Abstract
This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands. Red brome is a formidable competitor to native plant species, both annual and perennial alike, and produces many seeds that germinate easily. The stalks of red brome contribute continuous-cover fuel loads that facilitate wildfires destructive to mature native Mojave Desert plant communities. This makes it a priority species for land managers, particularly when dealing with recovery after fire. This project addressed questions related to the longevity of red brome seeds in soil seed banks and the dynamics of seed densities after wildfires. After being experimentally buried, proportions of viable seeds in the soil were substantially reduced over time. Only six percent of seeds remained viable after one year of burial and 2.6 percent of seeds remained viable after two years of burial. Greater proportions of seeds lost their viability at greater burial depths. Soil seed bank density patterns of red brome were spatially variable across a 31-year time-since-fire chronosequence, and generally were not related to time-since-fire. However, some fires showed significant differences between microsites in burned and unburned areas. While fire disturbances did not necessarily promote greater seed densities of red brome over time in all burned areas, the youngest fire sites sampled in this study (six years after burning) exhibited little difference between burned and unburned areas. This study confirmed that, when red brome is a major component of above-ground vegetation, the species dominates the desert soil seed bank. Future research should consider longevity of seeds beyond two years, as well as comparing above-ground growth of red brome with seed densities observed in the greenhouse emergence study.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Red brome seed viability in soil was substantially reduced over time after burial.
- Taxon
- red brome
Bromus rubense0 - Treatment
- experimentally buriede1
- Outcome
- proportions of viable seeds in the soile1
- Direction
- reducede1
- Qualifier
- over timee1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands”
e1“After being experimentally buried, proportions of viable seeds in the soil were substantially reduced over time”
Claim · model-written summary
About six percent of red brome seeds remained viable after one year of burial.
- Taxon
- red bromeBromus rubense0
- Treatment
- buriale2
- Outcome
- seeds remained viablee2
- Direction
- decreaseinferrede2
- Value
- six percente2
- Qualifier
- after one yeare2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands”
e2“Only six percent of seeds remained viable after one year of burial”
Claim · model-written summary
About 2.6 percent of red brome seeds remained viable after two years of burial.
- Taxon
- red bromeBromus rubense0
- Treatment
- buriale3
- Outcome
- seeds remained viablee3
- Direction
- decreaseinferrede3
- Value
- 2.6 percente3
- Qualifier
- after two yearse3
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands”
e3“and 2.6 percent of seeds remained viable after two years of burial”
Claim · model-written summary
Greater burial depths were associated with greater loss of viability of red brome seeds.
- Taxon
- red bromeBromus rubense0
- Treatment
- greater burial depthse4
- Outcome
- proportions of seeds lost their viabilitye4
- Direction
- Greatere4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands”
e4“Greater proportions of seeds lost their viability at greater burial depths”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil seed bank density patterns of red brome were spatially variable across a 31-year time-since-fire chronosequence.
- Taxon
- red bromeBromus rubense0
- Outcome
- Soil seed bank density patternse5
- Qualifier
- spatially variablee5
- Setting
- 31-year time-since-fire chronosequencee5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands”
e5“Soil seed bank density patterns of red brome were spatially variable across a 31-year time-since-fire chronosequence, and generally were not related to time-since-fire”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil seed bank density of red brome was generally not related to time since fire.
- Taxon
- red bromeBromus rubense0
- Outcome
- soil seed bank densitye5
- Direction
- not relatede5
- Setting
- 31-year time-since-fire chronosequencee5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands”
e5“Soil seed bank density patterns of red brome were spatially variable across a 31-year time-since-fire chronosequence, and generally were not related to time-since-fire”
Claim · model-written summary
Some fires showed significant differences in red brome seed density between microsites in burned and unburned areas.
- Taxon
- red bromeBromus rubense0
- Outcome
- significant differences between micrositese6
- Setting
- burned and unburned arease6
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands”
e6“However, some fires showed significant differences between microsites in burned and unburned areas”
Claim · model-written summary
The youngest fire sites, six years after burning, showed little difference in red brome seed density between burned and unburned areas.
- Taxon
- red bromeBromus rubense0
- Outcome
- difference between burned and unburned arease7
- Setting
- six years after burninge7
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands”
e7“the youngest fire sites sampled in this study (six years after burning) exhibited little difference between burned and unburned areas”
Claim · model-written summary
Fire disturbances did not necessarily promote greater red brome seed densities over time in all burned areas.
- Taxon
- red bromeBromus rubense0
- Treatment
- fire disturbancese1
- Outcome
- seed densities of red bromee1
- Direction
- did not necessarily promote greatere1
- Setting
- burned arease1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands”
e1“While fire disturbances did not necessarily promote greater seed densities of red brome over time in all burned areas”
Claim · model-written summary
Where red brome is a major component of above-ground vegetation, it dominates the desert soil seed bank.
- Taxon
- red bromeBromus rubense0
- Outcome
- the species dominates the desert soil seed banke1
- Qualifier
- when red brome is a major component of above-ground vegetatione1
- Setting
- desert soile1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“This research explores several untested aspects of the seed bank characteristics of red brome (Bromus rubens), an invasive annual grass in southwestern United States arid lands”
e1“This study confirmed that, when red brome is a major component of above-ground vegetation, the species dominates the desert soil seed bank”