A review of fire effects on vegetation and soils in the Great Basin Region: response and ecological site characteristics

This review synthesizes the state of knowledge on fire effects on vegetation and soils in semi-arid ecosystems in the Great Basin Region， including the central and northern Great Basin and Range， Columbia River Basin， and the Snake River Plain. We summarize available literature related to: (1) the effects of environmental gradients， ecological site， and vegetation characteristics on resilience to disturbance and resistance to invasive species; (2) the effects of fire on individual plant species and communities， biological soil crusts， seed banks， soil nutrients， and hydrology; and (3) the role of fire severity， fire versus fire surrogate treatments， and post-fire grazing in determining ecosystem response. From this， we identify knowledge gaps and present a framework for predicting plant successional trajectories following wild and prescribed fires and fire surrogate treatments. Possibly the three most important ecological site characteristics that influence a site's resilience (ability of the ecological site to recover from disturbance) and resistance to invasive species are soil temperature/moisture regimes and the composition and structure of vegetation on the ecological site just prior to the disturbance event.