Wet thermal accumulation modeling of germination of western U.S. rangeland species

Abstract

The key to stopping high-frequency or catastrophic wildfires in the western U.S. is the successful restoration of burned lands to native plant communities. Developing models of establishment for invasive and native species will help in the selection of species for restoration projects that are able to establish and compete with invasive species given the abiotic conditions of specific sites. Modeling germination is the first step in modeling seedling establishment. We incubated 10 revegetation species and 3 Bromus tectorum collections at constant temperatures to develop linear and curvilinear regression equations to estimate germination rates. Models were used to predict days to 10, 25, and 50% germination for each species, incubated at 3 spring temperature oscillations.

Citation

Rawlins, Jennifer K. 2009. Wet thermal accumulation modeling of germination of western U.S. rangeland species. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University. 49 p. Thesis.