Data from: Managing to survive despite the weather: seeding decisions affecting simulated dryland restoration outcomes

The purpose of these data is to assist with understanding barriers to restoration outcomes in Great Basin sagebrush ecosystems, which are currently threated by ongoing invasion and frequent fire. Specifically, these data explore the effects of seeding decisions, such as seeding year, delay (within a year), and seed source selection. The data included are simulations for weather effects on seedling germination, emergence, and mortality for 9776 locations across the Great Basin for 10 common native perennial grass species with varying temperature behavior in response to temperature. We tested outcomes associated with either seeding in the first year post-fire or the best year of 5. Fire years were based on years with high fire probability for each location. We also tested for the effects of seeding mid-fall, Oct. 15, versus delaying germination (with seed technology, by 30 or 60 days) or the roughly equivalent effect of delaying seeding by a month, Nov. 15, or Dec. 15. We evaluated our assumptions related to the timing of emergence and germination by including simulations for each of three germination subpopulations (rate cohorts, 10, 25, 50%) and three emergence speeds (5, 10, 15 days). The analyses cover the period between 1988-2019.

 Funding provided by the SCINet project of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, ARS project number 0500-00093-001-00-D.