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Effectiveness and Cost of Downy Brome (Bromus tectorum) Control at High Elevation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Amy L. Concilio
Amy L. Concilio*
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: amyconcilio@gmail.com
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Abstract

Downy brome (Bromus tectorum) is an invasive, annual grass that has spread through much of the Great Basin desert but remains patchy at high elevation. This study evaluates control options for outlier infestations in the eastern Sierra Nevada, CA, based on their ecological effectiveness and their economic and practical feasibility. I tested the efficacy of hand-pulling, sheet-mulching, and soil solarization followed by broadcast and seedball seeding of native forbs and grasses. Downy brome cover, density, and dominance in the seed bank decreased with all removal treatments. Soil solarization and sheet mulching were most successful at eliminating downy brome (decreasing density by 99% after just 1 yr of treatment in both cases), but they had negative nontarget impacts on other herbaceous species. Germination of native seeds was low with both broadcast and seedball seeding, probably because of dry conditions. Each of the methods tested has potential for decreasing or eliminating small-scale, outlier infestations of downy brome along roadsides and in disturbed sites and thereby helping to contain the invasion.

Keywords

Downy brome, Bromus tectorum L.CheatgrassGreat Basin desertmulchingnontarget impactsrangeland seedingseed bankSierra Nevadasoil solarization
Type
Research
Information
Invasive Plant Science and Management , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 502 - 511
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

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Footnotes

Current address: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309

References

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