The effects of precipitation timing on sagebrush steppe vegetation

Changes in precipitation patterns and inputs have the potential to cause major changes in productivity, composition, and diversity of terrestrial plant communities. Vegetation response to altered timing of precipitation was assessed during a 7-year experiment in an Artemisia tridentata spp. wyomingensis community in the northern Great Basin, USA. Four permanent rainout shelters excluded natural rainfall, with seasonal distribution of precipitation controlled with the use of an overhead sprinkler system. Precipitation treatments under each shelter were WINTER, SPRING, and CURRENT. The WINTER treatment received 80% of its water between October and March; in the SPRING treatment 80% of total water was applied between April and July; and the CURRENT treatment received precipitation matching the siteʹs long-term (50 years) distribution pattern. A CONTROL treatment, placed outside each shelter replicate, received natural precipitation inputs. CURRENT, WINTER, and CONTROL treatments had similar in soil water-content patterns and thus, there were few consistent differences in vegetation response. The SPRING treatment resulted in more bare-ground and lower plant productivity compared to other shelter treatments. This result contrasted with our initial hypothesis that shallower-rooted grasses would gain a competitive advantage over shrubs if precipitation was shifted from winter to spring. Our results also demonstrated the resilience of these communities to climate perturbation as many of the vegetation shifts did not begin until the fourth year after treatments were applied.