–2045 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keeley, JE, Fotheringham, C (1998) Smoke-induced seed germination in California chaparral. Ecology 79:2320–2336 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keeley, JE, Keeley, SC (1987) Role of fire in the germination of chaparral herbs and suffrutescents. Madroño 34:240–249 Google Scholar
Keeley, JE, Pausas, JG, Rundel, PW, Bond, WJ, Bradstock, RA (2011) Fire as an evolutionary pressure shaping plant traits. Trends Plant Sci 16:406–411 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knapp, PA (1996) Cheatgrass ( Bromus tectorum L.) dominance in the Great Basin Desert: history, persistence, and influences to human activities. Glob Environ Chang 6:37–52 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laland, KN, Odling-Smee, FJ, Feldman, MW (1999) Evolutionary consequences of niche construction and their implications for ecology. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:10242–10247 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lloret, F, Estevan, H, Vayreda, J, Terradas, J (2005) Fire regenerative syndromes of forest woody species across fire and climatic gradients. Oecologia 146:461–468 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mack, RN (1981) Invasion of Bromus tectorum L. into Western North America: an ecological chronicle. Agro-Ecosystems 7:145–165 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maron, JL, Vilà, M, Bommarco, R, Elmendorf, S, Beardsley, P (2004) Rapid evolution of an invasive plant. Ecol Monogr 74:261–280 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreira, B, Tormo, J, Estrelles, E, Pausas, JG (2010) Disentangling the role of heat and smoke as germination cues in Mediterranean Basin flora. Ann Bot 105:627–635 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mousseau, TA, Fox, CW (1998) The adaptive significance of maternal effects. Trends Ecol Evol 13:403–407 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nakagawa, S, Schielzeth, H (2013) A general and simple method for obtaining R 2 from generalized linear mixed-effects models. Methods Ecol Evol 4:133–142 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novak, SJ, Mack, RN (1993) Genetic variation in Bromus tectorum (Poaceae): comparison between native and introduced populations. Heredity (Edinb) 71:167–176 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novak, SJ, Mack, RN (2001) Tracing plant introduction and spread: genetic evidence from Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass). Bioscience 51:114 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pausas, J, Giorgio, A, Moreira, B, Corcobado, G (2012) Fires enhance flammability in Ulex parviflorus . New Phytol 193:18–23 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pausas, JG, Bradstock, RA, Keith, DA, Keeley, JE, Global Change of Terrestrial Ecosystem Fire Network (2004) Plant functional traits in relation to fire in crown-fire ecosystems. Ecology 85:1085–1100 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pausas, JG, Keeley, JE (2014) Abrupt climate-independent fire regime changes. Ecosystems 17:1109–1120 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Fernández, M, Rodríguez-Echeverría, S (2003) Effects of smoke, charred wood, and nitrogenous compounds on seed germination of ten species from woodland in central-western Spain. J Chem Ecol 29:237–251 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prentis, PJ, Wilson, JRU, Dormontt, EE, Richardson, DM, Lowe, AJ (2008) Adaptive evolution in invasive species. Trends Plant Sci 13:288–294 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
R Core Team (2014) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing Google Scholar
Rasmuson, KE, Anderson, JE (2002) Salinity affects development, growth, and photosynthesis in cheatgrass. J Range Manag 55:80–87 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, KJ, Black, RA, Radamaker, G, Evans, RD (1992) Photosynthesis, growth, and biomass allocation in habitat ecotypes of cheatgrass ( Bromus tectorum). Funct Ecol 6:32–40 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rossiter, NA, Setterfield, SA, Douglas, MM, Hutley, LB (2003) Testing the grass-fire cycle: alien grass invasion in the tropical savannas of northern Australia. Divers Distrib 9:169–176 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruprecht, E, Fenesi, A, Fodor, I, Kuhn, T (2013) Prescribed burning as an alternative management in grasslands of temperate Europe?: the impact on seeds. Basic Appl Ecol 14:642–650 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saura-Mas, S, Paula, S, Pausas, JG, Lloret, F (2010) Fuel loading and flammability in the Mediterranean Basin woody species with different post-fire regenerative strategies. Int J Wildl Fire 19:783 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarff, FR, Westoby, M (2006) Leaf litter flammability in some semi-arid Australian woodlands. Funct Ecol 20:745–752 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwilk, DW, Caprio, AC (2011) Scaling from leaf traits to fire behaviour: community composition predicts fire severity in a temperate forest. J Ecol 99:970–980 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwilk, DW, Kerr, B (2002) Genetic niche-hiking: an alternative explanation for the evolution of flammability. Oikos 99:431–442 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, JR (1984) The role of fire: much ado about nothing. Oikos 43:404–405 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terpó, A, Zajac, M, Zajac, A (2000) Provisional list of Hungarian archaeophytes. Thaisia - Kosice 9:41–48 Google Scholar
Thill, DC, Beck, KG, Callihan, RH (1984) The biology of downy brome ( Bromus tectorum). Weed Sci 32:7–12 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vilà, M, Espinar, JL, Hejda, M, Hulme, PE, Jarošík, V, Maron, JL, Pergl, J, Schaffner, U, Sun, Y, Pyšek, P (2011) Ecological impacts of invasive alien plants: a meta-analysis of their effects on species, communities and ecosystems. Ecol Lett 14:702–708 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vitousek, P (1990) Biological invasions and ecosystem processes: toward an integration of population biology and ecosystem studies. Oikos 57:7–13 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westoby, M, Walker, B, Noy-meir, I (1989) Opportunistic management for rangelands not at equilibrium. J Range Manag 42:266–274 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, RH, Zipperer, WC (2010) Testing and classification of individual plants for fire behaviour: plant selection for the wildland–urban interface. Int J Wildl Fire 19:213 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, JA, Evans, A (1978) Population dynamics after wildfires in sagebrush grasslands. J Range Manag 283:283–289 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, JA, Evans, RA (1975) Germinability of seed reserves in a big sagebrush community. Weed Sci 23:358–364 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, JA, Evans, RA, Major, J (1972) Alien plants in the Great Basin. J Range Manag 25:194–201 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ziska, LH, Reeves, JB, Blank, B (2005) The impact of recent increases in atmospheric CO2 on biomass production and vegetative retention of cheatgrass ( Bromus tectorum): implications for fire disturbance. Glob Chang Biol 11:1325–1332 CrossRefGoogle Scholar