Since European American settlement of the Intermountain Region, dramatic changes in vegetation composition and structure have occurred in the sagebrush steppe ecosystem. Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis spp. occidentalis Vasek), although indigenous to the Intermountain Region, has increased since the late 1800s. Considerable work has been done documenting juniper woodland expansion...
African rue is a poisonous, perennial forb that readily invades salt-desert shrub and sagebrush-steppe rangelands. Information detailing options for integrated management of African rue is lacking. To date, a few studies have researched the efficacy of different herbicides for controlling African rue, but none have investigated integrated approaches to its...
Restoration of exotic annual grass-invaded rangelands is needed to improve ecosystem function and services.
Increasing plant species richness is generally believed to increase resistance to invasion and increase desired
vegetation. However, the effects of species richness and individual plant life forms in seed mixes used to restore
rangelands invaded by...
Medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae [L.] Nevski) is an exotic annual grass invading western rangelands. Successful
revegetation of invaded-plant communities can be prohibitively expensive because it often requires iterative applications of
integrated control and revegetation treatments. Prescribed burning has been used to control medusahead and prepare seedbeds
for revegetation, but burning has...
Declining greater sage-grouse populations are causing concern for the future of this species across the western United States. Major
ecosystem issues, including exotic annual grass invasion and conifer encroachment, threaten vast acreages of sagebrush rangeland
and are primary threats to sage-grouse. We discuss types of problems facing sage-grouse habitat and...
Given the many significant roles that bacteria play in modern food manufacturing, it is crucial that we have a fundamental understanding of how bacterial communities assemble and behave in the food manufacturing environment. The focus of this dissertation was to investigate both the spatial and temporal distributions of microbial communities...
Pre-fermentation cold soak is a winemaking technique used to alter the color, mouthfeel, and aroma of red wine. While it is still debated what impact cold soak has on these wine quality parameters, current thoughts are that resident yeast populations found in fresh grape must play a role in altering...
Agricultural field burning in Oregon's Willamette Valley
has been an accepted farming practice for sanitizing fields and removing
stubble and residues left on fields after harvest since the
early 1940s. Unfortunately, the smoke and debris created by the
burning in combination with other pollutants have been causing health
and environmental...
Nearshore hypoxia along the coast of Oregon and Washington is a seasonal phenomenon that has generated concern among scientists studying this temperate upwelling ecosystem. These waters are affected by coastal upwelling-induced hypoxia mainly during late summer and fall, but the effects of low oxygen levels on fish and invertebrate communities,...