Sagebrush steppe is a type of
shrub-steppe, a plant community characterized by the presence of
shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
s, and usually dominated by
sagebrush
Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west.
Following is an alph ...
, any of several species in the genus ''
Artemisia
Artemisia may refer to:
People
* Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BC), queen of Halicarnassus under the First Persian Empire, naval commander during the second Persian invasion of Greece
* Artemisia II of Caria (died 350 BC), queen of Caria under th ...
''.
[Sagebrush steppe.]
National Park Service. This ecosystem is found in the
Intermountain West
The Intermountain West, or Intermountain Region, is a geographic and geological region of the Western United States. It is located between the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on the west ...
in the United States.
[Sagebrush Steppe Conservation Project /ID National Lab.]
Wildlife Conservation Society.
The most common sagebrush species in the sagebrush steppe in most areas is
big sagebrush
''Artemisia tridentata'', commonly called big sagebrush,MacKay, Pam (2013), ''Mojave Desert Wildflowers'', 2nd ed., , p. 264. Great Basin sagebrush or (locally) simply sagebrush, is an aromatic shrub from the family Asteraceae, which grows in ari ...
(''Artemisia tridentata''). Others include
three-tip sagebrush (''Artemisia tripartita'') and
low sagebrush
''Artemisia arbuscula'' is a North American species of sagebrush known by the common names little sagebrush, low sagebrush, or black sagebrush. It is native to the western United States from Washington, Oregon, and California east as far as Colo ...
(''Artemisia arbuscula''). Sagebrush is found alongside many species of grasses.
[
Sagebrush steppe is a diverse habitat, with more than 350 recorded vertebrate species. It is also open rangeland for livestock, a recreation area, and a source of water in otherwise arid regions.][McIver, J. D., et al. 2010]
The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP): a test of state-and-transition theory.
Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-237. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. It is key habitat for declining flora and fauna species, such as greater sage-grouse
The greater sage-grouse (''Centrocercus urophasianus''), also known as the sagehen, is the largest grouse (a type of bird) in North America. Its range is sagebrush country in the western United States and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canad ...
(''Centrocercus urophasianus'') and pygmy rabbit
The pygmy rabbit (''Brachylagus idahoensis'') is a rabbit species native to the United States. It is also the only native rabbit species in North America to dig its own burrow. The pygmy rabbit differs significantly from species within either the ...
(''Brachylagus idahoensis'').[Davies, G. M., et al. (2012)]
Trajectories of change in sagebrush steppe vegetation communities in relation to multiple wildfires.
''Ecological Applications'', 22(5), 1562-77.
Sagebrush steppe is a threatened ecosystem in many regions. It was once very widespread in the regions that form the Intermountain West, such as the Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...
and Colorado Plateau
The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area of ...
. It has become fragmented and degraded by a number of forces.[ Steppe has been overgrown with ]introduced species
An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...
and has changed to an ecosystem resembling pine and juniper woodland. This has changed the fire regime
A fire regime is the pattern, frequency, and intensity of the bushfires and wildfires that prevail in an area over long periods of time. It is an integral part of fire ecology, and renewal for certain types of ecosystems. A fire regime describes th ...
of the landscape, increasing fuel loads and increasing the chance of unnaturally severe wildfires.[Sagebrush Steppe: A Story of Encroachment and Invasion.]
''Fire Science Brief'' Issue 27. December, 2008. Cheatgrass
''Bromus tectorum'', known as downy brome, drooping brome or cheatgrass, is a winter annual grass native to Europe, southwestern Asia, and northern Africa, but has become invasive in many other areas. It now is present in most of Europe, southe ...
(''Bromus tectorum'') is also an important introduced plant species that increases fire risk in this ecosystem.[
] Other forces leading to these habitat changes include fire suppression
Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts in wild land areas require different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated a ...
and overgrazing
Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...
of livestock.[ Besides severe fire, consequences of the breakdown of sagebrush steppe include increased ]erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
of the land and sedimentation in local waterways, decreased water quality, decreased quality of forage available for livestock, and degradation of habitat for wildlife and game animals.[
]
References
External links
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Deserts and xeric shrublands in the United States
Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands in the United States
Plant communities of the Western United States
Plant communities of California
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Sagebrush steppe
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Grasslands of Canada
Grasslands of the United States
Grasslands of California
Ecoregions of the United States
Plants by habitat
Basin and Range Province