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Climate Change Impacts on Plant Communities in the Sagebrush Region—A Science Synthesis to Inform Bureau of Land Management Resource Management

Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5045
Prepared in cooperation with Yale School of the Environment and Bureau of Land Management
By: , , , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20255045

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Abstract

This report synthesizes current (2024) science-based knowledge related to the impacts of climate change on big sagebrush vegetation in Western North America. This effort was conducted through the U.S. Geological Survey working with the Bureau of Land Management as part of multiple science syntheses to aid management agencies developing environmental impacts assessments in response to human-related or caused events. This report reviews the potential impacts climate change may have on sagebrush vegetation and related management decisions. The body of the synthesis introduces the diverse impacts of climate change across the region by first focusing directly on what climate change may entail in terms of altered temperature and precipitation patterns. The report then discusses how these changes could likely affect individual plant species based on experimental results and scale the impacts to species distributions and community composition. The synthesis section ends by surveying efforts to model potential future changes in habitat. The report goes on to link the synthesis conclusions to individual land uses or land management decisions, such as forage resources, restoration or fuel treatment. Finally, the report provides a section that discusses the pros and cons of available datasets that model the potential future of vegetation in the sagebrush region.

Suggested Citation

Carpenter, S.M., Holdrege, M.C., Schlaepfer, D.R., Phillips, J., Griffin, P., Lauenroth, W.K., and Bradford, J.B., 2025, Climate change impacts on plant communities in the sagebrush region—A science synthesis to inform Bureau of Land Management resource management: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2025–5045, 60 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20255045.

ISSN: 2328-0328 (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Executive Summary
  • Purpose of This Report
  • How to Use This Report
  • Science Synthesis—Climate Change Impacts on Sagebrush Plant Communities
  • Methods For Developing This Science Synthesis
  • References Cited
  • Appendix 1. Maps of Projected 21st Century Climate and Drought Conditions
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Climate change impacts on plant communities in the sagebrush region—A science synthesis to inform Bureau of Land Management resource management:
Series title Scientific Investigations Report
Series number 2025-5045
DOI 10.3133/sir20255045
Publication Date July 15, 2025
Year Published 2025
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston VA
Contributing office(s) Southwest Biological Science Center
Description x, 60 p.
Country United States
State Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional publication details