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Reversing the Woodland Steady State: Vegetation Responses During Restoration of Juniperus-Dominated Grasslands with Chaining and Fire

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Western North American Juniperus Communities

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 196))

Junipers (Juniperus spp.) are native woody shrubs that have expanded beyond their normal historical ranges in the western and southwestern United States since the late 1800s (Johnson 1962; Burkhardt and Tisdale 1976; Gehring and Bragg 1992; Ansley et al. 1995; Miller and Tausch 2001; Ueckert et al. 2001). The most likely reason for this is the change in the disturbance regimes associated with these communities and the lengthening of the time between disturbances that removed juniper. Increases in juniper can be attributed to fire suppression, climate change, and overgrazing by livestock. Overgrazing had the dual effect of weakening the competitive ability of grasses against emerging juniper seedlings and reducing the amount of herbaceous fine fuel that normally supported fires (Archer et al. 1995; Van Auken 2000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, 1658, 76384, Vernon, TX, USA

    R. James Ansley & Harold T. Wiedemann

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  1. R. James Ansley
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  2. Harold T. Wiedemann
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Texas, 78249-0662, San Antonio, TX, USA

    O. W. Van Auken

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Ansley, R.J., Wiedemann, H.T. (2008). Reversing the Woodland Steady State: Vegetation Responses During Restoration of Juniperus-Dominated Grasslands with Chaining and Fire. In: Van Auken, O.W. (eds) Western North American Juniperus Communities. Ecological Studies, vol 196. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34003-6_15

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